Cozy Corner: Terrorism Archives

Apology Accepted

September 12, 2006 -- WELL, here it is, five years late, but here just the same: an apology from an Arab-American for 9/11. No, I didn't help organize the killers or contribute in any way to their terrible cause. However, I was one of millions of Arab-Americans who did the unspeakable on 9/11: nothing.

The only time I raised my voice in protest against these men who killed thousands of innocents in the name of Allah was behind closed doors, among the safety of friends and family. I did at one point write a very vitriolic essay condemning their actions, but fear of becoming another Salman Rushdie kept me from ever trying to publish it.

Well, I'm sick of saying the truth only in private - that Arabs around the world, including Arab-Americans like myself, need to start holding our own culture accountable for the insane, violent actions that our extremists have perpetrated on the world at large.

Yes, our extremists and our culture.

Every single 9/11 hijacker was Arab and a Muslim. The apologists (including President Bush) tried to reassure us that 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam, but was a twisting of a great and noble religion. With all due respect, read the Koran, Mr. President. There's enough there for someone of extreme tendencies to find their way to a global jihad.

Posted by Andy at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Disproportionate stupidity

Aussie Dave notes the real reason Palestines civilians die during IDF operations:

Most palestinian civilians killed during IDF operations are not killed due to disproportionate force. They are killed due to disproportionate stupidity.

The pictures Dave provides really make the point.

Posted by Andy at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Five Years Ago

The company I work for is based in Boston. We have a satellite office in San Diego. My boss tells me I should go out to San Diego and get a feel for the office, since we'd recently added it via an acquisition. Now, I grew up in LA, and I've always preferred to fly in and out of LAX. And we had an LA office, so I could plausibly stop in there, and just drive to San Diego.

I prefer to fly on Tuesdays; it's the day with the fewest people, and I can generally get more legroom. And there is a convenient flight from Boston to LA that I've been on a number of times. Flight 11.

My boss is arguing with another VP over whose budget will pay for the trip. September 10th comes, and I'm fighting to get the issue resolved so I can book my flight and go. Then, something comes up, and I end up working until 9 pm, and decide I'll fly on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning I wake up, and drag myself into the shower. My girlfriend (now my wife) is still in bed when my landline, then my cellphone ring, but she doesn't answer the call - we were still a bit stealthy about our relationship. As I step out of the shower, the landline starts ringing again. Still dripping, I race to the phone.

It's the receptionist at work. She tells me that she has my father on another line, and that there is a family emergency and he needs to get in touch with me. I panic. If there had been a family emergency, my mom would be the one to call me - so my dad calling could mean only that it involved my mom. I tell the receptionist to tell him I'll call him right back.

I call my father. The first words I remember him saying, "You're alive." You see, my parents knew I was planning on flying to LA. And my father and I both fly the same flight when we do this, enough that he recognized the number. And when I didn't answer my cellphone, they could draw only one conclusion. But at this point, I'm still confused. What was the family emergency?

My dad tells me to turn on CNN. The first image I see is smoke billowing out of the side of one of the towers, and the caption about Flight 11.

Tragically, one of my co-workers was on one of the four flights. Every so often, a customer will mention it, sometimes because they just heard it, or as a commentary of another sort. It never ceases to startle me, as I had wanted to be on that flight.

Posted by Andy at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

President Bush announced today the transfer of some serious terrorists to Gitmo, where they'll await military commissions (to be authorized by Congress), and revealed a little bit about the CIA interrogation centers, and their value.
Here's the text of his speech. It's a good read, all of it. But if you need an excerpt, here you go:

Within months of September the 11th, 2001, we captured a man known as Abu Zubaydah. We believe that Zubaydah was a senior terrorist leader and a trusted associate of Osama bin Laden. Our intelligence community believes he had run a terrorist camp in Afghanistan where some of the 9/11 hijackers trained, and that he helped smuggle al Qaeda leaders out of Afghanistan after coalition forces arrived to liberate that country. Zubaydah was severely wounded during the firefight that brought him into custody -- and he survived only because of the medical care arranged by the CIA.

After he recovered, Zubaydah was defiant and evasive. He declared his hatred of America. During questioning, he at first disclosed what he thought was nominal information -- and then stopped all cooperation. Well, in fact, the "nominal" information he gave us turned out to be quite important. For example, Zubaydah disclosed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- or KSM -- was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and used the alias "Muktar." This was a vital piece of the puzzle that helped our intelligence community pursue KSM. Abu Zubaydah also provided information that helped stop a terrorist attack being planned for inside the United States -- an attack about which we had no previous information. Zubaydah told us that al Qaeda operatives were planning to launch an attack in the U.S., and provided physical descriptions of the operatives and information on their general location. Based on the information he provided, the operatives were detained -- one while traveling to the United States.

We knew that Zubaydah had more information that could save innocent lives, but he stopped talking. As his questioning proceeded, it became clear that he had received training on how to resist interrogation. And so the CIA used an alternative set of procedures. These procedures were designed to be safe, to comply with our laws, our Constitution, and our treaty obligations. The Department of Justice reviewed the authorized methods extensively and determined them to be lawful. I cannot describe the specific methods used -- I think you understand why -- if I did, it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning, and to keep information from us that we need to prevent new attacks on our country. But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe, and lawful, and necessary.

Zubaydah was questioned using these procedures, and soon he began to provide information on key al Qaeda operatives, including information that helped us find and capture more of those responsible for the attacks on September the 11th. For example, Zubaydah identified one of KSM's accomplices in the 9/11 attacks -- a terrorist named Ramzi bin al Shibh. The information Zubaydah provided helped lead to the capture of bin al Shibh. And together these two terrorists provided information that helped in the planning and execution of the operation that captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Once in our custody, KSM was questioned by the CIA using these procedures, and he soon provided information that helped us stop another planned attack on the United States. During questioning, KSM told us about another al Qaeda operative he knew was in CIA custody -- a terrorist named Majid Khan. KSM revealed that Khan had been told to deliver $50,000 to individuals working for a suspected terrorist leader named Hambali, the leader of al Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate known as "J-I". CIA officers confronted Khan with this information. Khan confirmed that the money had been delivered to an operative named Zubair, and provided both a physical description and contact number for this operative.

Based on that information, Zubair was captured in June of 2003, and he soon provided information that helped lead to the capture of Hambali. After Hambali's arrest, KSM was questioned again. He identified Hambali's brother as the leader of a "J-I" cell, and Hambali's conduit for communications with al Qaeda. Hambali's brother was soon captured in Pakistan, and, in turn, led us to a cell of 17 Southeast Asian "J-I" operatives. When confronted with the news that his terror cell had been broken up, Hambali admitted that the operatives were being groomed at KSM's request for attacks inside the United States -- probably [sic] using airplanes.

During questioning, KSM also provided many details of other plots to kill innocent Americans. For example, he described the design of planned attacks on buildings inside the United States, and how operatives were directed to carry them out. He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure that the explosives went off at a point that was high enough to prevent the people trapped above from escaping out the windows.

KSM also provided vital information on al Qaeda's efforts to obtain biological weapons. During questioning, KSM admitted that he had met three individuals involved in al Qaeda's efforts to produce anthrax, a deadly biological agent -- and he identified one of the individuals as a terrorist named Yazid. KSM apparently believed we already had this information, because Yazid had been captured and taken into foreign custody before KSM's arrest. In fact, we did not know about Yazid's role in al Qaeda's anthrax program. Information from Yazid then helped lead to the capture of his two principal assistants in the anthrax program. Without the information provided by KSM and Yazid, we might not have uncovered this al Qaeda biological weapons program, or stopped this al Qaeda cell from developing anthrax for attacks against the United States.

These are some of the plots that have been stopped because of the information of this vital program.

Yes, interrogation works. Yes, our government has stopped terrorist plots since 9/11.

Posted by Andy at 10:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bin Ladenism?

Jonah Goldberg proposes a new name for Islamic Fascism:

Personally, if I was deciding these things, I'd call it "Bin Ladenism." That would account for all the contradictions, provide a rhetorical space for Arabs and Muslims to condemn it (Muslim leaders aren't going to use the phrase "Islamic Fascism" and "Jihadism" has positive connotations). We used Marxism and Leninism pretty efficiently for a long time and Bin Laden's ideology is pretty well spelled out, why not do the same with him?

Something I'll think about. The downside, of course, is that the appeasement crowd focuses too much on Bin Laden already, and overstate his personal importance, and less on the ideology we are trying to focus on. Hard call.

(h/t: BlackFive)

Posted by Andy at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sudden Jihad Syndrome in SanFran?

Apparently, a man in a small SUV ran down 14 people at twelve locations:

One person was killed and at least 14 injured when a man reportedly intentionally targeted pedestrians with his sport utility vehicle on both sides of San Francisco Bay this afternoon.

According to San Francisco police, the driver, a man from the Central Valley, was in police custody. CBS 5 reports the man has been identified as Omeed A. Popal, who has homes in Ceres and Fremont.

The spree apparently began around noon in Fremont, where the driver hit an unidentified man walking along the side of the road. He was thrown off the road and pronounced dead at the scene, Fremont police said. Witnesses said the driver did not slow down.

Hugh Hewitt is collecting datapoints that this might be SJS:

Four callers have confirmed that without doubt this is a Jewish neighborhood, and that one of the victims was run over in front of the Jewish Community Center in the area.
...
Look on the web! the JCC located at 3200 California St. Site of one of the attacks: 3250 California ST.

Wizbang has more coverage.

Yup. looks like Sudden Jihad Syndrome strikes again.

Update: You know how this would be reported if SF were in Iraq?

"Sectarian Violence Rocks San Francisco"
"More Muslim-Jew clashes reported near San Francisco"
"Police find body, 13 casualties in San Francisco"

Posted by Andy at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (2)

Looking for hate in all the wrong places

Jeff Jacoby points out that US airport security is still looking in the wrong places:

Nearly five years after Sept. 11, 2001, US airport security remains obstinately focused on intercepting bad things -- guns, knives, explosives. It is a reactive policy, aimed at preventing the last terrorist plot from being repeated. The 9/11 hijackers used box cutters as weapons, so sharp metal objects were barred from carry-on luggage. Would-be suicide terrorist Richard Reid tried to ignite a bomb in his shoe, so now everyone's footwear is screened for tampering. Earlier this month British authorities foiled a plan to blow up airliners with liquid explosives; as a result, toothpaste and cologne have become air-travel contraband.
...
Israeli airport security, much of it invisible to the untrained eye, begins before passengers even enter the terminal. Officials constantly monitor behavior, alert to clues that may hint at danger: bulky clothing, say, or a nervous manner. Profilers -- that's what they're called -- make a point of interviewing travelers, sometimes at length. They probe, as one profiling supervisor told CBS, for ``anything out of the ordinary, anything that does not fit." Their questions can seem odd or intrusive, especially if your only previous experience with an airport interrogation was being asked whether you packed your bags yourself.
...
But because federal policy still bans ethnic or religious profiling, US passengers continue to be singled out for special scrutiny mostly on a random basis. Countless hours have been spent patting down elderly women in wheelchairs, toddlers with pacifiers, even former US vice presidents -- time that could have been used instead to concentrate on passengers with a greater likelihood of being terrorists.
...
Of course most Muslims are not violent jihadis, but all violent jihadis are Muslim. ``This nation," President Bush has said, ``is at war with Islamic fascists." How much longer will we tolerate an aviation security system that pretends, for reasons of political correctness, not to know that?

Unfortunately, until we get off our high horse about the appearance of racial profiling, we aren't going to get away with actual racial profiling - and that's a shame.

Posted by Andy at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A plot of land?

Hmmmm:

Israeli troops are collecting bodies of Hezbollah fighters killed in Lebanon and storing them in refrigerated containers in Israel, the army said on Wednesday.
...
Israel has special cemeteries for Palestinian and Lebanese militants killed in fighting with Israel.

Hmmm. 20,330 sq km. That's 20,330,000,000 square meters. Assuming a 2m x 1m plot, that's about 10 billion possible grave sites.

Now I get the whole martyr strategy. Retaking the land one grave at a time. (Thank goodness there are only 1.6 billion candidates worldwide).

Posted by Andy at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Giving away the store

Via WorldNetDaily:

On June 21, a senior DHS official from Washington personally guided Muslim officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on a behind-the-scenes tour of Customs screening operations at O'Hare International Airport in response to CAIR complaints that Muslim travelers were being unfairly delayed as they entered the U.S. from abroad.

Wow. First off, I don't care who wants to see backstage. No one should get to see how we do Customs Operations, except for Customs, any governmental oversight bodies, and third party security assessors under NDA. Period. But CAIR? Let's be frank. Even in the most positive of all worldviews, you can't call CAIR sympathetic to the plight of the average American. In a more cynical worldview, you'd have to wonder if any of the tricks used by customs will be discussed with someone who might possibly be connected to a terrorist organization.

Whoever set this up on the part of DHS needs a little reprimanding.

Posted by Andy at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I feel fine

August 22nd is just around the corner. I'm not an End-Timer, but when a lunatic threatens to light up the sky over Jerusalem, and calls my country the Great Satan, I tend to listen. When terrorists plan to blow up airplanes, and murderers walk into charities and gun down innocent women, it behooves one to be a bit prepared.

In three days, maybe we'll look back and scoff at our worries. Me? I went to Costco, and did a little shopping.

Posted by Andy at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Laptops are a-okay!

The UK lowers the threat level:

The current threat level is assessed as SEVERE (as of 14th August 2006).

This means that an attack is highly likely and indicates a continuing high level of threat to the UK.

See Threat levels in the UK for more information on how our threat level system works.

ON the bright side, apparently you can now wear more than your Speedos when flying out of Heathrow; reports of vision strain injuries from excessive "averting the eyes" incidents may have contributed.

Posted by Andy at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Violating the Dead

In case you haven't yet seen this video, it was produced by German TV magazine ZAPP:

Sandmonkey's conversation with his grandmother has the most telling line:

You know what was the worst part of that Video I saw today was? When they showed you the baby, they made sure to cover her face digitally. That hurt. That was a slap on the face. The video showing us exploiting our dead and the german media respecting them.

Posted by Andy at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Inconvenient Terrorism

WonderMark explains the logic behind the planned airplane attacks.

Posted by Andy at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why they hate us

Soccer Dad has a collection of pieces worth reading about our enemies and why they hate us. This parallels a conversation I had with someone recently: the reason that the forces of darkness - specifically, Islamic Fascism, Islamic terrorism, and mob rule - hate Jews, Israel, and America is quite simple: culturally, we believe in the improvement of the individual, and the power of the individual. This makes us a threat to anyone with a power base built on the denigration and enslavement of the individual. We are a threat to them by our very existence, because we prove that the myths they use to enslave their followers are lies.

Posted by Andy at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Flexible Response and the Killing of Innocents

Wow. Blackfive has written a much better version of the followup I was planning to Flexible Response and Suicide Bombings.

Go read it.

Posted by Andy at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New travel restrictions, and their impact

Here's the real impact of these new travel restrictions - business travelers will be leary of checking their valuables:

"For business travelers in particular it's kind of a Charlton Heston-type of moment," he said, referring to the former head of the National Rifle Association. "You can take my laptop or my Blackberry or my PDA -- out of my cold dead hands."

As an occasional business traveler, I completely agree. When I travel, my carryon usually has my laptop, my camera, my Blackberry, and my iPod, in addition to my toiletries and a change or two of clothes. This lets me do trips of three days or fewer without checking luggage, and also means if I get stranded at O'Hare, I don't have to wait an hour to get my luggage off the plane so I can stay in a hotel.

I'm certainly not going to fly anymore to New York, since I can take the train or drive. D.C. is a longer stretch, but I'll just extend my trips there to compensate for the 450 mile drive. And I'll just defer travel to further locations as long as I can.

Posted by Andy at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I believe that Islamic fascism and Islamic terrorism are real.

It's a simple image. It now appears in the right navbar on the index. Why? Because it's true. Some folks out there act like it isn't; like somebody is just making up all these incidents. That Jews gunned down in Seattle and bombers planning to blow up planes in the UK aren't motivated by the same hate for our culture. That Hizb'allah is just a resistance and social services movement, and not a genocidal bunch of terrorists. That Iran wants the bomb just so the US won't push them around.

From now on, let me be clear. I believe that Islamic fascists want to see me dead. Dead for being a Jew. For being an American. For having the right to wear what I want; eat what I want, worship what I want. I believe we are in a long war, for the soul of this planet. And if we lose, it isn't clear that I will be alive, or my family.

Call me a warmonger, call me a Zionist, call me a neo-conservative, call me whatever you want. Just remember that there are people who want to kill you just as much as they want to kill me. Get that straight, and act accordingly.

The rest is negotiable. Our future isn't.

Posted by Andy at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Flexible Response and Suicide Bombings

A friend posited this question to me (paraphrased): Are suicide bombings a legitimate means of resistance under the doctrine of flexible response? Would Westerners adopt suicide bombings if placed in the same situation as the residents of occupied territories?

The easy answer is, of course, no. But the benefit of the blogosphere is I get to explicate:

Continue reading "Flexible Response and Suicide Bombings" »

Posted by Andy at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Putting it together

The US asks Israel to hold off on widening the ground assault:

The IDF General Staff postponed the expansion of ground operations in south Lebanon late Wednesday night, after the security cabinet earlier in the day approved a plan for a widened offensive that would take the army to the Litani River, over 20 kilometers from the border, and beyond, in an effort to prevent the incessant Katyusha rocket attacks on northern Israel.

The troops were already rolling late Wednesday when they were ordered to halt. It appears heavy US pressure delayed the offensive to allow diplomacy to run its course. A senior minister said Wednesday that Israel might delay the expansion for 2-3 days for that purpose.

And then, a terrorist plot to blow up airplanes is disrupted:

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.
It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.

Let me draw the lines (not the ones Ace has noted):

Israel is fighting terrorists

The appeasement world calls them resistance fighters

US asks Israel to hold off for a few days

US and UK foil terror plot

Folks have been calling this the First Media War for a while. I'm glad to see our leaders have figured it out. An Israeli assault last night would have fought with this in the news cycle, and the "peace in our time" wing would have focused on that, or called the bombings a "natural reaction." Instead, we get to put, front and center on the world stage, very clear demonstration of the enemy that is radical Islam and its terrorist arms.

In a few days, Israel will begin her attack. She'll have the thirty days, uninterrupted by false diplomatic efforts, to deal with Hizb'allah.

For real coverage of the Londonistan plan, see:
Lorie Byrd at Wizbang (hey, Poli, regret driving her away yet?.
Ace of Spades.
Michelle Malkin wonders if the wandering Egyptians and the Dearborn terrorist supporters are tied in, and notes the spiral evolutionary cycle of Islamic terrorists and airplanes.
Lifelike Pundits takes the opportunity to skewer the anti-war-on-terror-or-anything-related-to-Bush left.
Brendan Loy, newly Orthogonal Moderate prognosticates that air travel will be FUBARed for a very, very long time.
USS Neverdock ups the count to 14 terrorist plots stopped and disclosed in 6 years, and realized that the BBC censors haven't caught up to the news cycle.

Posted by Andy at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Cozy Corner

A husband, father, Jew, and technologist keeps an eye out from his corner in a cozy house.

September 12, 2006

Apology Accepted

September 09, 2006

Disproportionate stupidity

September 08, 2006

Five Years Ago

September 06, 2006

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

September 02, 2006

Bin Ladenism?

August 29, 2006

Sudden Jihad Syndrome in SanFran?

August 28, 2006

Looking for hate in all the wrong places

August 21, 2006

A plot of land?

August 20, 2006

Giving away the store

August 19, 2006

I feel fine

August 14, 2006

Laptops are a-okay!

August 13, 2006

Violating the Dead

Inconvenient Terrorism

August 12, 2006

Why they hate us

August 11, 2006

Flexible Response and the Killing of Innocents

New travel restrictions, and their impact

August 10, 2006

I believe that Islamic fascism and Islamic terrorism are real.

Flexible Response and Suicide Bombings

Putting it together

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