September 27, 2006
James Joyner
. . . reproduces the declassified portions of the NIE, and remarks, "we're actually paying people to come up with this?"
Sad, but true.
Posted by: Attila Girl at
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Those without political blinkers will recall that the left excoriated and depreciated the intelligence community's credibility when the NIE indicated that Saddam had WMD.
In a fit of political apoplexy they fully endorsed every word of this NIE report, until President Bush released the parts that belied their arguments.
It's axiomatic that the left is weak on defense but the legitimate criticisms of Iraq notwithstanding, they have yet to formally articulate a credible alternative policy. Their political posturing will come at a real cost.
Bring on November.
Posted by: Philip Mella at September 27, 2006 06:50 PM (8HN5p)
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Going with the "we're actually paying people to come up with this?" theme, we did pay RAND to do a study that found a nuclear bomb going off in Long Beach Harbor would be devistating.....well DUH!
Posted by: the Pirate at September 27, 2006 09:09 PM (Rg0+S)
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We paid RAND? How much? Betca I come come up witha 100+ page report with the same conculsion for less!
Posted by: Chuck at September 27, 2006 09:43 PM (GrExI)
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We paid RAND? How much? Betcha I come come up witha 100+ page report with the same conculsion for less!
Posted by: Chuck at September 27, 2006 09:43 PM (GrExI)
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September 26, 2006
Iraq As a Terrorist Training Tool
Karl has started an interesting discussion over at
Protein Wisdom.
Posted by: Attila Girl at
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Why AQ Is Off the Air
Via
Insty comes this news from
Strategy Page: people are flying less, because procedures for air travel are so arbitrary. But terrorists are only targeting airplanes less because they fear mutiny—the "Flight 93 Syndrome."
I have to admit that I'm a bit tired of airlines taking advantage of 9/11. For example, why not let us transfer air tickets from one person to another after they've been bought? If everyone has ID, how can this possibly be a risk?
Posted by: Attila Girl at
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Well, the Feds can't check all the data like they can when you are the registered buyer(well before the flight). And they can't see your credit card info., or know you even have one. And with IDs the way they are....
All in all, it adds a lot more variables into the mix.
Posted by: Darrell at September 26, 2006 08:56 PM (7WIKO)
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I'm talking about my cousin having to buy a ticket for his 17-year-old son when there was no more room on the flight the rest of the family was taking-- and then wanting to swap them so that his son wouldn't have to fly alone. He figured it would make more sense to do that himself.
The airline wouldn't let them do this, citing FAA rules or some such horseshit.
The money issue is moot; my cousin was paying for them all with the same credit card. And the potential swap was weeks before the flights were to leave, so there should still have been time to check everyone against the no fly lists and whatever else they like to do.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 26, 2006 11:00 PM (LEEsJ)
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I don't understand. Why is the missing ticket for the 17-year old? Can't one of the older adults fly alone? And aren't tickets now all sold with a name attached. If you trade tickets, some other person's name will be on that ticket and the airlines and the gov't won't know who's really on the plane. That used to happen all the time with the secondary market in tickets.
Do you know that we really don't know the names of the real 9/11 hijackers? Airport tapes from the months prior to the attack show multiple people travelling with those identities. Obviously, senior people planned the attack and the suicide operatives executed it. Absent good IDs, with some sort of DNA info., or at least fingerprints and eye scans and facial metrics attached--we can never control security. And the gov't needs instant access to a gov't file showing all the original IDs issued so that they can compare the ID presented to the original to spot forgeries.
Posted by: Darrell at September 27, 2006 09:09 AM (OWmpK)
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Originally, the family was going to fly from the SF area to Florida. The eldest son was unable to go because of another commitment. Tickets were bought; the family would fly together.
Then the school schedule changed, and the eldest son would be able to go. They didn't want him to fly alone, but rather one of the adults. The airline didn't allow the family to change the names on the tickets once they'd been purchased, so the 17-year-old had to fly alone.
It seems to me that the airlines aren't allowing names to be changed as a convenience to them, rather than to serve any real security purpose. It's just silly.
Posted by: Attila Girl at September 27, 2006 12:34 PM (LEEsJ)
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I agree there has to be some flexibility and common sense. What airline was it? United? They're just being pissy or looking for the $100 cancellation fee. I asked the Transportation Security Administration - the federal agency responsible for airport security - what would happen if I showed up at a checkpoint with an ID and ticket that didnÂ’t match. It told me that IÂ’d be subjected to additional screening at the airport checkpoint, but allowed through. The correct last name would definitely be a plus. BTW, a 17-year old can put together any kind of ID to match one of the adult male names because 17-year olds don't usually carry ID. Or anything official, like a driver's license with picture--not every 17-yo drives. Also, you could use the "nickname" ruse if the 17-yo wanted to carry his own ID. My name is Thomas, but my friends/family call me Alex after my Grandpa. The adult then can buy a ticket on an earlier/later flight under his/her correct name.
Posted by: Darrell at September 27, 2006 08:33 PM (4T7E2)
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September 20, 2006
Bitter Late . . .
I didn't make it over to On Tap for their
9/11 anniversary discussion. I should have. It's a nice, intro-level "why I'm a warmonger" piece.
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September 11, 2006
Remembering 9/11
Thanks, K, for
letting us know. If you hadn't called, I might have gotten right into my car five years ago, oblivious to the destruction until I heard about it on the way to work.
After all, I don't usually do media before I leave the house. At least, I didn't then. Now I generally at least check my mail before I'm out of here, so I at least see the Google News headlines. Still no old media, though.
Posted by: Attila Girl at
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You're more than welcome.
About that *no media before leaving the house* thing? I had no idea you were like that, too. Back in my working days, I couldn't understand anyone who could listen to TV first thing in the morning. To me it was unbearable. I felt invaded and brainwashed and unshielded.
It got to where office guys were playing little brinky games with me, since usually I was far more up on news in general than they were. Yet, since I couldn't bear to turn on GMA or the Today Show, etc., they'd know stuff in the AM before I did. I'd only turn on the radio once in the car, and usually for music not news.
It only changed after I quit working. Now I can take small bits of certain things earlier, before my 1 1/2 hour *wake-up* time is over.
That change started before 9/11 - it's why I had GMA on in the first place. The events of that day, though, solidified it in a way I'd never thought possible.
Posted by: k at September 13, 2006 05:11 PM (XBgwe)
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Was 9/11/01 "The Birth of the Blog"?
Yes. Blogs certainly existed before then, but I think the huge involvement/interest in "citizen journalism" is directly linked to 9/11. No one is content to get his/her information filtered through a large institution any more: we want to make up our own minds.
Glenn has more.
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September 10, 2006
I'm Watching
. . . ABC News. Like, television network news.
They now have the blogger market, which . . . you know, if you have us, you have everything.
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It Was a Tuesday Morning.
I was under the weather, sleeping in the living room that night, and woke up to K's voice on the answering machine talking about the Pentagon and WTC. By the time I turned on the radio in the master bathroom, it had all happened, and both towers were gone.
I went back just looked into Attila the Hub's eyes. He crossed himself; it had been the only time I'd seen him do that when he wasn't praying, or at church.
And so it began.
Posted by: Attila Girl at
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Glad you were safe and sound in your bed that day.
Posted by: Greta at September 10, 2006 06:09 PM (Cbtbf)
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I wanted to tell you this last year, but didn't.
So -Thanks.
http://ksquest.blogspot.com/2006/09/remembering-those-911-losses.html
Posted by: k at September 11, 2006 07:41 PM (fEnUg)
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