io9 blogs on Evan Booth, who devised weapons built from items found inside an airport, after you go through security.

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/h3hjbnSroA/

From the original post on io9:

Shotguns are not allowed through airport security. But what does that matter if you can build one from items purchased in an airport gift shop? The break-action shotgun pictured above was made from Red Bull cans, a hair dryer, batteries and a can of Axe body spray – and it can blast a handful of pocket change through a sheet of drywall.

My dad always says that if someone wants to hurt you bad enough, they'll find a way to do it. However, it looks like they don't even have to try that hard. All they have to do is get a little clever. To me, knowing that this is possible is NOT scary. This has been possible for years and will go one being possible. Why am I not afraid? Simple: the overwhelming majority of people on Earth are not killers, terrorists or psychopaths. The overwhelming majority of people in airports are just trying to travel, just like you. And if you happen to have the bad luck of ending up on a plane or in a terminal at the same time as a killer, terrorist or a psychopath, take stock in knowing that it was just random bad luck.

Or, if you swung by Evan Booth's website, you may have already learned how to arm yourself against the insanely unlikely event of being on a plane or in a terminal at the same time as a mean person. That's ultimately my point. All these security measures at airports (taking off our shoes, x-raying our bags/coats/laptops etc, backscatter x-raying our bodies and sometimes getting felt up by a TSA agent) are not going to stop someone who really wants to hurt people.

The likelihood of getting hit by a car, even killed by one, is infinitely higher than of getting killed, or even harmed, in an air-travel-related act of violence. But do we ban cars, stop ourselves from crossing the street, or avoid leaving our homes? Of course not. Yet we act like we can stop someone if they really want to be horrible at the airport.

But the odds are in our favor. So, why bother living in fear? Why bother making air travel such a huge pain in the ass? Sure, keep x-raying bags and making me empty my pockets, but can I please keep my shoes on and my water bottle filled?

Read the original post on io9: http://goo.gl/4CHNg0

Al Qaeda thinks they can weaken our economy by making us overspend on security. War is bad for the economy since when?

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/eNSgqESrsH/

Read the original Reuters article here: http://is.gd/IPbP9n

Read my commentary here:

Riiight, good plan, Al Qaeda! Have you even been paying attention?!? The USG has spent trillion$ on TWO WARS (three if you count Obama's Drone Wars) and billion$ more on "homeland security" and according to "experts" our economy is coming back. Oh yeah and if you bothered to do any research, you'd know that we invent our money out of thin air. How else does our economy crash in 2008 and some how have nearly a trillion dollars injected into it before 2009??? Do you think the Fed just had $700 billion laying around?

The only thing dumber than thinking you can kill our economy by making us go to war is thinking terrorism will change anything for the better.

Idiots.

Yet another supposed "terrorist plot" has been "foiled."

One thing I've noticed about the various terrorist plots foiled by the USG is that they've all involved undercover USG-types posing as Al Qaeda or someone else.  When those dudes in Florida wanted to blow up the Sears Tower, they were to get everything from weapons to boots (BOOTS!) from their Al Qaeda guy.  Their Al Qaeda guy was actually FBI.  Turns out they had zero means to do what they wanted to do.

Likewise, that kid who wanted to leave a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon (I think) a year or two ago--he was a kid who was dealing with, who he thought was an Al Qaeda guy, but was actually an FBI guy.  This was a kid who had no means to commit his act of terror.

And again, recently with this supposed Iranian plot.  Check out what Reuters reported:

U.S. court documents accuse Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S. citizen with an Iranian passport, of paying $100,000 to an informant, who had posed as an associate of a Mexican drug cartel but in fact worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and alerted the authorities to the plot.

Now, there aren't enough specifics here to say it's essentially a case of entrapment (like we can say about the previous two examples), but if the USG is sticking to form, we can certainly consider it a strong possibility until we know for sure.  But seriously, we really shouldn't be surprised if suddenly this story drops out of the media entirely in a few days like those previous stories I mentioned.

It's just another example of this trumped up (non-)war on terror.

Frank Miller: Great Writer and Great Fear Monger? Yeah, probably.

Frank Miller, the man who wrote some of my favorite comic stories ever, has a new graphic novel called "Holy Terror".  If you're familiar with his previous work "300" and his politics, you'll not be too surprised that this new book is about super-heroes going up against jihadists. Spencer Ackerman has reviewed it negatively (understandably) for Wired.  Toward the end of the review, Ackerman explains:

And following 9/11, Miller himself had a sophisticated, complex reaction, intolerant of anyone’s easy pieties. As David Brothers at Comic Alliance reminds, Miller contributed to a volume called 9-11 Artists Respond by offering a scathing, stark series of captions — “I’m sick of flags. I’m sick of God. I’ve seen the power of faith.” — over a haunting illustration of the World Trade Center wreckage.

But it wasn’t God who knocked down the Towers. It was fanatics who believed themselves to have deciphered His true message. Miller doesn’t realize that by portraying them as true disciples of Islam, he’s giving the murderers what they want most. That’s the real terror of Holy Terror, the real lie, and the real naïveté.

Absolutely right.  However, Ackerman glosses over the real truth behind what brought those towers down.  Here's the comment I left on the review:

I never read "300" but I saw the movie and found it to be racist, xenophobic and very much a reflection of Bush-era foreign policy. So, Ackerman's take on "Holy Terror" doesn't surprise me at all. But I think it's an important thing to note, that, while a Believer would defend God and say "God didn't knock down those towers, it was fanatics," an atheist would point out that it's the belief in that god, itself, that did it. Of course, then you put every major religious belief system on the hook (which is why you never see it taken that far). We can't challenge all religions everywhere, now, can we?

But I don't think planet-wide atheism would solve things, either.  Fear-mongering isn't always about religion.  Sure, it was for the Crusades, the Inquisition, the colonization of North and South America ("Convert or die" was the option given to many natives), but often it's about whatever the fear-mongers can get their hands on.  The Soviets were, according to President Reagan, literally, "The Evil Empire" when 30 seconds of thought would have reminded us that they have spouses and children and homes and hopes and dreams *just like us*.  And we all know that the human tendency toward the fear of "The Other" goes back much further than the Soviets and so does said fear's exploitation by humanity's "great" leaders.

That's really what brought the Towers down ten years ago--fear.  Those extremists were terrified of what would happen to their culture, their beliefs, their loved ones if America wasn't stopped.  Likewise, Frank Miller is terrified what will happen to his culture if Islam isn't stopped.  What's worse is that it seems like he wants us all to feel that way, too.  And that is really really sad and kind of scary.

Sorry for the long comment.

I'm just glad Frank Miller has an outlet for his fears!  After watching Thomas P.M. Barnett's "The Pentagon's New Map" seminar on C-SPAN a couple times, I think I truly understand why terrorism happens.  In that seminar Barnett concludes that the majority of the violence in the world comes from regions of low connectivity.  In other words, the people committing the violence don't feel connected to the world around them.  They feel powerless and out of control.  Connected people feel that their voice is heard.  Frank Miller's voice is heard by a lot of people.  I wonder what he would do if suddenly his audience and book deals vanished.  As a writer, myself, I know firsthand that it takes an impossible amount of passion and belief in/for a story to see it through to the end.  Now imagine all that passion and belief with no where to go.

As much as I wish Miller would stop writing, I'd definitely prefer literary terrorism to the literal kind.  Then again, he could just get a blog like the rest of us.

That seminar from Barnett is really quite excellent. I highly recommend you watch it either at the Google Video link above or here on C-SPAN.

UPDATE 16:45:

Someone commented on the above-mentioned Wired article and basically put forth the idea that some of Miller's fears are true, saying in part:

Certainly many Muslims and Arabs are very much the peace loving types that Bush espoused, and that you seem to think all non-Al Qaeda-card-carrying Muslims are -- but it's telling that a few cartoons will get Muslims protesting in the streets about offending Islam, while the bombings carried out in the name of their prophet around the world seem to mostly go unmentioned. The "Not in our name" protests are far and few between.

Ugh... I hate this kind of disguised racism, so I had to say something:

I don't think anyone is saying Islam is a perfect religion with believers who are flawed, just like the rest of us. I think the point is that painting them *all* (or even most of them) as violent people willing to kill for their beliefs is unfair and a mistake. The "connections" you describe are pretty tenuous. I have a good friend who is Muslim and I dated a Muslim, as well. I'm an atheist. They both knew this and they never tried to kill me. Not once! I even had my friend play Jesus in a web video I shot. Does it sound like they have connections to terrorism? Are they acting like extremist Muslims? I don't think so.

As for moderate Muslims not speaking out against extremist Islam, I agree, but then again, how many moderate Christians do we hear speaking out against the extremist Christianity that denies global warming, hates gay soldiers and is somehow simultaneously both pro-life and pro-war at the same time? Hell, while we're at it, I'd love to hear from moderate Jews who are against the occupation of Palestine. However, I also understand why it doesn't happen. How would you like it if I asked you to prove you're not an ethnocentric, paranoid racist? Wouldn't you mind me demanding that you prove your innocence to me?

That's the key, by the way, to know whether you're being unfair to someone else.  Point your judgment or accusations back on yourself.  Do they fit? Or not? And why?

In this commenter's case, he was demanding Muslims prove they aren't supporters of terrorists and aren't terrorists themselves.  But when a similar question is put to him, how would he like it?  He'd probably make excuses about how no group he is affiliated with is responsible for the death of thousands.  To which I would say: "Oh, you're not American then? Because they killed A LOT of people--half-a-million in Iraq, alone!  Probably billions if you go back to the Native Americans during the time of western expansion!  So, go ahead, prove you're not a genocidal maniac like so many other Americans throughout history. Or maybe you don't like someone demanding you prove you're not like other people of your kind since you're pretty sure you're not."

Earliest form of 911 Exploitation by the Media Came Just Days After

I won't go on about this too much, but I remember right after 911 seeing the "911" issue of People Magazine.  I know it's a rag, but I was really surprised and shocked at what I saw inside of it.  I scanned in the parts that offended me the most and set up a web page detailing everything, including a pissed off email I sent to the editor at the time.  Check out this page here: http://thepete.com/disgustingpeople/

Please forgive the crappy design and layout--it was a time long before Flickr, blogging or even Web 2.0.

 

 

It Has to Be Said: Why 9/11/11 is bugging the shit out of me

Wow... I'm having to unfollow some folks who insist on posting 911-related photos. I wasn't a NYC resident on 9/11/1 but I don't know why people need to relive this event annually and usually do so without recognizing the horrible overreaction it inspired from its victims.  I saw Newsweek's latest magazine cover which seems blissfully unaware of the positive spin it provides on death, war, torture and violence.  Then I saw, in a sad, self-congratulatory Photoshop montage of tweets,  sycophantic followers taking joy in praising said cover (man, that made me angry). I am too scared to look to the TV media because I can easily imagine the absurd depths they'll descend to in order to "properly" exploit the 10th anniversary of 911.

Even my absolute favorite podcast, Stuff You Should Know, got in on the 911-act and talked about "How the World Trade Center Memorial Works."  Usually they talk about things we should know, instead, they talked about stuff we're going to already know because everyone and their uncle is covering that memorial.  I would say that they handled it well, but not handling it at all would be the better path as, really, do you need to bother with this since so many other folks already are?

So, the day after tomorrow, we are going to remember the 3000ish people who died ten years ago on that day in New York, Pennsylvania and in Virginia at the Pentagon... but who will remember the hundreds of thousands who died in Afghanistan and Iraq thanks to the way we reacted?  And what about the tortured, the disappeared and our place in history?  All of these things will be ignored while we desperately try to convince ourselves that 911 justified everything we've done.

A Japanese person I know recently told me that the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki taught Japan that the only way to respond to violence is with peace.  Responding with violence just means more violence.

What is so hard to grasp about this concept?

666cast episode 54: It's the all Osama bin Laden episode! He's dead, but he's not gone!

It’s the all Osama bin Laden episode! He’s dead, but he’s not gone! Why was killing him wrong? Why shouldn’t we celebrate his death? How does this change squat? Answers to all of these questions AND more in this week’s 666cast!

Oh and here’s the FBI’s Most Wanted page for ObL as of this posting:

It doesn’t mention 911. Go figure.

Episode 54 of the 666cast is hosted at Archive.org.

Please subscribe to the feed.

Don’t forget to visit webstore666!

Killing the killer, who's the savage now?

From motherjones:

White House counterterrorism adviser: “There was a female who was in fact in the line of fire…to shield bin Laden from the gunfire,” which speaks to “the nature of the individual.”

Everything you want to know about bin Laden’s death, explained. And updated.

“which speaks to “the nature of the individual.”

Not to mention the nature of the individual pulling the trigger.

I’ve read and heard some disturbing things since Obama’s announcement that bin Laden had been killed, last night.  My wife read something from a Facebook status that went something like this: “3000 souls are smiling tonight.”

Ugh.

Really?

Smiling?

I would have been fine with “3000 souls can finally rest in peace” but they’re smiling?

It seems like people have forgotten just how much time, effort and blood, it’s taken to get to this point. 

More Americans have died in Afghanistan and Iraq than died in the WTC and Pentagon attacks on 9/11/1.  An untold number of non-American civilians have died in both countries, as well.  Weddings were bombed, innocent civilians tortured by our soldiers, as well.  We invaded two countries and spent over a trillion to fight the terror war that we like to say Osama bin Laden started with us on 9/11/1. 

The catch is, he declared that war years earlier, we just didn’t notice.  See, we’ve been viewed as an enemy by a lot of the Middle East since long before 9/11.  So long that, when one looks at the history of American policy objectively, one can’t help but wonder how long our enemies will take it lying down.  In fact, Chalmers Johnson, in his 2000 book “Blowback,” suggested that, if the USG continues it’s current foreign policy as is, it might see attacks on US soil.

Seeing as 9/11 was not the beginning of the war on terror, it’s a mistake to think that this is somehow the end of it.  We have done much to inspire our enemies and to think that just because bin Laden is gone, there won’t be another head for this hydra is to not understand history.

Not only does this not change anything (as one friend of mine posted on Facebook last night) but it doesn’t somehow erase the atrocities the American government has committed over it’s 250 year lifespan. 

Since last night, I’ve been kind of haunted by this moment imagined in my head of people cheering and shouting in celebration of bin Laden’s death when one yells, without recognizing the irony, “who’s the savage now?!?!”

The answer to that, of course, has always been: us.

EFFYOU.ORG: EFFYOU to alleged terrorism fighters who don't go after ACTUAL terrorists.

EFFYOU.ORG: EFFYOU to alleged terrorism fighters who don't go after ACTUAL terrorists.

effyouorg:

All of the folks out there that are going after Al Qaeda or other extremist-types with the actual means to cause physical harm, GOOD ON YOU!  Keep up the good work!!  All the other folks out there who go after pissed off kids and other losers who have precisely zero means to commit the acts they say they want to commit: EFF YOU.

Among the principles the United States was founded on, none of them encourages or condones the arrest of people who would LIKE to harm others but can’t actually do it.  In fact, one of the most basic concepts behind our country is the idea that every human is entitled to freedom of thought.

What happens when you find a 21 year-old guy or a 19 year-old kid who are pissed off at the government and dream of killing people?

Nothing.

Well…

Read the rest at http://effyou.org

The USG trumps up threat then tells us how they're protecting us from it.

This is something I’ve noticed the USG and the FBI doing for a while.  See if you can notice what’s wrong with the following cutting from a November 28, 2010 article at LATimes.com reporting on a 19 year-old naturalized American (originally from Somalia) who wanted to blow up a bunch of Americans (I’ll add italics to make it obvious):

“The threat was very real,” said Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale.”

According to the FBI, they arrested Mohamud after he dialed a cellphone that he thought would detonate a huge bomb — six 55-gallon drums, diesel fuel and a large box of screws — in a large white van parked near the tree lighting.

But the bomb was a fake built by the FBI, and the packed crowds who enjoyed a youth choir and a symphony orchestra at Friday’s holiday celebration at Pioneer Courthouse Square were never in danger, authorities said.

Let me break this down for you:

The FBI finds this teenager who’s pissed at the USG, builds a pretend bomb for him, hands him the detonator and then arrests him when he activates it.

Where’s the crime there, exactly?

I mean, sure, he’s “wrongthinking” like in the Orwell novel, 1984, but wrongthinking isn’t illegal (yet). 

On top of that, this guy had no obvious means to make a bomb to kill anyone on his own.  He’s a kid.  I remember how moody and obnoxious I was when I was 19! (If you think I’m bad now!) 

Why is it that we only hear about these toothless tigers and not actual threats being foiled by the FBI?  Hell, the Times Square Bomber from earlier this year failed in his attempt to blow up a bomb only because he was a complete and utter fucktard.  The FBI didn’t catch him beforehand and nearly lost him as he tried to flee the country. 

Seems the FBI can only catch a terrorist if they arm him and supply him first. It’s like a literal version of the “Straw Man Argument” where you, effectively, make a false statement and then prove it wrong to show how cool you are.  This time, they prop up this kid as a terrorist and then brag about it when they take him down.

There’s something deeply wrong about this.

All This For 500 Al Queda?

underpaidgenius:

David Sanger and Mark Mazetti, New Estimate of Strength of Al Qaeda Is Offered

American intelligence agencies believe that there are most likely fewer than 500 members of the group in a region [Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas]  where the United States has poured nearly 100,000 troops.

This is proof that the US government is cracked. We are spending billions every month to wage a ‘war’ — in reality, to attempt to suppress a terrorist movement — than comprises a few hundred hard core radicals.

Afghanistan is not a ‘country’ in any sense, and neither is Pakistan, really. We are wrestling with shadows.

Insanity.

Sociopathy.

I’ve been saying for years that Al Qeada is a joke and that we have little (if anything) to truly fear from these guys.  The USG has us as scared of a handful of idiots in the desert as we were of the Soviet Union.  This is absurd and our leaders should be ashamed.

There are about a thousand things we could be better spending hundreds of billions of dollars on that would save more lives right here inside America.

Where are we going to get the money to pay for free health care for all Americans? I’m pretty sure ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would help pay for it.  That way my step-dad doesn’t have to die of the cancer that is killing him.

But no, let’s keep on being scared of nothing so we can keep the funds flowing into the military industrial complex that runs our government.

Sociopathy.

Dems Debate Whether to Investigate Crimes of Bush Admin or: Why I Refuse Party Affiliation

Dems Debate Whether to Investigate Crimes of Bush Admin or: Why I Refuse Party Affiliation, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

Geh... This is just sad beyond words. WashingtonPost.com is reporting that the Democrats in Washington are torn as to whether or not to go after Bush Admin officials for approving torture.

So, FOR YEARS there have been loads of evidence that the Bush Administration committed crimes. The GAO actually found that they had violated federal law (go to the GAO website and do a search for "covert propaganda"). We all know that acts of torture were committed in Iraq, we know the Bush Admin misled us into war in Iraq and mismanaged our war in Afghanistan.

Yet, no investigation let alone impeachment hearings for any Bushites.

The excuse while Bush was in office was "We can't impeach him now, there just aren't enough votes."

Then, once the Democrats took the majority in Congress, the excuse became "Well, there's not enough time left before Bush steps down."

For anyone who thinks the law should be enforced the last eight years have been very hard.

But it's not getting any easier now. If EVERYTHING ELSE wasn't enough for you, Obama just released memos PROVING Bush officials were down with torture--those of us with morals would THINK we'd finally see some criminal charges.

Maybe we still will--but not before the Democrats debate about WHETHER TO ENFORCE THE LAW.

This is why I refuse to be in either political party. The Democrats are wondering if international and US law needs to be enforced and the Republicans feel the law can go to hell if the cause is just.

The most depressing thing of all is that Obama was supposed to change all of this. Now we see that Democrats and Republicans, alike, believe that the law is to be enforced on the little people and that for the rich (mostly white) folks in government, the law is simply not a concern if one's motives are pure.

I said mostly white, above, because now, apparently, Obama is in violation of the law too--international law demands that war crimminals be prosecuted.

So while I'll never call him "King Barry," Barack Obama is, and will continue to be, above the law until he goes after the Bush Administration.

Progress?

911 Whistleblower Talking Again

Above is a screencap of part of the very first post I wrote about Sibel Edmonds way back in 2004 (http://thepete.com/…efore-911).

As a translator for the FBI, Edmonds says she saw hard evidence in the days after 911 that there were warnings that 911 was going to happen. When she tried to tell people about this, Ashcroft legally gagged her. She eventually got fired and she's been trying to get her story out sideways ever since--that was almost four years ago.

She was quiet for a long time (or maybe it was just that the media wasn't covering her), but now she's spoken to http://TimesOnline.co.uk/ and to BradBlog.com--why to only them? Because, essentially, no one else will listen.

Here are some links if you're interested:

All of my posts on Edmonds:
http://thepete.com/index.php

A CBS story from August 2004 on her:
http://www.cbsnews.com/…6954.shtml

The Times Online article about/with her from January 6, 2008:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/…137695.ece

BradBlog.com's piece on her from two days ago:
http://www.bradblog.com/

Finally, Edmonds' own website:
http://www.justacitizen.com/

Please check this stuff out--if only to learn about it for yourself. But if you are as concerned as I am, please pass on this story to other folks.

Seems there are a lot of well-known-names that are involved in allowing nuclear secrets to get out and, essentially, allowing 911 to happen.

Weee, nothing like some conspiracy crap to make your morning exciting!
Mobile post sent by thepete using Utterz.  Replies.

MORE THAN HALF ARRESTED IN UK AIRLINE TERROR PLOT NOT CHARGED

Hey, check it out--according to an
August 21, 2006 article at CNN.com 11 of the 22 (I thought it was 24)
arrested in connection with a plan to blow up passenger liners over
the Atlantic have been charged.

And, actually, it was 24 people who were originally arrested, but 2
have been released already. The remaining 11 that have not been
charged are still in custody, because the UK isn't like the US. I
believe in the US it's 2 days you can be held without charge (though
in terror cases that is ignored, obviously). The article doesn't
bother to mention how long UK authorities have to charge the remaining
11 or how soon the remaining 11 will be released, if at all.

So, we now see that the Brits got it at least more than half-wrong
with 13 of 24 arrested not being charged. Will we learn more about
the 11 who were charged and will we discover that they are idiots just
like those guys in Florida and Canada?

You can bet on it.

Man, Where to Begin? Zarqawi's Many Deaths? My Few Spare Minutes?

I'm now in the second full week of my new temp gig, which is fine--they've told me they want me to stay on until the fall--which I said I was OK with, but I'm not. After so long finding alternative sources for money the traditional route is really putting me to sleep. I don't fault any of my fellow cube-dwellers out there for not being as fussy about their job as I. I piss off easily and I bore easily.

However, I still manage to sneak in a few glances at the news throughout my days data-entering. One thing I read about was Bush's surprise visit to Iraq. What a stunt!

Man, we Americans are idiots--or at least, that's what the Bush Administration must think of us. Back on Monday [http://thepete.com/fun-with-the-usg-al-zarqawi-and-themedia/|I blogged about Zarqawi] and how he is being used, even now, by the Bush Admin to enhance their standing in the eyes of Americans.

The funny thing is that in that blog post of mine, I link to [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4446084/|an article from 2004] at MSNBC.com that reports on reports of Zarqawi's death--please note that the article was posted back in 2004. Now, it's also important to note that there are certain correlations between that story from two years ago and the Zarqawi of today and even a few weeks ago.

Now, before I run a clip from that article, I want to point out that for months the US Mil, the media and the USG have been trying to sell this whole "sectarian violence" thing in Iraq. They keep pumping up the idea that it's an all out Sunni Vs. Shia Muslim Civil War right now.

However, I've heard many Iraqi civilians admit to there being no great animosity between the two sects of Islam. There are even numerous examples of intersectual marriage. (You like that word? "Intersectual"?) Yet still the stories of sectarian violence persist.

Other stories that persist surround Zarqawi. Many say he was an "evil" man and a savage and all that. Meanwhile many others say he was just a CIA stooge, like Noriega, Pinochet, or even Saddam, by some estimates. The point is that Zarq was such the perfect badguy for the Bush Admin that many began to think that he was a little too perfect. Now check out a clip from that AP.org [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4446084/|article] from 2004:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq “during the American bombing there,” according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the “Leadership of the Allahu Akbar Mujahedeen.”

...

The statement did not say when al-Zarqawi was supposedly killed, but U.S. jets bombed strongholds of the extremist Ansar al-Islam in the north last April as Saddam Hussein’s regime was collapsing.

It said al-Zarqawi was unable to escape the bombing because of his artificial leg.

Before the Iraq conflict began last March, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said al-Zarqawi received hospital treatment in Baghdad after fleeing Afghanistan. U.S. intelligence sources said he apparently was fitted with an artificial leg.

The statement said the “fabricated al-Zarqawi memo” has been used by the U.S.-run coalition “to back up their theory of a civil war” in Iraq.

So, the total badass that the US mil couldn't catch was a one-legged man? Like Osama's kidney problems, Zarq's one-leggedness didn't seem to slow him down much. Hell, he was even able to survive for 2 more years only to narrowly fall short of escaping a ton of US bombage falling on him.

Also: even two years ago, his supposed followers were suggesting he was being used as a tool by the US--that the USG's claim that Zarq was trying to cause a civil war was something the USG made up. Then, check this other bit from that article:

“The truth is, al-Qaida is not present in Iraq,” the Mujahedeen statement said. Though many Arabs entered the country to fight U.S. troops, only a small number remain, the group said.

This totally fits with other stuff [http://thepete.com/iraqi-insurgents-not-al-qaeda/|I've blogged about], too. I've read that US Mil experts, themselves, have said that they've found a very small number of foreign fighters in Iraq. So, it may very well be that the USG is just trumping up all of this to first make us feel threatened and second to make us feel victorious.

I mean, why would there be a statement from people claiming to be Zarq's followers saying he was dead and that the US was lying about him unless the USG really was? Were they just doing it to discredit the USG? Seems like the USG has already done plenty to do that on their own.

While I never believe anything 100%, I do believe there's more to learn regarding this angle of the Iraquagmire.

I'm reminded of Orwell's 1984 once again and how Big Brother created an enemy for the people to be afraid of.

Well, back to being tired. I hope to return to regular blogging once I build up a tolerance for brain-deadening data entry work. I'm consistently amazed at how a crappy dayjob is able to suck so much energy out of your soul despite the fact that you're just sitting there at a computer all day long...

THE 5 MINUTE SHOW BREAKS DOWN THE IRAQ ATTACK!

Click here for previous episodes!	THE 5 MINUTE SHOW EPISODE 12 IS READY TO FLY! This week, The 5 Minute Show breaks down the truth behind the Iraqi people and why they're playing so hard to liberate. Download today! Each episode is under 10 mbs in Real Media but is between 10 & 15 mbs in Quicktime... STREAM REAL MEDIA EPISODE 12 DL REAL MEDIA EPISODE 12 DL/STREAM QUICKTIME EPISODE 12 (Quicktime version not recommended - it's file-size is huge and has crappy sound!) stream last week's Real Media episode dl last week's Real Media episode dl/stream last week's Quicktime episode (Quicktime version not recommended - it's file-size is huge and has crappy sound!)
ThePete is your host!	This week's title!
This week's guest!	LOOK!! IT'S THE 5 MINUTE SHOW TICKER!!

Quick LA protest clip up from the Oscars!

ThePete, here... Well, sorry this is so minimal. I've got almost two hours of footage to get through and a lot of capping. I did cap the final excitement for the afternoon. At approximately 6:15pm, LAPD in riot gear decided to clear us out of our little protest section and began running after us. I'm not sure how serious they were about arresting us, but I didn't stick around to find out. Check out the below Real Media clip to see why I won't be getting any cinematography awards...

The first person you see in the clip is a guy who was arrested the day before at another rally in Hollywood - this one at the CNN building. The rest is pretty self-explanatory...

cop chase clip 3mb streaming Real Media.

More clips coming soon! Please comment if you have any thoughts whatsoever.

ANTI-WAR PROTEST FOOTAGE ON THE 5 MINUTE SHOW

Hi, ThePete here... When I'm not posting articles here, I am busy with the rest of my web site. One of the things I do is shoot a weekly show called "The 5 Minute Show". Most of the episodes are dumb fun, but the last four have been much more serious and feature footage I shot at the big anti-war rally in Hollywood back on February 15. Please check out the episodes - hey, they're only five minutes a pop - and I've got more footage on the way. I shot stuff on the 20th and I plan on being at the protest within a block from the Oscars on the 23rd, as well. I'll be posting clips as I can cut them together. There's been so much going on, it's been very difficult to work out what to write about.

All links here are streaming Real Media, but you can download them or Quicktime versions by checking out The 5 Minute Show Home Page. Just remember, I'm no Jon Stewart (and neither is my budget!). Here are the episodes of The 5 Minute Show:

THEPETE GOES TO (ANTI)WAR IN EP. 7 OF THE 5 MINUTE SHOW

THEPETE STILL WAGING ANTI-WAR IN EP8 of THE 5 MINUTE SHOW

THEPETE & LA VS. BUSH & WAR IN EP 9 OF THE 5 MINUTE SHOW

EP. 10 of THE 5 MINUTE SHOW - VIDAL, PATRIOT ACT 2 & MORE

And here's the episode I shot the day the war broke:
IRAQ ATTACK IS BAD on Ep11 OF THE 5 MINUTE SHOW