Updated 09/29/2001 1:43am

God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule

Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell
'We Expected Eternal Paradise For This' Say Suicide Bombers

Bush Sr. Apologizes To Son For Funding Bin Laden In '80s
MIDLAND, TX— Former president George Bush issued an apology to his son Monday for advocating the CIA's mid-'80s funding of Osama bin Laden, who at the time was resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. "I'm sorry, son," Bush told President George W. Bush. "We thought it was a good idea at the time because he was part of a group fighting communism in Central Asia. We called them 'freedom fighters' back then. I know it sounds weird. You sort of had to be there." Bush is still deliberating over whether to tell his son about the whole supporting-Saddam Hussein-against-Iran thing.

The opposition Northern Alliance and forces loyal to independent Gen. Rashid Dostum have said they are advancing toward the strategic town of Mazar-i-Sharif and hope to capture it from the Taliban in the next few days.

The Taliban were increasingly isolated diplomatically after the United Arab Emirates, one of just three states to have recognized their hold on power, severed ties."

Indeed, reports abound that within the administration there is a battle going on. The Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice camp wants a full-scale, no holds bar invasion of Afghanistan -AND- Iraq. The Powell camp wants to take a one-bite-at-a-time approach to the whole thing.

A report in TIME 2 weeks ago on featuring Powell spoke to the fact that Powell has been sidelined in the Bush administration. While everyone thought Powell would be Bush's point man on Defense and Foreign affairs, it has turned out that Powell does not have Bush's ear. On the contrary, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Rice (Who by all accounts is treated like a daughter by Bush) are running Defense and Foreign Policy. Bush has stacked his cabinet with SCARY FUCKERS, hard-liners who are hell bent on national isolation and missile defense.

The US now has three battlegroups in the region or on the way. Another deployment is expected to be signed by Rumsfeld later today or tomorrow. 35,000 reservists have been called up. More maybe called up later. Make no mistake about it, the US /IS/ going to, attempt at least, to remove the Taliban from power. Despite whether or not you or I believe it to be the prudent thing to do, it is the course of action that has been set in motion by the US government. Get ready for a long drawn out war"

Lays out very clearly why Afghanistan is possibly the worst place on Earth for a war -- at least, for the invader...

Recommended read.

If it wasn't for oil, we'd tell the Saudis to f*ck off. Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

This time it will be different. Special forces will be at the core of the operation. US Rangers and Green Berets are on the way from Fort Bragg in North Carolina. An SAS squadron of some 50 troops was already in Oman taking part in exercises."

"Afghanistan has got about a dozen airfields, so you pick one and parachute in. Intelligence is fleeting and you want your force to be located near the target," John Pike, a Washington-based military analyst said.

The force most likely to be used to establish a foothold is the US 82nd Airborne, a rapid deployment assault unit. Special forces teams, like the Rangers and the SAS, would then be based there for sorties into the surrounding mountains."

Anti-Taliban forces hold less than 10% of the national territory, but its Panjsher valley stronghold extends to Bagram just north of Kabul, where a large Soviet-built airbase is situated. It is out of use because the Taliban are on the hills overlooking it.

Northern Alliance sources say it could immediately field 15,000 men for an assault on the capital. With "close air support" from US warplanes, the Taliban could be forced off the hills over Bagram, and the air base could be used. The opposition leaders say they could then advance on Kabul from the Shomali plain nearby.

A separate opposition-held pocket in the north is already attacking the Taliban stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif, near the Uzbek border where US forces could be concentrated, leaving it locked in a pincer movement."

Updated 09/22/2001 4:30pm

Not surprisingly, one of the reviewers say "On top of all this, his advice to the United States on fighting terrorism is to curb civil rights."

Robert Young Pelton's the World's Most Dangerous Places (World's Most Dangerous Places)
by Robert Young Pelton (published May'2000)

The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism
by Simon Reeve (published Oct'1999)

Twin Towers: The Life of New York City's World Trade Center
by Angus Kress Gillespie (published Nov'1999)

If anyone's read any of these I'd appreciated hearing what you thought.

Military action and curtailment of civil liberties as "solutions" to the terrorism problem are all ultimately temporary fixes, designed to treat the symptoms, not the disease. If the United States and its allies in the First World don't attempt to go beyond short-sighted military retaliation, they're going to lose this war even more badly than they lost Vietnam. Military response is a good thing here in the interim, but it must be combined with a wholistic strategy which addresses one of the main roots of the problem:

GLOBAL POVERTY

This is the biggest single reason why terror groups exist. The rest of the world feels disenfranchised and oppressed by what it perceives to be a big bully ramming policies down their throats which are designed to enrich him at their expense. Those of us who live in the third world, know that this accusation is not without basis. I am not justifying their approach to terror; I am giving what I see is the fundamental reason why these groups turn to violence. They feel unempowered, unable to control their own destinies; September 11 was the greatest blow they struck in this mad attempt of theirs to take the power back.

Terrorism has nothing whatsoever to do with religion, and has everything to do with power. Terror groups hide behind the mask of religious fundamentalism, but no major religion in the world countenances the acts of September 11.

Capture Osama bin Laden and they will have chopped one head off the Hydra. Two more will grow back in his place. The only way to defeat the hydra will be to attempt to change US foreign and financial policy to truly attempt to aid the nations of the developing world instead of screwing us over and enriching themselves over us. If the United States and the developed nations can truly be seen to be making a positive difference to the destinies of the developing world, then it will be much harder to motivate people to perpetrate acts of terror.

Attempting to restrict civil liberties within the developed world is another particularly short-sighted response to acts of terror. Such restrictions on civil liberties are probably going to increase not decrease, the incidence of terror, as it will also increase the ranks of the disenfranchised and oppressed within your country as well , and domestic terrorism will probably become all the more serious. But of course, this is exactly what the control freaks in your government want, as it will give them more excuses to further perpetrate their reign of terror.

A real long-term solution to the problem of terrorism will be to revise and rethink your foreign policy. If your foreign policy were not so baldly corporatist, so baldly and arrogantly benefiting the few at the expense of the many, international terrorism would begin to decrease. Naturally, military and police action would be a good thing, but it is ultimately a short-term solution only. That only sows fear, and ultimately all fear can be overcome, as the terrorists who crashed their planes into the WTC proved to us in the most graphic way possible.

The world is still big enough for all of us to live peacefully. But if some nations insist on grabbing the lion's share at the expense of those who have none, then there will be conflict, there will be violence, there will be monstrous acts of terror. They know they can't take on the United States head-on, Iraq proved that, so they will attempt to wage a world-wide guerrila war. World War III is here, but it looks like no other war in all of history. The only way to win it will be to change the rules.

Updated 09/20/2001 11:15pm

The issue arose at a Pentagon briefing when a reporter told Rumsfeld that several Islamic scholars objected to the name on the ground that only God, or Allah, can mete out infinite justice in their view."

Another win for the Bush team.
First his 'crusade' reference, now this...

Also, some idea where the name came from:
"William Arkin, an expert on the military who has studied code names and operations, said the choice was constrained by Pentagon naming conventions tied to the units and commands involved."

I wonder at what point people so concerned about airport security will start to think about the electronic lifelines of this country (and many others). Microsoft's almost blatant disregard for basic computer science techniques and priorities, for the sake of eye candy, apparent simplicity and a nearly insatiable appetite for profits...

It doesn't have to be this way.

One reason I refuse to use Outlook for personal use (required at the job, unfortunately -- and yes, we got hammered with the Nimba virus).

For those tired of the email madness, take a crack at PocoMail. I've been using it for the last few months and I'm pretty impressed. If you want an email client that's small, fast, efficient, but extremely functional -- and you run Windows (9x or NT/W2K/XP) -- you should take a closer look.

The "junkmail filter" feature alone justifies it -- haven't quite figured out entirely how it does its magic, but it's been dead on to date; shunts all "spam" to a junkmail folder and so far it hasn't falsely junked a valid email and only a couple have slipped past its filter, but you can "teach it" to be more discriminating. Very impressive.

Updated 09/20/2001 12:27pm

Footnote: Yes, he's the President. Of course I respect him, because I respect the office. And I've heard he's supposed to be very charming in a small, more personal conversation. But anyone who's heard him speak -- or seen transcripts -- knows he's a weak public speaker. Amazing he's gone so far in his field given his obvious weakness in a key skill for the job.

Updated 09/20/2001 11:16am

Jerry Pournelle's web site has thoughts on America as Republic or Empire. There is is difference. What will we become?

At this point, Empire looks likely.
Will we embrace it, or become an Empire that tries to act like a Republic?

If you think this doesn't matter, you're a fool.
In simpler terms -- are we going to do a half-a** job, neither accepting nor embracing our goals, methods and actions, and the consequences thereof?

"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

Updated 09/16/2001 12:10am

Prior to US actions against them, the Taliban were seen as a bunch of fundamentalist cranks, enemies of civilization inside the areas they controlled, but tribal in nature and not much interested in the rest of the world. They had reason to despise the United States as symbolic of most they stood for, but then they had that view of Riyadh and the Gulf oil kingdoms in general; of soft Muslims everywhere. They had no reason to hate us more than anyone else not one with them.

US Intelligence intercepts found cell phone traffic indicating a meeting in rugged territory in Afghanistan. Some open remarks indicated that this was a training camp of terrorists, and that bin Laden would be there. Senior intelligence officers said this was most likely deception; bin Laden is a great deal more careful, and has and uses codes, and locating him is never easy. This is probably a plant.

We attacked anyway. Under any definition of International Law the President of the United States fired munitions at a country with whom we are not at war, with no warning, no declaration of war, and no resolution of Congress. Now over the years there have been precedents, but this was pretty stark.

What we hit was not a training camp of terrorists. It was not generally reported in the US media, but what we hit was a religious retreat of Moslem Pakistani physicians. Several of the survivors were interviewed on US television for a day or so after: then nothing, and you will find little about this or who was at that camp no matter how hard you search. But the effects were many.

First, it was then known we did listen to cell phone conversations (and used other intercepts of other channels; this may in part have been a deception operation intended to see just how much we could learn and just what we did listen to). Those channels will not be useful again.

Second, the Taliban went from disgust to hatred: the United States was not merely a cultural threat, but an active enemy. Do not forget that we conducted an act of war against them. Their memories are long.

Finally, the timing of the attacks is a matter of public record. There was a need to keep certain matters out of the headlines. The strikes did that. Having done it there was no follow up action. We delivered our bee stings, "surgical strikes" which did little harm and which certainly did not raise a sense of dread: which did not give those who harbor our enemies any reason to be vigorous in disarming them or dissuading them from attacking us. Our response to the destruction of our Embassies in a coordinated and well planned attack was -- not much.

And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived here for 35 years I've never lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm standing.

I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New York. I agree that something must be done about those monsters.

But the Taliban and Ben Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who took over Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think "the people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country.

Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering. A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan--a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of widows. And the Taliban has been burying these widows alive in mass graves. The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets. These are a few of the reasons why the Afghan people have not overthrown the Taliban.

We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and health care? Too late. Someone already did all that.

New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they at least get the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around. They'd slip away and hide. Maybe the bombs would get some of those disabled orphans, they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't really be a strike against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would only be making common cause with the Taliban--by raping once again the people they've been raping all this time

So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go in there with ground troops. When people speak of "having the belly to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to kill as many as needed. Having the belly to overcome any moral qualms about killing innocent people. Let's pull our heads out of the sand. What's actually on the table is Americans dying. And not just because some Americans would die fighting their way through Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout. It's much bigger than that folks. Because to get any troops to Afghanistan, we'd have to go through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations just stand by? You see where I'm going. We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the West.

And guess what: that's Bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants. That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right there. He really believes Islam would beat the west. It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion soldiers. If the west wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose, that's even better from Bin Laden's point of view. He's probably wrong, in the end the west would win, whatever that would mean, but the war would last for years and millions would die, not just theirs but ours. Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does. Anyone else?

There were still rescuers there when the second tower collapsed.

Rescuers who had seen the first tower go.

Remember them.

Updated 09/15/2001 11:24pm

Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.

Congress wants to hand out fish, when they should be making fishing poles.

At least, as much they can do anything worthwhile.
At this point, the damage is like an iceberg -- you only see a fraction of the problem, and by then it's way too late.

Face it, we're f*cked.

Updated 09/15/2001 7:33pm

The full text of the North Atlantic Treaty is here

"Over the last several months, the U.S. Government has learned that U.S. citizens and interests abroad may be at increased risk of a terrorist action from extremist groups. In addition, we have received unconfirmed information that terrorist actions may be taken against U.S. military facilities and/or establishments frequented by U.S. military personnel in Korea and Japan. We are also concerned about information we received in May 2001 that American citizens may be the target of a terrorist threat from extremist groups with links to Usama Bin Ladin's Al-Qaida organization. In the past, such individuals have not distinguished between official and civilian targets. As always, we take this information seriously. U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert."

[From: http://travel.state.gov/wwc1.html [state.gov]]

The two pilots struggled to subdue the hijacker. They were able to hold him down enough that one pilot was able to take back the aircraft controls and pull the plane out of the dive. The plane exceeded Mach I during the dive, the pull-out stresses warped parts of the aircraft, and counterbalance weights in the tail were torn off. But the plane held together.

The plane was landed intact at Memphis, the hijacker was arrested, convicted, and is in prison, and one of the pilots was too injured to fly again. The plane itself was repaired and returned to service.

FYI, PBS broadcast a Frontline episode on bin Laden on Wed @ 8pm (bio, from parents to current events). This was a 2yr old broadcast, with a few minutes added mentioning current events. Strongly recommended viewing if you can find out if/when it'll be broadcast again. The only thing I've seen rivaling the broadcast is this link.

The faa and nasa ran some very extensive tests including the purposeful crashing of a large boeing jet (B720) in december of 1984. the tests were not encouraging. details are available. figure 1-1 shows the jet crashing."

The woman who went to the UN to talk to the Assembly about her rape at the hands of Iraqi soldiers was in fact an ambassador's daughter who was not in Kuwait during the invasion.

Note that the US has also, at other times in history, bankrolled and supported Iraq. And Iran. And Afghanistan. Every time it suited a justifiable foreign policy decision."

"A good, if not somewhat naive, question. The US has interfered in Middle East politics for decades.
The US supported the corrupt regime of the Shah in Iran (so did the Brits).
The US supported the Afghan militias during the Soviet invasion. Osama bin Laden was trained under this support. The same people the US equipped, now rule Afghanistan.
The US has alternately supported and destabilized Iran and Iraq at various times.
The US has propped up the corrupt monarchies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
...and more

I am not claiming that any of these acts were "wrong" - people need to get over the notion that nations act for "right" or "wrong" - these are simplistic notions for children. Nations act in their own interests, as the US did.

"As it happens the Israelies have solved this one.
They have a gun (special bullet i believe) tht has a large bullet and low muzzle velocity. Will put down a human, wont go through steel."

"He's dead, ain't he?"

For thirteen hundred years the Islamic faith has been one of peace, civilization and high culture. The Quran condemns the killing of the innocent. It condemns suicide in any form. It condemns the degredation of women.

Every faith has its extremist bigots who use religion as nothing more than an excuse for their acts of evil.

"I don't know if you're aware of this but the fundamental problem in that area is that since the founding of Israel, the Arab countries have continuously devoted themselves to its destruction. I think you also have some major misconceptions regarding the nature of a "Palestinian homeland" which could be more accurately described as "whatever area happens to be under Israeli control at the moment".

"The use of the word "racist" is a non-event. The issue was conference ostensibly intended to fight racism that turned into a wildly anti-semitic assault depicting Israel (one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world) as the sole locus of evil. Yes, it's appropriate that the US government didn't lend legitimacy to it, and European countries should be ashamed of their compliance."

Or maybe you just have it set as your homepage..."

"Well, it is a "portal" site of sorts..."

Updated 09/15/2001 1:27pm

The Mrs. is home -- time for bagels...

Updated 09/15/2001 12:37pm

Anne Coulter, National Review: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

Anyone else as repulsed by this "Final Solution" as I?

And German citizens were actively supporting their nation's military operations and political leaders. Terrorism don't work that way -- this is a 'war' against individuals and organizations, not nations. It's like declaring war on IBM, or UPS. This is going to be far more like Vietnam than WWII -- except this time the enemy leaders are going to be more diverse and harder to pin down.

I heard some idiot on the radio Wed talking about "concentration camps" -- round up anyone of Middle Eastern descent, send them to "camps" while we do background checks.

Why do I waste my f*cking breath.

I've said for a long time, "All fanatics must die."
If you fail to see the irony inherent in that statement then you just don't get it.

Updated 09/15/2001 12:20pm

Fascinating briefing. Lots of history of the renovation program, the composition of the building, their contracting process and more. This was a press briefing, so hopefully the press will provide some good articles on the subject.

Updated 09/15/2001 2:16am

Also has some good tips if you use Apache or MySQL.

More here

"I barely know where to begin when I read crap like this. The simple truth is that people hate us because we're the biggest kid on the block.

Yes, they care about individual policy decisions, but there isn't a nation on earth that doesn't make the exact same decisions every day. WE're criticized for butting our noses into foreign affairs, then criticized for being isolationist if we DON'T get involved in foreign affairs.

We're criticized for supporting side A against B, but if we switch sides, we're criticized for supporting B against A.

There is no policy we could possibly have that would make other nations happy with us. If we withdraw, we're "ignoring our responsibilities" but if we get involved we're "flaunting our power".

Well fuck you all very much, planet earth. We didn't ask to be the only superpower. We're not itching to feed your hungry or shelter your homeless or finance your economic devastations, but we're the ones you call on first when you need those things done.

You complain because american hegemony is destroying your cultures, then you go out and buy coca-cola and watch Friends on TV. You complain about our imperialism while ignoring the fact that Germany and Japan are our biggest competitors exactly BECAUSE we rebuilt them at OUR EXPENSE after we could have conquered them.

We're damned if we do and damned if we don't, so don't give me any shit that we had it coming because of our policies. NO FUCKING POLICY WILL MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY!

We're like the prettiest girl at a party -- all the women want to be her, all the men want to fuck her. There is not a country on earth that wouldn't trade places with us in a second, and on days like today i'd almost be happy to do it."

While the load was heavy, it wasn't anything Akamai wasn't prepared to handle."

Another thing this high heat caused was the destruction of concrete. When concrete gets very hot the water is evaporated out of it, turning it to dust.

??? "the FTO (Foreign Terrorist List) hasn't been updated since 1999 via FAS anyhow. As of then the IRA wasn't included on the list"

"Stairs don't pay rent. Leasable space is what really matters when owners direct the architect. Everybody wants more useful square footage. Stairs don't count. You wanna make the building appealing? Fine. Big, fast elevators, do. Tall ceilings do. Walls of glass do. Stairs in a 110 story building don't. Expensive fire suppression systems don't. Extra pounds of steel and concrete don't."

"The collapse of the WTC towers mirrored the strategy used by demolition experts. In controlled demolitions, explosives are placed not just on the lowest three floors but also on several consecutive floors about a third of the way up the building.

The explosions at the higher floors enable the collapse to gain downward momentum as gravity pulls the full weight of unsupported higher floors down into lower floors in a snowballing effect.

The lack of collapse in higher stories was one reason why the 454 kilogram bomb detonated in the underground garage of the World Trade Center in 1993 failed to destroy the building"

Only one innacuracy (that I noticed): "On Tuesday, the impacts of aeroplanes on the higher floors replaced the explosives..." Nope, the problem was the fire, not the intial collision.

There was, save the existence of airplanes, no technology whatsoever in Tuesday's attacks. Just victims' fear and the terrorists' willingness to die. These are social problems, and all the techno-fear 'solutions' that have been bandered about over the last few days both here and in the mainstream media, are completely ineffective to affect these social problems."

Er, holy f*ck.

Updated 09/15/2001 12:28am

And yes, obviously I'm a night person.

Updated 09/14/2001 10:34pm

Also contains a link to more info:

"It is possible the buildings were targeted because of their distinctive construction. The buildings were very well known in architectural and engineering circles and were heavily publicized during design and construction. Construction drawings are readily availble to the public.

Modern terrorists are reported to study target buildings very carefuly, and they are known to have highly educated and skilled members, some of whom were educated in the US.

...Yes, if the fires were suppressed it likely the structure could have survived the impact except for localized damage. However, conventional architectural fire-suppression systems are not designed to suppress the types of fires caused by plane crashes and cascading fuel.

"I add that in 30 some years of examining buildings in New York, I have found none, zero, which are fully compliant with municipal building codes. It is a terrible, little reported scandal of the city in which it is considered to be bad business to fully comply with codes."

Updated 09/14/2001 9:44pm

More British citizens died there, I gather, than in any terrorist outrages in the U.K. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of non-U.S. citizens will be in the final toll, from nations around the world.

Governments do not like having their nationals slaughtered. They get angry, and that's one reason why there's an unprecedented degree of unity among governments this week."

One of the reasons I find it difficult to watch any single TV channel for any length of time -- too much sensationalism, not enough news.

...The developer who led the group that purchased the World Trade Center's 99-year lease in July 1999 for $3.2 billion from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said he is committed to help rebuilding the center...

...adding that the 99-year lease is insured against terrorism.

Dissects the argument "US encourages Israeli expansion and suppression of Palestinians; thus US partly to blame for WTC attacks" and points out why it's utter bullsh*t.

Also covers evolution of Islam and Islamic societies (did you know "algebra" and "chemistry" are Arab words?), from the Dark Ages to modern days, Russian colonialism, and more.

Strongly recommended reading.

But you're about to learn."

The ban will last until Oct. 1

Updated 09/12/2001 3:49pm

A touch too pure -- doesn't mention how the U.S. is sometimes not so white-hat -- but still a good reminder how one-sided the world community can be.

In short, no matter what anyone does now, it's a foregone conclusion the [U.S.] airline industry is f*cked.

Under the headline "America burns," the official newspaper Al-Iraq said that "what happened in the United States yesterday is a lesson for all tyrants, oppressors and criminals."

Other countries usually considered anti-American condemned the terrorists -- including traditionally anti-American ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Afghanistan's Taliban and Iran.

IOW, not counting Iraq, everyone else is denouncing yesterday's events because they're so horrified at the acts, or so deathly afraid of the coming sh*tstorm if they're even thought to be connected to yesterday. Or both.

Arafat said: "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable. We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people."

...Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Authority Cabinet member, said the apparent celebrations in Ramallah in the West Bank were a minority reaction and focusing on them would be misleading, as far as Arab reaction to the attacks is concerned.

...King Abdullah of Jordan, who spoke to CNN from the Royal Palace in Amman, agreed that the celebrations in the West Bank were isolated events and said "we were just as shocked as you are."

"It's a small group of people; it's no way a reflection of the Palestinian people or other peoples of the Middle East," said Abdullah, who added that Jordan shares the sorrow and grief suffered by Americans.

Methinks someone isn't quite fully in touch with "his people"...
Of course, what's new...

More remarks from Middle Eastern nations here and here.

"There are good indications that persons linked to Osama bin Laden may be responsible for these attacks," an intelligence official told CNN, echoing the sentiments of some U.S. politicians.

The United Nations have already began evacuating staff from Afghanistan.

Translation: Even the UN thinks action in Afghanistan is likely...

"Most of the attention is focused on bin Laden, perhaps not on him personally but on many of his lieutenants his followers all over the world," Ranstorp said.

Ranstorp said there has been a massive international effort since 1996 when bin Laden declared a holy war against the U.S. to tack bin Laden, his financial assets and his followers down.

He added that U.S. and other intelligence agencies have had a great difficulty in gathering information on the Al Quaida group because of the de-centralized nature of the organization and their experience is understanding how western intelligence operates.

The Northern Alliance have been involved in a long running civil war with the Taliban control about five percent of the country.

The Taliban says two airplanes and a workshop were damaged in the attacks.

"I expect ... a whole set of standards (last) used during the Gulf War," says David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.

"The Federal Aviation Administration has given clearance for flights diverted after Tuesday's terrorist attacks to continue on to their final destination Wednesday, but ordered all other commercial air traffic to remain grounded."

"Only passengers on the original flights will be allowed to re-board, and only after airports and airlines have implemented strict screening measures."

More details here

I thought Air Force One always had a fighter escort, but apprently this was not always (or even common) for domestic flights.
Before.

"For the first time in the military alliance's history, the 19 member states are considering sending support of any kind to the U.S. in response to Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

The draft proposal would look to invoke NATO's self-defence charter, diplomatic sources and State Department officials told CNN.

The proposal, put forward by NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, would call for support of Article Five of the alliance's charter, which is the basic reason for NATO's existence.

It spells out the requirement that if one of NATO's members is attacked, all its allies would defend it.

One official put it this way: "A hit for one is a hit for all."

...officials say invoking Article Five would provide on an "expedited basis" use of air space by the allies and make other kinds of assistance available.

Updated 09/11/2001 11:43pm

A worthy read.

Also note the comment about botulin and anthrax.
Scr*w explosives.
You want a truly devastating attack, drop a vial of smallpox or one of its friends in the middle of a crowded city.

Get off the subway.
Walk up the stairs to the street.
Start walking.
Casually slip the bottle out of your pocket and drop it in front of you.
Step on it, cracking the glass.
Keep walking.

That is what should really give you screaming nightmares...

THE SCALE of the attacks and the loss of life - mostly in New York City's World Trade Center, but also in Pittsburgh and Washington - ensured that "no option has been taken off the table," senior U.S. officials said. Asked if that included nuclear weapons, one senior official said: "I said no option is out of the question. That's precisely what I mean."

11:42am A Korean Airlines cargo 747-400 landed using every inch of available runway
11:50am We spotted another inbound jet
11:52am A Korea Airlines passenger 747 landed coming down just 15 feet above the fence....an awesome and scary sight from only 100 feet away. 3 F-18's (hard to say, they were pretty high up) escorted them in and continued to circle Whitehorse's airspace.

Luckily Whitehorse's runway had just been extended to facilitate 747's last year.

Emergency vehicles kept their distance from both planes, the passenger plane having taxied back to the north end of the runway, as far away from the terminal as possible.

A gray truck approached the passenger plane, dispersing ground personnel to chalk the wheels, then fell in behind an officer wielding a long barreled weapon and backed up behind the officer to the truck and departed the scene

A ramp was brought to the aircraft but no one left for about 20 minutes (at 12:36pm) when a single male came down and walked towards the police vehicles (we could hear the occasional word from a police loudspeaker) he made it about half way when he was obviously ordered to lift his shirt up, turn around, lift his pant legs, then he removed the shirt completely, holding it over his head while continuing to walk towards the vehicles. People with binoculars were able to see several FBI jackets amongst the police. There was a lear jet nearby which was probably used to get the FBI here from Alaska (since as far as I know we don't have any resident FBI in Yukon).

At 12:43pm we were ordered away from the area by the RCMP. Apparently for `our own safety' - we were on crown land, outside the airport's perimeter fence.

Updated 09/11/2001 6:19pm

"Reports that came earlier in the day point towards the Canadian border crossing to be closed. This is not the case. The borders are open but long lines as extensive searches may have lead to the rumour that they were closed. Truck and car traffic is being allowed to cross. Some crossings are ghost towns because of the rumours."

Updated 09/11/2001 5:37pm

Anniversaries
Today is International Peace Day
Today is the anniversary of the start of the 1978 Camp David Peace Accord talks
Tomorrow was to be the sentencing for one of the original WTC bombers from 1993

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"I have heard, at this point unconfirmed rumors, that the plane that went down in PA was headed for Camp David"

"We also had a report from someone who lives 3 miles away from the PA crash. Evidently the plane veered several times, and then smashed into an abandoned strip mine."

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A list of the buisnesses at the WTC -> http://www.onisland.com/wtc/bizdir/
24K ZIP file (recommended)
   

"This was a superbly well organised and executed operation on the part of the perpetrators, whoever they were, but it was also an incredibly cheap one. I should be surprised if the whole budget for the operation exceeded $100,000."