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Posters on THIS board condone what Zarqawi and Bin Laden did?

Posted By: !! on 2006-06-08
In Reply to: Before you get all huffy let me reiterate - ???

Why?  Because they don't all agree with your highness?


Point out one post on this board that condones what they did.


You're pathetic.




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People who condone Bin Ladin and Al Zarqawi...sm
on this board. I can only speak for myself, but I don't think so.

Also, Ann is much worse than Moore in my book. Ann's intent is to turn citizens against citizens. Moore wants to turn people on the conservative government. Different thought processes. Like comparing apples to oranges.

No more than any of the Dem posters on this board....
there's that pesky double standard again. Rather sad, really.
I think that most of the posters on this board

forgot to read the post by the moderator. If they did, they wouldn't be acting so childish.


This used to be a nice place to discuss issues, but no more. It's been taken over by hostile posters. I stayed away for over a month and come back to what???...it's worse then ever!!!! They don't want to discuss issues. They just flame those that have a different opinion.


You have to stay cool and calm and take every post at face value, not get involved in a stupid argument, which is what most of these posts are lately, and not yell or use name-calling.


Freedom of speech does not work on this board and that is why I try not to post anymore. I just read and, sometimes, laugh at some of the most ridiculous ones, then count to 10 if I want to answer in an inflammable way...and leave the board instead.


I don't think 80% of the posters on this board........... sm
are for the bill.

But then, I'm no analyst. LOL
You have no right to talk to the posters on this board the way you have been
No, you’re the one who has no right to talk to us the way you have been. Who do you think you are. You’re the one who started in with “get off this forum and take a cold shower” I just repeated your words back to you. I see you sure didn’t like it when it was said to you, so why do you think it’s okay for you say it to others (no that is not a question – it’s a statement).

So in your own words it comes right back to you - “You have no right to talk to me like that. Who do you think YOU are. You are not the owner of this forum, not a moderator, and not management – you are just you.”

If you don’t want to be told to get off this forum, then you should not be telling others they need to get off the forum.

You claim you weren’t rude??? Here’s some of your quotes –

- get off this forum and take a cold shower
- You are a joke, 'Backward typist,'
- Confused or imbibed?
- There are meds against paranoia, don’t you know?
- You suffer from delusions
- The mind and world of caged-in Republicans and those whose life adheres to every little detail mentioned in the Bible, those are the ones who live in a small world
- paranoid and delusional, is this written in the Bible
- are you o.k.? Or did your UTI reach your brain (oh my wasn’t that one nice)

Oh, and here is an especially good one you said –

“I hate to repeat myself for those who have a slow mind.”

You have been on this board calling people losers, slow minded, pathetic, hateful, etc, etc

We know your democrat – we get it and that’s fine. (please don't try to convince us you are independent - we read your posts. Nothing to be ashamed of being a democrat. Everyone is entitled to their believes/opinions, but that’s doesn’t give you a free pass to bash others and call others names.

My suggestion again is that if you can’t handle a conversation without bashing someone because they don’t believe the same as you, or it just gives you joy to cut others down, there are other forums on the internet that you might be happier at. The moderator has said many times “no flaming”. It’s even at the top of the board and you might want to read it. Your getting very close.

This is the liberal board. Please do not bash the posters here. Thank you. nm

\\


All posters: This board is NOT heavily censored. We only wish to keep
This board is NOT heavily censored.  We only keep posts respectful.  If you don't like it, don't post. It's that simple.  If you can't post respectfully we don't need you here.
Posters may debate here or on the Conservative board and do so in
a respectful manner.  There will be no additional forum as these are sufficient.  If you cannot play nice and post with respect, do not post in this forum.  This goes for ANYONE posting, Liberal, Conservative, polka dotted.
With the glaring exception of several posters on this board...
who don't get it and aren't anywhere near the plate. That being said...I gave Obama kudos immediately. He did step up and in an aggressive way. Good for him.
Message for all Political board posters (SM)

Discussing such hot topics can really incite emotions.  We expect far more tolerance and, to a degree, a thicker skin from posters here. 


Posts with foul language or threats should definitely be reported.  However, simply because you disagree or find a post or poster abrasive does warrant removal.


Please always provide a link for news stories or cited information. 


Moderator


 


Message for all posters on Political board.

The topics on this board can be very inflammatory and sensitive.  In general, you need to be able to control your emotions and develop a "thick skin" to get along on this board. 


Please remember that the Politics board is for political issues/topics.  Anything regarding faith, religion, God, atheism, etc., belongs on the Faith board and those topics will be removed. 


We are not moderating the Politics board to make it a "nice" place to have "nice" discussions.  We moderate it to ensure that as much opportunity to express views, discuss opinions, and debate topics exists.  There will be heated exchanges sometimes.  Respect and civility can be maintained even when debates occur.  This means that you will have to moderate your own reading/responding at times. If a specific poster upsets you, don't read the post.  Sometimes you will simply need to refrain from posting. 


On occasion, there will be hit-and-run posters or trolls who try to upset you with their posts.  Ignore those posts. The more you respond, the more you feed their need for attention.  If there is foul language, hate speech, threats of violence or personal attacks, please use the REPORT THIS MESSAGE feature available.  Do not try to police the board yourself nor try to rally people to your support.  Let us simply weed out the posts and posters, as necessary.


Moderator


 


A Message to ALL Political Board Posters

This board is not moderated for "niceness".  There are controversial topics discussed here, as openly as we can allow.  You WILL find topics, opinions, subject matter that you disagree with.  However, just because you personally don't like it does not mean it warrants removal.  Please do report posts you feel are objectionable but understand that every person who reads and/or posts here should be practicing a pronounced effort at tolerance and allow a wide lattitude for differing opinions. 


This is a prviately owned website, however, and posting guidelines will be enforced as necessary.


Moderator


 


If it's so great there, why don't you STAY there instead of attacking posters on this board

all the time?  I don't need to grow any skin, thank you.  If people are just simply NICE and treat me with respect, they receive the same in turn.  It's called the golden rule.  Liberals on this board follow the golden rule.  It's the conservatives who must constantly attack, and frankly, it's tiresome.  You add nothing of value to this board.  NOTHING.


This board is for liberal posters. Do not bash their posts. sm
Thank you.
Apparently other posters on this board do not share your view...
of free speech. Thank you for your permission, even though it had to be in the form of a potshot. That being said...I would equate fanaticism more with being on board for killing 1.2 million babies a year rather than being against it...but that is just me. I would think that liberals so concerned about war and the innocent killed during one...might show as much concern for innocent babies being killed like shooting fish in a barrel. But alas...not so.
I am responding to all the posters who have made a living on this board denegrating everything that
new President does, even though he has just taken office, give me a break. George had 8 years, and each year was worse than the one before it.....I am not "whining" about Bush, the past is the past and I am trying very hard to focus on change, on a new future, on how we can all help, etc., not waving the Democratic flag, but the AMERICAN flag, I am just referring to history, nonpartison history.
Bin laden's family are NOT bin laden. They disowned him years ago. Please. nm
/
Claim: US Created al-Zarqawi Myth
Claim: US Created al-Zarqawi Myth
    By Jennifer Schultz
    UPI

    Thursday 10 November 2005


The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement.
















The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement.
(Photo: spacewar.com)
    The United States created the myth around Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and reality followed, terrorism expert Loretta Napoleoni said.


    Al-Zarqawi was born Ahmad Fadil al-Khalayleh in October 1966 in the crime and poverty-ridden Jordanian city of Zarqa. But his myth was born Feb. 5, 2003, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell presented to the United Nations the case for war with Iraq.


    Napoleoni, the author of Insurgent Iraq, told reporters last week that Powell's argument falsely exploited Zarqawi to prove a link between then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. She said that through fabrications of Zarqawi's status, influence and connections the myth became the reality - a self-fulfilling prophecy.


    He became what we wanted him to be. We put him there, not the jihadists, Napoleoni said.


    Iraq's most notorious insurgent, Napoleoni argues, accomplished what bin Laden could not: spread the message of jihad into Iraq.


    In an article of Napoleoni's in the current November/December issue of Foreign Policy, she said, In a sense, it is the very things that make Zarqawi seem most ordinary - his humble upbringing, misspent youth and early failures - that make him most frightening. Because, although he may have some gifts as a leader of men, it is also likely that there are many more 'al-Zarqawis' capable of filling his place.


    The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement.


    Al-Zarqawi became the icon of a new generation of anti-imperialist jihadists, she said.


    The grand claim that al-Zarqawi provided the vital link between Saddam and al-Qaida lost its significance after it became known that al-Zarqawi and bin Laden did not forge a partnership until after the war's start. The two are believed to have met sometime in 2000, but al-Zarqawi - similar to a group of dissenting al-Qaida members -rebuffed bin Laden's anti-American brand of jihad.


    He did not have a global vision like Osama, said Napoleoni, who interviewed primary and secondary sources close to al-Zarqawi and his network.


    A former member of al-Zarqawi's camp in Herat told her, I never heard him praise anyone apart from the Prophet [Muhammad]; this was Abu Musab's character. He never followed anyone.


    Al-Zarqawi's scope before the Iraq war, she continued, did not extend past corrupt Arab regimes, particularly Jordan's. Between 2000 and early 2002, he operated the training camp in Herat with Taliban funds; the fighters bound for Jordan. After the fall of the Taliban, he fled to Iraqi Kurdistan and set up shop.


    In 2001, Kurdish officials enlightened the United States about the uninvited Jordanian, said Napoleoni. Jordanian officials, who had still unsolved terrorist attacks, were eager to implicate al-Zarqawi, she claimed. The little-known militant instantly had fingerprints on most major terrorist attacks after Sept. 11, 2001. He was depicted in Powell's speech as a key player in the al-Qaida network.


    By perpetuating a terrifying myth of al-Zarqawi, the author said, The United States, Kurds, and Jordanians all won ... but jihad gained momentum, after in-group dissension and U.S. coalition operations had left the core of al-Qaida crippled.


    In her article, Napoleoni says, [Zarqawi] had finally managed to grasp bin Laden's definition of the faraway enemy, the United States. Adding that, Its presence in Iraq as an occupying power made it clear to him that the United States was as important a target as any of the Arab regimes he had grown to hate.


    ... The myth constructed around him is at the root of his transformation into a political leader. With bin Laden trapped somewhere in Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Zarqawi fast became the new symbolic leader in the fight against America and a manager for whoever was looking to be part of that struggle, she wrote.


    The author points to letters between al-Zarqawi and bin Laden that have surfaced over the past two years, indicating the evolution in their relationship, most notably a shift in al-Zarqawi which led to his seeking additional legitimacy among Sunnis that bin Laden could help bestow.


    In late December 2004 - shortly after the fall of Fallujah - the pan-Arab network Al-Jazeera aired a video of what was bin Laden's first public embrace of Zarqawi and his fight in Iraq.


    ... We in al-Qaida welcome your union with us ... and so that it be known, the brother mujahid Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the emir of the al Qaida organization [in Iraq], bin Laden declared.


    Napoleoni believes that al-Zarqawi, however, is still largely driven by the romantic vision of a restored Caliphate, and that his motives still are less political than some other factions participating in the Iraq resistance.


    She questions whether he has actually devised a plan for what he will do, if and when, he wins.


The fact he described Zarqawi's death is *murder*
is a big clue that he supported what Zarqawi. 
I do not condone GW's DUI's and,
last time I checked, it was legal to be a womanizer.
Just because you don't condone

his lifestyle doesn't mean that you can't allow your daughter to listen to his music.  Just explain to your daughter that you don't approve of his lifestyle choice.  His sexual orientation has nothing to do with his musical ability.  In fact, there are many gay people in the music industry and that goes way back.  This isn't a new phenomenon here.  Remember Liberace?  I take it you refuse to listen to great artists such as Elton John as well? 


I do not approve of the homosexual lifestyle....however, I'm not going to deprive myself of some darn good music just because I don't like what they do in the privacy of their own bedroom. 


So you never listened to Queen, Elton John, George Michael, Melissa Ethridge, Boy George?  All who have good music...IMO.


You don't read things by Oscar Wilde or Walt Whitman?  Come on.


Whether or not you buy this guy's music....he is still going to be gay.  Your refusal to buy isn't going to make him go straight.  Which boy group has Lance Bass in it?  Do you not let her listen to them either because one member is gay? 


I think some anti-gay people need to lighten up a bit.  It isn't like his music has sublingual messages to try and turn everyone gay.


I would rather condone polygamy than
same-sex marriages.

But to me both are wrong and I wished Miss California would have won.

No bashing and insulting, please!
I definitely do not condone group sex, eeewww!...
It is one after the other!

All together, ewwww!
. . .so where is Bin Laden?
He protected nothing.  He made the rest of the democratic world hate the US, throwing his weight around like a ridiculous cowboy, talking like a redneck.  All he did was allow AL Queda to regroup, and they're stronger than ever. 
According to the bin Laden family sm
They disowned Osama a long long time ago. In fact, the bin Laden family owns probably the largest construction company in the Middle East. They built the new U.S. military installation in Saudi Arabia.  I am thinking they were allowed to leave for fear of retribution by Americans.  That was always my thought and I never really questioned it because I knew of the alienation between Osama and his family. 
Bin Laden got what he aimed for.....
economic ruin...........GW played right into his hands...........4 more years, 4 more years, yeah!!!! RUIN!!!!!! McSame even has a cheerleader to inspire the masses.....
Are you talking about bin Laden?

Or are you talking about an old washed up hippie terrorist who probably couldn't swat a fly?


You Republicans come back and defend the fact that bin Laden has not paid for 9/11.  Don't tell me that our military could not have taken him out in 7 years!!!  I suspect Cullen Powell knows more than he has ever said and that it is no accident that he is supporting Obama and not because he happens to be black either.


Osama Bin Laden
Perhaps I am missing something here but what strikes me about the above is the fact that this man has not been found (can't find someone if your'e not REALLY looking).    They sure FOUND Saddam Hussein. The other thing was that when 9/111 took place, when perhaps you or a loved one was trying to get home from college, business trip, etc - all air transportation was shut down but the relatives of Bin Laden were ALLOWED to be flown OUT OF  the U.S...maybe it's just me thinking about it this way...hmmm
What happened to Bin Laden? sm
Watch this Clinton interview by Mike Wallace.  Clinton lets him have it with both barrels and defends why he did not get Bin Laden. 

http://crooksandliars.com/2006/09/24/fox-clinton-interview-part-1-osama-bin-laden/
So, show me bin Laden! I'm sure you
that he is alive and well somewhere.
Even bin Laden is Saudi..........nm
x
It appears that Bin Laden

has threatened Americans again in a new audio tape, saying President Barack Obama inflamed hatred toward the U.S. by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants in Swat Valley and block Islamic law in the area. 


You just can't win with terrorists.  No matter how nice we try to be to Muslims.....the extremists are still going to hate us and want to kill us.


Bush and Bin Laden were (are) friends!

Knew of this way back when 9/11 happened. He also had Saudi Arabians escorted out of the U.S. safely that night or the next night. Good grief!  Keep up with the news!


A mission accomplished for bin Laden.

In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist organizer of 9/11 who still roams free — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” by purchasing oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. The real price of a barrel of oil should be $144, bin Laden demanded.


Ten years ago today, the price of a barrel of oil was just $11. Heading into this holiday weekend, the price of a barrel of oil rested at $144 — a thirteen-fold increase.
One month after 9/11, the New York Times wrote of possible “nightmare” scenarios that would deliver bin Laden’s goal. Neela Banerjee warned that among the “misguided decisions” that would put oil supplies at risk would be “that the United States attacks Iraq.” The Times included this quote in its story:


“If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he’d turn off the tap,” said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. “He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel” — about six times what it sells for now.


Bin Laden didn’t have to become king of Saudi Arabia to achieve his goal; in fact, Bush’s policies delivered it for him. The Bush administration’s catastrophic decision to invade Iraq, sink the nation into debt to pay for that war, and consequently, weaken the dollar have all caused oil prices to soar astronomically.
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last May, Anne Korin, the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, reminded Congress about bin Laden’s goal:

[A]bout ten years ago, Osama bin Laden stated that his target price for oil is $144 a barrel and that the American people, who allegedly robbed the Muslim people of their oil, owe each Muslim man, woman, and child $30,000 in back payments. At the time, $144 a barrel seemed farfetched to most. […]
I would like to impress upon this Committee that $144 a barrel oil will be perceived as a victory for the Jihadist movement and a reaffirmation that the economic warfare component of its campaign against the West is a resounding success. There is no need to elaborate on the implications of such a victory in terms of loss of U.S. prestige and our ability to prevail in the Long War of the 21st century.


Only if you want to say Obama Biden Laden
Which I don't know where the Laden comes in. I don't see the similarity unless you want to see it. You need to get Osama Bin Laden out of your minds and grasp reality. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are two great men in politics. Osama? He's been out of my mind ever since Benazir Bhutto said she knew who had killed Bin Laden (then she was assissinated).
Bin Laden wanted to bankrupt the US. sm
Supporters of the Bush administration like to say that there have been no terrorist attacks on US soil since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, suggesting that President Bush has kept the country safe from terrorism. What they forget is that Osama Bin Laden clearly outlined his strategy for battling America, not by flying more planes into new buildings, but by driving the US into bankruptcy.

Show me bin Laden and maybe I'll be
a little bit.
Yes. Bush most definitely Osama Bin Laden's
NM
We've Found Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden may be hiding out in one of three walled compounds near the Pakistani border, according to scientists who've used satellites and geographic analysis in an attempt to pinpoint the fugitive terrorist's location.


University of California-Los Angeles researchers used nighttime satellite images and population-detection methods to target what they believe to be the 9/11 mastermind's hiding place - Parachinar, a town mere miles from the southern Pakistani border, according to USA Today.


The researchers took into consideration where bin Laden has been spotted and where he would likely frequent since he went underground in 2001, mapping out potential nearby lairs where the AL Qaeda leader could set up house.


The amount of available electricity and the population density of the areas bin Laden was likely to travel through were also a factor in the study's conclusions.


Geographer Thomas Gillespie, who led the UCLA research team, previously used similar techniques to locate endangered species and criminals. The bin Laden study was born out of a seminar Gillespie was teaching to undergraduates on how to use mapping techniques to solve real-life problems, USA Today reported.


Government officials told USA Today that Gillespie's conclusions could potentially hold weight once they are fleshed out and published in journal form.


"The combination of physical terrain, socio-cultural gravitational factors and the physical characteristic of structures are all important factors in developing an area limitation for terror suspects," John Goolgasian of the federal National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency told USA Today.


President Barack Obama has said on the campaign trail and in office that one of his main priorities in the White House will be to locate the terrorist leader.


"My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him," Obama told Katie Couric in a January interview.


Last week, Obama said that he would begin actions to disable al Qaeda activities in Afghanistan, though he did not have a precise timetable mapped out for action in the region.


"What I know is that I'm not going to allow al Qaeda and bin Laden to operate with impunity attacking the U.S.," Obama said on Feb. 9.


Bin Laden as anti-fur demonstrator and vegan?
New Files Show FBI Watched Domestic Activist Groups
By ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times

[0]


Getty Images
One of the groups targeted by the FBI was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

More Coverage:
· Cheney Cites Presidential Power
· Post-9/11 Law May OK Spying
· Dems Deny Approving Wiretaps

Talk About It: Post Thoughts



WASHINGTON (Dec. 20) - Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show.

F.B.I. officials said Monday that their investigators had no interest in monitoring political or social activities and that any investigations that touched on advocacy groups were driven by evidence of criminal or violent activity at public protests and in other settings.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general, loosened restrictions on the F.B.I.'s investigative powers, giving the bureau greater ability to visit and monitor Web sites, mosques and other public entities in developing terrorism leads. The bureau has used that authority to investigate not only groups with suspected ties to foreign terrorists, but also protest groups suspected of having links to violent or disruptive activities.

But the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful protest.

One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a Vegan Community Project. Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's semi-communistic ideology. A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The documents, provided to The New York Times over the past week, came as part of a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. For more than a year, the A.C.L.U. has been seeking access to information in F.B.I. files on about 150 protest and social groups that it says may have been improperly monitored.


One FBI document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a Vegan Community Project. Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's semi-communistic ideology.



The F.B.I. had previously turned over a small number of documents on antiwar groups, showing the agency's interest in investigating possible anarchist or violent links in connection with antiwar protests and demonstrations in advance of the 2004 political conventions. And earlier this month, the A.C.L.U.'s Colorado chapter released similar documents involving, among other things, people protesting logging practices at a lumber industry gathering in 2002.

The latest batch of documents, parts of which the A.C.L.U. plans to release publicly on Tuesday, totals more than 2,300 pages and centers on references in internal files to a handful of groups, including PETA, the environmental group Greenpeace and the Catholic Workers group, which promotes antipoverty efforts and social causes.

Many of the investigative documents turned over by the bureau are heavily edited, making it difficult or impossible to determine the full context of the references and why the F.B.I. may have been discussing events like a PETA protest. F.B.I. officials say many of the references may be much more benign than they seem to civil rights advocates, adding that the documents offer an incomplete and sometimes misleading snapshot of the bureau's activities.

Just being referenced in an F.B.I. file is not tantamount to being the subject of an investigation, said John Miller, a spokesman for the bureau.

The F.B.I. does not target individuals or organizations for investigation based on their political beliefs, Mr. Miller said. Everything we do is carefully promulgated by federal law, Justice Department guidelines and the F.B.I.'s own rules.

A.C.L.U officials said the latest batch of documents released by the F.B.I. indicated the agency's interest in a broader array of activist and protest groups than they had previously thought. In light of other recent disclosures about domestic surveillance activities by the National Security Agency and military intelligence units, the A.C.L.U. said the documents reflected a pattern of overreaching by the Bush administration.

It's clear that this administration has engaged every possible agency, from the Pentagon to N.S.A. to the F.B.I., to engage in spying on Americans, said Ann Beeson, associate legal director for the A.C.L.U.

You look at these documents, Ms. Beeson said, and you think, wow, we have really returned to the days of J. Edgar Hoover, when you see in F.B.I. files that they're talking about a group like the Catholic Workers league as having a communist ideology.

The documents indicate that in some cases, the F.B.I. has used employees, interns and other confidential informants within groups like PETA and Greenpeace to develop leads on potential criminal activity and has downloaded material from the groups' Web sites, in addition to monitoring their protests.

More From the Times




* · New Drug Points Up Problems in Developing Cancer Cures
* · In Holiday Displays, Tributes Remembering the War Dead
* · New Airline Navigation System Is Displayed




In the case of Greenpeace, which is known for highly publicized acts of civil disobedience like the boarding of cargo ships to unfurl protest banners, the files indicate that the F.B.I. investigated possible financial ties between its members and militant groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front.

These networks, which have no declared leaders and are only loosely organized, have been described by the F.B.I. in Congressional testimony as extremist special interest groups whose cells engage in violent or other illegal acts, making them a serious domestic terrorist threat.

In testimony last year, John E. Lewis, deputy assistant director of the counterterrorism division, said the F.B.I. estimated that in the past 10 years such groups had engaged in more than 1,000 criminal acts causing more than $100 million in damage.

When the F.B.I. investigates evidence of possible violence or criminal disruptions at protests and other events, those investigations are routinely handled by agents within the bureau's counterterrorism division.

But the groups mentioned in the newly disclosed F.B.I. files questioned both the propriety of characterizing such investigations as related to terrorism and the necessity of diverting counterterrorism personnel from more pressing investigations.

The fact that we're even mentioned in the F.B.I. files in connection with terrorism is really troubling, said Tom Wetterer, general counsel for Greenpeace. There's no property damage or physical injury caused in our activities, and under any definition of terrorism, we'd take issue with that.

Jeff Kerr, general counsel for PETA, rejected the suggestion in some F.B.I. files that the animal rights group had financial ties to militant groups, and said he, too, was troubled by his group's inclusion in the files.

It's shocking and it's outrageous, Mr. Kerr said. And to me, it's an abuse of power by the F.B.I. when groups like Greenpeace and PETA are basically being punished for their social activism.



Yeah, they're definately in on it with Bin Laden.

Bush is no friend of bin Laden and isn't it ironic
that the same person who spouts the first amendment is also the one who runs to the monitor when people say something she doesn't like? Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
New 'Bin Laden message' released...sm
I guess he's still alive and sending videos.
-------------

From BBC: New 'Bin Laden message' released
Osama Bin Laden

This would be Bin Laden's fourth message this year
A new recording purportedly from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been posted on an Islamic website.

He praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda leader killed in Iraq three weeks ago, as the lion of holy war.

The video, lasting 19 minutes, shows a still picture of Bin Laden, and moving pictures of al-Zarqawi.

The recording's authenticity has not been verified, but if it is confirmed, it would be the fourth audio message Bin Laden has released this year.

However, no new video images of the al-Qaeda leader have appeared since October 2004.

Last week a video was broadcast purportedly showing the deputy leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri in which he paid tribute to Zarqawi and said his death would be avenged.

Universal fight

In the latest recording, Bin Laden addresses US President George W Bush, warning him not to be too happy about Zarqawi's death, for the banner [of al-Qaeda in Iraq] hasn't dropped but has passed from one lion of Islam to another lion.

Bin Laden says al-Qaeda will go on with operations against the US and its allies.

We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere, he said, in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men.

In an apparent reference to a campaign against Iraq's Shias by Zarqawi, Bin Laden addressed those who accuse Abu Musab of killing certain sectors of the Iraqi people.

Abu Musab had clear instructions to focus his fight on the occupiers, he went on, particularly the Americans and to leave aside anyone who remains neutral.

He called on President Bush to return Zarqawi's body to his family, and used rhyming couplets to eulogise the dead al-Qaeda leader.
Obama/Biden - looks like Osama Bin Laden, and
nm
Bush sr having lunch with Obama Bin Laden?
freudian slip? LOL. Before you have a canniption...joke. lol.
oh please. Clinton. The Sudan offered him bin Laden...
long before 9-11 and he did not take him. Now YOU tell ME who failed to protect the American people. Good grief.
obama osama biden bin laden.....
x
BUSH PARDONS OSAMA BIN LADEN??

**** I am so glad this man is no longer the president.   He is retarded!!!  May want to credit him with "keeping us safe" after 9-1-1.  No credit due him,   Remember, we were never attacked before 9-1-1 and he knew about the attack and ignored it.  PLUS -- He is friends of Osama Bin Laden's family.   BYE RETARD!!


Bush, military leaders let bin Laden escape

CIA operative says Bush, military leaders let bin Laden escape


Capitol Hill Blue | January 2 2006


The top CIA counterterrorism officer who tracked Osama bin Laden through the mountains of Afghanistan says the United States could have captured the terrorist leader if President George W. Bush and the American military had devoted the necessary resources to the hunt and capture.


In addition, says Gary Bernsten, a decorated espionage officer, the post-Cold War downturn in recruitment and attention to espionage has left a crippled spy agency that will need a decade or more to build up its clandestine service for the U.S. war on terrorism.


Berntsen led a paramilitary unit code-named Jawbreaker in the war that toppled the Taliban after the September 11 attacks.


He says his Jawbreaker team tracked bin Laden to Afghanistan's Tora Bora region late in 2001 and could have killed or captured the al Qaeda leader there if military officials had agreed to his request for an additional force of about 800 U.S. troops. But the administration was already gearing up for war with Iraq and troops were never sent, allowing bin Laden was able to escape.


His account contradicts public statements by Bush and former Gen. Tommy Franks, who maintained that U.S. officials were never sure bin Laden was at Tora Bora.


Berntsen says CIA Director Porter Goss faces an uphill battle to fill the agency's senior ranks with aggressive, seasoned operatives.


He's probably more aggressive than most of the senior officers in the clandestine service. So I think he's having to pull them along a bit, Berntsen said in an interview.


(Goss) is trying to improve the situation. But it's going to be tough. The rebuilding is going to take years. A decade, at least, he told Reuters late last week.


The CIA, widely criticized for lapses involving prewar Iraq and the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, has seen its clandestine staff dwindle to less than 5,000 employees from a peak of over 7,000, intelligence sources say.


Experts blame a post-Cold War downturn in recruitment for a current lack of seasoned clandestine operatives that has been exacerbated by a rush to lucrative private sector jobs in recent years.


We have a smaller number of really, really aggressive, creative members of our leadership in the senior service, said Berntsen, who recently published a book about his exploits in the war on terrorism, titled Jawbreaker (Crown Publishing).


Former CIA Director George Tenet told the September 11 commission in April 2004 the CIA would need five years to produce a clandestine service fully capable of tackling the terrorism threat.


Goss later said at his September 2004 Senate confirmation hearings that rebuilding the clandestine operation would be a long build-out, a long haul.


President George W. Bush issued an order last year that called for a 50 percent increase in CIA clandestine officers and analysts to be completed as soon as feasible.


The CIA is moving aggressively to rebuild and enhance its capabilities across the board, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.


But intelligence sources say the rebuilding process has been complicated by disaffection for Goss' leadership within the clandestine service.


Years of double-digit growth in federal spending on intelligence that followed the September 11 attacks may also be about to end.


John Negroponte, the new U.S. director of national intelligence, has endorsed an intelligence budget for fiscal year 2007 that is relatively flat, with current spending levels believed to total about $44 billion for the 15-agency intelligence community. Fiscal 2007 begins in October.


Berntsen, 48, who also led the CIA Counterterrorism Center's response to the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, sued the CIA in July, accusing the spy agency of trying to stop him from publishing his book.


Gimigliano said the CIA reviewed Bernsten's book before publication only to ensure that it contained no classified information.


In the book, Berntsen says his Jawbreaker team tracked bin Laden to Afghanistan's Tora Bora region late in 2001 and could have killed or captured the al Qaeda leader there if military officials had agreed to his request for an additional force of about 800 U.S. troops.


But the troops were never sent and bin Laden was able to escape, he said.


His account contradicts public statements by Bush and former Gen. Tommy Franks, who maintained that U.S. officials were never sure bin Laden was at Tora Bora.


Why didn't Clinton kill bin Laden when he had the chance?

ARTICLE-BUSH PARDONS OSAMA BIN LADEN

Forgot to post the link for all you "naysayers" ......  MAN - Before you get on your high-horse, READ, READ, READ --  It's all over the internet.   I meant to say, that Bush is friends with members of Osama Bin Laden's "family."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rees/breaking-bush-pardons-osa_b_159272.html


ARTICLE BELOW:


WASHINGTON, DC: In a stunning late-hour development, President George W. Bush has granted Osama bin Laden a pardon for the murder of more than 2,700 Americans in the fall of 2001.


"This kinda came out of nowhere," said a White House aide who requested anonymity. "I wouldn't have put bin Laden on the short list myself. On the other hand, maybe this is the president's way of finding closure. Because ... y'know ... he wasn't actually able to kill bin Laden, or capture him, or even keep him from making all those (expletive) videos. I mean, jeez, let's face it: Osama bin Laden is basically a one-man Netflix of cave movies."


The aide paused, then went on to say, "Can you believe this dude (Bush) was actually president for eight (expletive) years? What were we thinking? Seriously, what the (expletive) were we thinking?"


The aide began weeping quietly. "May God have mercy on me for my role in the unfathomable travesty that was the Bush administration."


Conservative columnist William Kristol insisted the pardon made sense.


"George W. Bush is a brilliant strategist. I'm sure he has a good reason for this pardon. I'll figure it out."


Kristol sucked his thumb for a few minutes, lost in thought. He was then distracted by a brightly colored piece of string.


A passerby, told of the bin Laden pardon, offered a possible explanation:


"Maybe Bush is trying to smoke him out. Wasn't that the plan?"