Bush making America safer in the future

“WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - In the latest changes at the Central Intelligence Agency, Porter J. Goss, the new chief, has named a new deputy director for intelligence and has abolished a daily 5 p.m. meeting that had been used since the Sept. 11 attacks to coordinate counterterrorism operations around the world, intelligence officials said on Tuesday.
[...]
Under Mr. Tenet, the C.I.A.'s most senior officials along with representatives of the F.B.I. and other agencies convened each day at 5 p.m. for a counterterrorism meeting that participants have described as the most important session held each day in Washington. The C.I.A. has played the leading role in the clandestine effort against terrorism, and Mr. Tenet's admirers have said the meeting served a vital coordinating function.
[...]
The move appears to reflect what Mr. Goss has publicly said was his concern that the C.I.A. under Mr. Tenet may have devoted too much time and resources to terrorism at the expense of other issues.
[...]

Full Story
last edited: 1/05/05 12:48:13 PM”

“They want to beat rush hour. HQ is right on a major traffic route in N.VA. believe me, traffic sucks until 7!

Every week my boss tries to hold a meeting at 4. Every week we say how about 11?”

“The creepiest thing about Goss is that, according to 9/11 report, during 9/11, he was having breakfast with Mahmoud (sp?), the head of Pakistani ISI (intelligence).

A few months later it was determined that this guy, Goss (Bush's new CIA director) was meeting with was the guy who gave all the funding money, $100k, to Atta (ringleader of 9/11).

That's why we never heard anymore about the "following of the financial trail" again. They found the trail.

More wild... Daniel Pearl, the beheaded WSJ reporter? Well he was in Pakistan doing investigative story on this exact same $100,000 payment from Pakistan intelligence to Atta when he was beheaded.

What does all this mean, no idea. Maybe it means Goss was a brilliant sleuth with a lead on the hunting down of the 'evil'.

It could mean we had some real pre-9/11 info/involvement, but it has never been answered what Goss and the 9/11 money bagman were discussing the morning of 9/11.

And Jr. had 9/11 investigations shut down before that question could be answered (it is listed in the commission's "unanswered questions" list).
last edited: 1/05/05 3:20:29 PM”

“I find it interesting that Tenet took the rap (along with laying blame on the intelligence community rather than on any politicians...) and subsequently rec'd the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bush.


I get the feeling that the next few generations of Tenets are set for life.... <VBG>”

“BTW --- To what degree of National Alertness are we presently set? Lemon Yellow or Orange Orange?”

“actually, strawberry blonde”

“Iraq Conflict Feeds International Terror Threat -CIA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic militants waging a deadly insurgency against U.S.-led forces in Iraq pose an emerging international terrorism threat, CIA Director Porter Goss said on Wednesday.

In his first public appearance as U.S. spymaster, Goss described Iraqi insurgents, including al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as part of a Sunni militant movement inspired by Osama bin Laden and intent on attacking Americans.

"The Iraq conflict, while not a cause of extremism, has become a cause for extremists," Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"Those jihadists who survive will leave Iraq experienced in and focused on acts of urban terrorism. They represent a potential pool of contacts to build transnational terrorist cells, groups and networks in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries," he said.
[...]
These sentences indicate Goss is very much listening to what his analysts are saying, and not necessarily to what the White House wants to hear," said Kenneth Katzman, terrorism analyst for the Congressional Research Service.

"Zarqawi has sought to bring about the final victory of Islam over the West, and he hopes to establish a safe haven in Iraq from which his group could operate against 'infidel' Western nations and 'apostate' Muslim governments," Goss said.

Presenting the CIA's annual "threat assessment," Goss also said insurgents achieved some of their goals in the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections by keeping Sunni Arab voter turnout low.
[...]”

“I thought goss was going to be another yes man, especially with the clearout he had. But he's gone up enormously in my books following this realistic assessment.”

“Georgie ain't gonna like it!”

“When does the character assassination start?

Goss is a greedy, disgruntled baby molester, I tell ya!”

“Mail Facilities Remain Closed After Alerts

<snip>
A sensor at a Department of Defense mailroom in Fairfax County signaled the presence of a suspicious biological substance yesterday, forcing hundreds of workers to remain inside three buildings for almost six hours.

The lockdown came just hours after the mail facility at the Pentagon, about four miles away in Arlington, was evacuated and closed. The Pentagon took that action yesterday morning after tests conducted last week came back positive for anthrax, officials said. Later tests at the Pentagon were negative.

Spokesmen for the Pentagon and the Fairfax fire department initially said the events at the Pentagon and in the Baileys Crossroads section of Fairfax were unrelated. But last night, a Virginia official said the events might be linked. In addition, emergency officials responding to the Fairfax incident said they were not aware of the Pentagon evacuation, causing Virginia's top homeland security official to say that coordination by the Defense Department would have to be reviewed.

Authorities said that there is no imminent danger to the public, that Defense Department mail is irradiated and that new detection systems worked. But state and local officials remained concerned that 3 1/2 years after the attack on the Pentagon and anthrax mailings that affected local postal facilities, coordination did not work smoothly yesterday.

"Clearly, the big question that's got to be answered is when did the DOD make the notification and did they make all appropriate notifications to make sure all federal, state and local players were aware of the problem?" said George W. Foresman, homeland security adviser to Gov. Mark R. Warner (D).
<snip>”

“Officials See Terror Threat From Iraq Vets

by Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
Florence, Italy (UPI) Jun 01, 2005

Two former senior Bush administration counter-terrorism officials say the danger posed to the U.S. homeland by graduates of the Islamic insurgency in Iraq is so severe that the measures needed to counter it will affect Americans' quality of life.
"I predict that the quality of all our lives will change to a certain extent, as measures previously considered needed (only) in forward areas will increasingly be ... adopted in our home countries," Cofer Black told a conference of U.S. and European counter-terrorism officials and experts.

Black, who until earlier this year was the U.S. State Department's counter-terrorism coordinator, declined to elaborate.

He said Iraq had become "a university on how to conduct highly effective assassinations and bombings." He said the skills learned by terrorists there meant that "we are likely to see increasingly innovative" means of attack.

"The survivors of the Iraq jihad will have gained tremendous operational capabilities" in traditional areas of terrorist training like the construction of large vehicle bombs, Roger Cressey, who was the White House deputy counter-terrorism coordinator during President Bush's first term, told United Press International.

He said the creation of a new cadre of hardened Islamic terrorists was "one of the biggest unintended consequences of the war in Iraq."

Balthazar Garzon, the Spanish investigating magistrate who is Spain's leading prosecutor for terrorism and related crimes, compared the graduates of the Islamic insurgency in Iraq to the Arab mujahedin who successfully fought the Soviets in Afghanistan with help from the United States and Islamic governments like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Those so-called Afghan Arabs were the cadres that went on to form al-Qaida, but Garzon said the Iraq war was creating "an even more serious problem."

continued...”

“This is not a surprise.”

“Is this guy for real? Saying they learned how to make car bombs, so now the threat is greater in America?!

LOL

Um, I think they pretty much had that down before, and if they didn't, a simple google would have gave them all the info they needed.”

“Cressey said the new generation of militants -- used to "being hunted in a much more aggressive fashion than by law enforcement" -- will have acquired skills "in terms of operational security, counter-surveillance, communication and overall tradecraft that are going to make it very difficult to track them and take them down."”

“TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's spy chief used just two words to respond to White House ridicule of last week's presidential election: "Thank you."

His sarcasm was barely hidden. The backfire on Washington was more evident.

The sharp barbs from President Bush were widely seen in Iran as damaging to pro-reform groups because the comments appeared to have boosted turnout among hard-liners in Friday's election — with the result being that an ultraconservative now is in a two-way showdown for the presidency.

"I say to Bush: `Thank you,'" quipped Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi. "He motivated people to vote in retaliation."

Bush's comments — blasting the ruling clerics for blocking "basic requirements of democracy" — became a lively sideshow in Iran's closest election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And they highlighted again the United States' often crossed-wire efforts to isolate Iran.
[...]
[T]he harder the United States pushes, even with the best of intentions, the more ground it has seems to lose among mainstream Iranians, who represent possible key allies against the Islamic establishment, say some analysts of Iranian politics.

"Unknowingly, (Bush) pushed Iranians to vote so that they can prove their loyalty to the regime — even if they are in disagreement with it," said Hamed al-Abdullah, a political science professor at Kuwait University.
[...]
Iranian authorities claim Bush energized undecided voters to go to the polls and undercut a boycott drive led by liberal dissidents opposed to the Islamic system.

The unexpectedly strong turnout — nearly 63 percent — produced a true surprise in the No. 2 finish of hard-line Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, He will face the top finisher, moderate statesman Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a Friday runoff.

Rafsanjani, Iran's president in 1989-1997, has said he is open to greater dialogue with the United States.

But Ahmadinejad offered no such opening after the vote was tallied Saturday, and he could take a harsher stance toward the United States and its concerns — especially accusations that Iran is secretly seeking nuclear arms. Iran denies the charges and puts them down to U.S. anger with the clerical regime.
[...]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050619/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_bush_backfire_1”

“Stratfor makes some Middle East predictions for 2006:

The year 2006 will be one of political accommodations and
negotiations. These talks -- which will involve emerging political
forces (both state and non-state actors), incumbents and the United
States -- will not translate into a state of peace, but will bring
violence in the region more or less back to pre-Sept. 11 levels,
where the intensity of the conflicts will no longer provoke
geopolitical urgency of global proportions.

Violence will continue in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Israeli-
Palestinian theater, and jihadists will stage occasional attacks
elsewhere in the region; but the political negotiations will be much
more geopolitically significant than the militancy. The general trend
will be toward political settlements of one kind or another.

The dust that was thrown up by the Sept. 11 attacks appears to be
settling. Every state, in flux since Sept. 11 -- and each conflict,
impacted by the Sept. 11 attacks and the U.S. response -- seems to be
returning to business as usual. Actors at the domestic level are
negotiating with each other, and to varying degrees the United States
is involved in these talks. There also are talks at the international
level. In essence, militant Islamism no longer poses a strategic
threat to the region.

We will see this process of accommodation play out in the domestic
politics of Iraq, Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria,
Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The new Iraqi government will act to stabilize the country, and there
will be movement toward a significant reduction in U.S. and coalition
forces toward the end of 2006. The year will see major violence as
Baghdad seeks to go after the jihadists and the other rejectionist
Sunni elements. There also will be intense political negotiations
involving Shia, Sunnis and the Kurds on power-sharing matters, likely
resulting in a coalition government. Given that the Sunnis will be
included in this new full-term regime, the insurgency likely will
decrease in intensity.

The crisis over the Iranian nuclear program will ratchet up to
dangerous levels of brinksmanship with Israel and the United States.
However, this likely will result in a negotiated settlement, with
Tehran eventually backing down.

Iran seeks guarantees on Iraq and is playing the anti-Israeli card to
pressure Washington into obtaining those guarantees. The emergence of
a regime in Baghdad dominated by Tehran's allies among the Iraqi
Shia, along with the negotiations over the long-term presence of U.S.
military forces in the Iraq, will coincide with a deal on the nuclear
issue. Iran is likely to achieve a deal that allows the clerical
regime to have enrichment capability but that, to satisfy the
Israelis, will prevent it from moving toward weaponization. This will
be achieved with Russian involvement at the technical and political
levels. Though the conflict will make its way to the United Nations
Security Council, no substantive punitive measures are likely to be
taken against Iran -- the real issue is the back-channel talks
between Washington and Tehran over Iran's strategic position
regarding Iraq.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah
Yazdi -- a leading cleric within the ultraconservative camp -- has a
fair chance of making it into the Assembly of Experts when elections
for the 86-member body take place. This organ of the regime is in
charge of appointing the supreme leader of the radical Islamist
Shiite republic, monitoring his performance and removing him if he is
deemed incapable of fulfilling his duties. This suggests that there
will be a lot of negotiations between the ultraconservatives and the
pragmatic conservatives, as neither group can enforce its own choice
for supreme leader unilaterally.

Despite the blowback incurred from the assassination of al-Hariri,
Syrian President Bashar al Assad will be able to keep his regime
intact to reach the 2007 presidential elections. This will give him
time to work out some form of accommodation with Washington whereby
Damascus will maintain its presence in Lebanon in return for actively
cooperating in containing the Iraqi insurgency at its borders.
Fledgling militant Islamist movements in neighboring Lebanon likely
will make their presence known in the Levant region through sporadic
attacks, but will fail to spark sustainable insurgencies.

Should jihadists begin to use Lebanon as a launchpad for attacks
against Israel, Israel can be expected to retaliate. Iran and Syria
will use the opportunity to regain influence over Lebanon by offering
to guarantee stability in the country, so long as Israel does not
resort to a ground invasion. Lebanon will suffer from its usual
degree of political instability as political jockeying will intensify
to unseat lame-duck President Emile Lahoud. Lebanese-based militant
group Hezbollah will likely manage to work out an arrangement with
the ruling government to incorporate its militia into Lebanon's
formal security apparatus and avoid pressure to disarm.

Al Qaeda, meanwhile, is becoming more of a brand name than an actual
organization, or even a movement. So long as Osama bin Laden and his
deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remain at large, they will serve as
figureheads, providing moral support and broad strategic guidance to
the fighters dispersed across the globe who will do the actual
training, planning and execution of operations. The only branch that
al Qaeda has thus far been able to rely on is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's
Iraqi group, which itself is faced with the threat of destruction
given the increasing involvement of Iraqi Sunnis in the country's
political process. Eventually al Qaeda will lose Iraq, at which point
it will effectively cease to exist as an organization. Only loosely
affiliated local and regional cells will remain, as the jihadist
campaign devolves into low-intensity insurgencies with occasional
attacks in select areas in North Africa, the Levant and the Arabian
Peninsula.

But a decentralization of the group will not necessarily decrease the
threat level in the West, especially in Europe. Al Qaeda will undergo
a severe decline in 2006 with the loss of Iraq, but its usual stream
of major operations will continue.

Hamas will emerge as a major player on the Palestinian political
scene in the wake of the parliamentary elections in January. This
will lead to major internal upheaval within the Palestinian
territories, as the ruling Fatah will adjust to the challenge from
Hamas and try to deal with internal rifts. Hamas will soften its
militant stance and take care to choose government slots primarily in
the security apparatus, avoiding positions that would require direct
contact with Israel. Hamas will struggle with retaining its
legitimacy as a militant resistance movement in light of its newly
acquired political prowess, and will attempt to co-opt its militants
into the Palestinian security apparatus to bypass pressure to disarm.
Another approach that Hamas could take is formalizing a split in the
organization to include a political and militant wing.

Once the January elections have passed and Hamas' capabilities are
built up in the West Bank, it will follow through with its plans to
revive attacks against Israel if it feels its political interests are
threatened. If, however, Hamas gains a major share in the Palestinian
National Authority, it will likely gain a degree of control over
Palestinian security forces. Given that it is the largest militant
group with influence over other militant factions, this could lead to
a more stable internal security situation. However, that development
could lead to an increase in clashes between Israeli and Palestinian
security forces on the borders of the Palestinian proto-state.

Flare-ups in the West Bank or along the Israel-Gaza border, however,
will meet an aggressive Israeli response, especially as Israel has
been injected with a heavy dose of instability with Sharon's untimely
health complications.

Sharon's incapacitation will leave the Israeli political system in a
major flux this coming year as the country currently lacks another
charismatic leader with the ability to drive a centrist agenda.
Sharon's new Kadima party likely will survive through the March
elections, although it will not succeed in securing the same degree
of support that it would under Sharon. The March elections will
likely result in a center-left coalition with acting Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert at the helm. Sharon's policy of disengagement from select
areas in the West Bank will not be able to make significant headway
in the coming year, which will raise the possibility of a revival in
the Palestinian militant scene.”

“And just a little blurb about the U.S. economy, just to tick off violin et al:

In spite of the tone in the American media, the economic story of
2005 was the strength and sustenance of the American boom. When
preliminary fourth-quarter growth statistics are released in February
2006, they will likely indicate that the U.S. economy has been
growing in excess of a 3 percent rate for the past 10 quarters. The
United States has not experienced growth that powerful and even since
the 1980s.

All of the underlying factors that made that growth possible -- a
transparent banking sector, efficient allocation of capital, a
culture of entrepreneurship, a flexible labor market, the willingness
to allow firms to fail -- remain in place. Barring a string of events
similar to the Sept. 11 attacks or Hurricane Katrina or the
development of bird flu into a strain that gives the human race a run
for its money, there is little reason to expect U.S. growth to slow
appreciably in 2006.

That is doubly true since commodity prices are expected to fall back
somewhat from their strong growth in 2004 and plateauing in 2005. A
leading reason for the recent high prices in energy and other
industrial commodities has been that the demand generated strong
global growth -- the strongest such growth, in fact, in more than 20
years. This growth is not likely to fade. In fact, there are even
some indications that it could accelerate”

“Interesting predictions. I think the Bush team will definitely want to do everything they can to ensure an atmosphere of quiet and progress this year. It'sless than 10 months until the US elections. Troop withdrawals from Iraq will be made, timing and quantity will be titrated to maximize political effect and minimize the possibility of things blowing up before the November elections.”

“... all setting up the perfect environment for CONDOLEEZZA RICE to take over!!!

*cheering*

(ok, maybe not - but one can dream)”

“. Troop withdrawals from Iraq will be made, timing and quantity will be titrated to maximize political effect and minimize the possibility of things blowing up before the November elections.

Yep, to be sure.”

“"... all setting up the perfect environment for CONDOLEEZZA RICE to take over!!!"

”

“Nice try at a save, MarkO.....let's see if this works......

”

“WASHINGTON — The United States long has been a source of irritation for the rest of the world, but the news is worse this year.

While Europeans and Asians and Arabs increasingly have disliked U.S. policies or specific U.S. leaders in recent years, Americans were liked and admired.

Polls show an ominous turn. Majorities around the world think Americans are greedy, violent and rude, and fewer than half in countries such as Poland, Spain, Canada, China and Russia think Americans are honest.

"We found a rising antipathy toward Americans," said Bruce Stokes of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which interviewed 93,000 people in 50 countries over four years.

Few analysts expect more than marginal improvements, short of another Sept. 11.

"In my judgment, you're going to see a lot of this hostility disappear only when various countries really feel they need friendly relations with the United States, probably for their own security," said Richard Solomon, a veteran diplomat and negotiator who is president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a federally funded nonpartisan think tank. "It will probably take some major event for that to take place."

The dislike is accelerating among youth, Stokes said. For example, 20 percent of Britons younger than 30 have an unfavorable opinion of Americans, double the percentage of 2002.

The problem, Stokes said, "is Americans, not just [President] Bush."

In increasing numbers, people around the globe resent U.S. power and wealth and reject specific actions such as the occupation of Iraq and the campaign against democratically elected Palestinian leaders, in-depth international polling shows.

Stokes and his colleagues at the Pew Research Center, a respected, nonpartisan public-opinion group in Washington, D.C., found that fewer and fewer people see the United States as a land of high ideals and opportunity. More than half those asked in France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Britain said the "spread of American ideas and customs" was a "bad thing."

This represents a major challenge for the United States, which, after a period of aggressive "go-it-alone" foreign policy, again is coming to rely on allies and international partners.

For example, the United States has counted on Britain, France, Germany and the United Nations to persuade or coerce the Iranian government to abandon its nuclear program. And it shares its military burden with 9,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan and 20,000 in Iraq.

Credibility problem

Keeping the peace, winning the war on terrorism and other critical goals are achievable "only if people like you and trust you," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.

Instead, Kohut and his associates find U.S. credibility eroding, even among NATO allies.

Almost half those polled in Britain, France and Germany dispute the concept of a global war on terrorism, and a majority of Europeans think the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. More than two-thirds of Germans, French and Turks think U.S. leaders lied about the reasons for war and think the United States is less trustworthy than it once was.
Kohut found a significant decline among those holding "favorable" views of the United States. In Brazil, 52 percent held a favorable view of the United States in 2002; that had dropped to 34 percent one year later. In Russia, the pro-U.S. portion of the population dropped from 61 percent to 36 percent over a year.



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002999203_usimage17.html”

“USA is upset his guy lost the election.

Remember the SuperBowl? Kinda like that.

typical”

“When you are the best, people dislike you. IN the 1980's in France we found the Parisians were PIGS. But when we got outside of the major cities we found almost every village had a statue to the AMERICAN soldiers who liberated them. In one village we were eating at a small resturant and an old man saw the AA of the 82nd on the right shoulder of one of our Sergeants. The old man got up and left the resturant. Ten minutes later he returned with a photo of him as a boy with two 82nd troopers during the liberation of the village.
In 1983 an upper classman of mine was completing his Thai Jump school jumps. They were dropped near the border and he told us of an old farmer running up, seeing the American Flag on his uniform and saying,"Thank God, the Americans are back."
I have copied in these threads REAL reports from Iraqis talking about how they love us. Sadly the third world nations (Europe, etc) hate us because we remind them of their failed responsibility in the modern world.
I continually relate it to the occasional negative letters to the editor I see about the Fire Fighters in my community. When we do a little research almost all of them were unable to compete training or become a Fireman. Typical sour grapes and I look at it as so.”

“BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A classified intelligence report concludes that the Iraq war has worsened the terrorist threat to the United States, U.S. officials told CNN Sunday.

Some intelligence officials have said as much in the past, but the newly revealed document is the first formal report on global trends in terrorism by the National Intelligence Estimate, which is put out by the National Intelligence Council.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/24/iraq.main/index.html”

“Yeah, we keep getting attacked in the U.S.

OW! Those tewowists hewt me again.”

“All this un-needed killing in Iraq is making investments in war industries SAFER.


”

“

”

“Why are the pictures from the right real photos, and the ones from the left doctored?”

“They are stacked vertically, not right and left.”

“None of these are doctored, wtf you on about?”

“Oh boy! A new troll? Wonderful!

*click*”

“See how rapidly he chose to ignore the inconvenient truth. 4 minutes 17 seconds.”

“The guy is not fun at all............taking himself way too seriously.”

“Exactly MarkO - he didn't even tell me I hated America or accuse me of supporting terrorists. That's the way the right deals with any opposition.”

“Ah, yesteryear it was commie-this and commie-that.

Now those of us who don't go along are somehow terrorists.

What next.............?

Do terrorists carry cards?”

“MarkO does hate America.”

“Well, as funny as it seems, according to that report, it appears to be those on the right who are doing more to support the terrorists.
Who'd have thought it? I mean they're the real patriots right? They're the ones who promote freedom? - when all this time they've been promoting the terrorists' cause.

Maybe the real terroist supporters are the ones carrying the Bush campaign contribution cards - they were just too stupid to realize it.
That really is an inconvenient truth.”

“Damn, will you two just have sex and be done with this? LOL!”

“If you want gay porn nigal - then I'm sure you know where to find it already.”

“Username: InconvenientTruth
State of residence: Maryland
Member since: 9/24/06


Silly Stupid troll.”

““"MarkO does hate America."
SS

There's a perfect example...

I suppose that means that I am a terrorist.

Hmmmm, guess I scare the crap out of(terrorize) SSLOL.

Boo!!”

“Why do you hate America, MarkO?”