Entries Tagged as 'WMD'

Ricin in Las Vegas?

About 2 years ago, there was a scare at the University of Texas at Austin. Ricin was thought to be in a dorm room. If I’m not mistaken the initial tests were positive for ricin but the final tests were not positive. Now, almost exactly 2 years later, ricin turns up in Las Vegas. Vitals of ricin were found in a man’s motel room. The man is in critical condition at a local hospital.

There are tons of questions. I have searched the web. Authorities have not released the man’s name. This is thought not to be a terrorist attack. I would question how authorities came to that conclusion. The man had vitals of the stuff in his room. This is not cocaine. Ricin has no other uses that I know of. So, what’s up?

There is a famous case in which an infamous 1978 incident, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist who was living in London, was killed when a man attacked him with an umbrella that injected a ricin pellet under his skin.

Ricin is a very deadly poison. The CDC has the facts.

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From the Las Vegas Sun:

Vials found in the motel room of a man hospitalized in critical condition tested positive for the deadly toxin ricin, authorities said Friday. There was no indication of any link to terrorist activity, Las Vegas police Deputy Chief Kathy Suey said at a press conference.

The man was admitted to Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas in critical condition on Feb. 14, hospital spokeswoman Naomi Jones said. Suey said he had made an emergency call for help because of breathing problems. His name was not made public. (more…)

Iraqi Chemical Weapons found!

Umm.  Yep, they found the chemical weapons that the Right has been hollerin’ about for the past 4 - 6 years.  Unfortunately, they found them in New York.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses

Torture

I love my country. There is no place that I would rather be than the US. This love causes me to be very critical of the country that I love. This brings me to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. We know that this guy has been tortured by the US and our allies. This we know. We also know that Bin Laden is probably the only target that is of higher value. We tortured this guy until he either became a babbling idiot or told us what we wanted to hear. The fact that he confessed means nothing. Secondly, Al Qaeda is proud of what they did. So, confessing is again no big deal. This is a sad day for America. A sad day for justice.

Now, for those of you who think that I love the terrorists, you’re wrong. Don’t even bother to post a comment with that noise. I’m all for chasing down terrorists. If they resist arrest then shoot them. One shot right between the eyes. Bang! If we do arrest them then they should be treated (as should anyone in US custody) with dignity and respect. This is the moral high ground and I refuse to give it up. These jihadists are not going to force me to act like them.

Video on waterboarding is here.

Update: Video added.

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From CNN.com:

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, admitted to those attacks and numerous others during a U.S. military hearing on Saturday, according to an edited transcript of the hearing released by the Pentagon Wednesday.

In a statement from him, read by a U.S. military representative, he said, “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z.”

The transcript continues with the list of operations he was responsible for, including the Richard Reid shoe bomber attempt to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean, the Bali nightclub bombing in Indonesia, the 1993 World Trade Center attack and other attacks that were foiled. (more…)

 
icon for podpress  KSM [1:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

GAO reports nuclear stuff easy to get hands on

I almost laugh when I hear Bush or Cheney saying that they are doing all that they can. Really? How are our oil refineries being protected? Nuclear waste how is that being transported across America? Do those trucks and trains have a military escort?  We are even worse at helping other countries to secure their nuclear material.
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From MSNBC.com:

International inspectors working in the former Soviet republic of Georgia last summer tracked down dangerous radiological materials in an abandoned military complex.

It was an important mission. But a new report by U.S. government watchdogs says a parallel effort overseas by the U.S. Department of Energy has made only “limited progress securing many of the most dangerous sources” — waste disposal sites and abandoned generators across Russia, each with enough material for several devastating dirty bombs. (more…)

 
icon for podpress  NN - Dirty Bomb [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Trip down memory lane

Colin Powell made his pitch to the UN 4 years ago today.

You can come up with your own caption to this picture.

powell-at-un Trip down memory lane

 

 

State of Denial

The NY Times broke this story yesterday.  Here’s Olbermann’s take.

 
icon for podpress  Countdown - State of Denial [9:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rummy on the offensive

 
icon for podpress  Rumsfeld bashing critics [1:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 

So, I’m morally confused?  I do not think so.  I understand that Iraq has descended into chaos because of our lack of action and our mismanagement.  I also understand that there were no terrorist acts on going in Iraq before our presence there.  I understand that we’ve provided little or no security to the local residents who endure kidnappings, rapes, assaults and other atrocities on a daily basis because of our lack of security.

Harris Poll - 50% of Americans are lost in space

  • Half of Americans believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
  • 64% of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein had “strong links” to Al Qaeda

I don’t understand.  Literally hundreds of reports have been published over the last two to three years stating Iraq did not have and does not have weapons of mass destruction.  The power of the presidency to inform or to deceive is amazing.

Downing Street Memo

Representative John Conyers continues to fight

Representative Conyers suggests that the Bush administration has broken the law.  Really?  Is this a surprise to anyone?  I guess, my question is-what do we do with this report that suggests 23 laws have been broken?

Update: Complete house report here.  Summary here.  Discussed on Daily Kos here.

 
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Bush adminstration counter attacks

Bush started the blitz on Friday with a speech on Veterans Day. “While it’s perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began,” Bush said. Today Steve Hadley, national security advisor, who really hasn’t said much during his 4 years in the Bush White House, held a press conference on Thursday. Now, I really don’t know how many press conferences Hadley has held but I don’t think that it has been that many. He supported the president and stated that Democrats are revising history. Everyone had seen the same intelligence and EVERYONE came to the same conclusion - Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. NOT!! There are several examples of how the intelligence was spun for Congress. Both congress and the president get daily intelligence reports. The President’s famous August 6th PDB had more pointed information including that Al Qaeda had planned to hijack planes. The Congressional version was missing this line. The National Intelligence Estimate which was developed by the CIA did not come up with the conclusion that Saddam was a threat to America. They stated that Saddam would only use WMD if attacked. The Bush Administration is spinning their previous spin. This is great!

 
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