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June 30, 2013
The first link in the BooMan article points to BuzzFeed:
The second link in the BooMan article points to New York Magazine:
In Jonathan Chait's article, the segment that likens Greenwald's journalism to litigation has a link that points to the New York Times:
The third link in the BooMan article points to a article by Bob Cesca in The Daily Banter:
The analysis put forward in the above-referenced article in the BooMan Tribune is essentially a rehashing of the above-linked Jonathan Chait article - an article in which Chait takes the Greenwald quotation from the above-linked NYT article out of context and shifts the quotation's context from one of a search for credible substantiation of assertions to one of a relentless propagation of one's own beliefs as truth in spite of any countervailing evidence. Chait admits his bias against Greenwald, but this does not make his attempt to alter the context of the NYT quotation any more honest. The article in The Daily Banter simply refers back to Chait's above article.
All told, the underlying problems of the NSA's surveillance overreach and of the misrepresentation made to Congress regarding the NSA surveillance program are ignored and the story is shifted by the facile dodge - "It's All About Greenwald."
Once again, here is the questioning of DNI Clapper by Senator Wyden:
In Spite of the NSA Surveillance Overreach and Its Openly Told Lies: It's All About Greenwald
It's All About Greenwald
by BooMan
Sat Jun 29th, 2013 at 11:24:58 AM EST
There certainly is plenty to read about Glenn Greenwald today. Learning more about his life is kind of interesting but most of it feels voyeuristic to me. I think the most important revelation is that he has admitted that he approaches journalism the same way he pursued lawsuits. His style is litigious and argumentative and intentionally one-sided. If there is a counterargument to his case, it's your job to describe it, not his.
As a partisan writer, I know that I am going to be writing things from a certain perspective and I am not necessarily interested in being fair. But there is a little voice in my head that tells me when I am writing something that is factually inaccurate or that is grossly incomplete. When that voice speaks, I obey. Greenwald doesn't. He puts that voice in a little box titled "opposing counsel."
...
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/29/112458/736
by BooMan
Sat Jun 29th, 2013 at 11:24:58 AM EST
There certainly is plenty to read about Glenn Greenwald today. Learning more about his life is kind of interesting but most of it feels voyeuristic to me. I think the most important revelation is that he has admitted that he approaches journalism the same way he pursued lawsuits. His style is litigious and argumentative and intentionally one-sided. If there is a counterargument to his case, it's your job to describe it, not his.
As a partisan writer, I know that I am going to be writing things from a certain perspective and I am not necessarily interested in being fair. But there is a little voice in my head that tells me when I am writing something that is factually inaccurate or that is grossly incomplete. When that voice speaks, I obey. Greenwald doesn't. He puts that voice in a little box titled "opposing counsel."
...
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/29/112458/736
The first link in the BooMan article points to BuzzFeed:
How Glenn Greenwald Became Glenn Greenwald
Before he was the Guardian’s eyes on the National Security Agency, Greenwald was a Manhattan litigator with an itchy trigger finger. “He doesn’t care if the entire world hates him.”
posted on June 26, 2013 at 10:17pm EDT
Jessica Testa
...
Greenwald said he called on his experience as a litigator when he first spoke to Snowden.
“When I got to Hong Kong, my immediate priority was to kick the tires as hard as I could on his story and see if there was anything that he was hiding,” Greenwald said. “I spent five or six hours just relentlessly questioning him, using the same tricks that I used to use in depositions.”
...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/how-glenn-greenwald-became-glenn-greenwald
Before he was the Guardian’s eyes on the National Security Agency, Greenwald was a Manhattan litigator with an itchy trigger finger. “He doesn’t care if the entire world hates him.”
posted on June 26, 2013 at 10:17pm EDT
Jessica Testa
...
Greenwald said he called on his experience as a litigator when he first spoke to Snowden.
“When I got to Hong Kong, my immediate priority was to kick the tires as hard as I could on his story and see if there was anything that he was hiding,” Greenwald said. “I spent five or six hours just relentlessly questioning him, using the same tricks that I used to use in depositions.”
...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/how-glenn-greenwald-became-glenn-greenwald
The second link in the BooMan article points to New York Magazine:
Glenn Greenwald Is Ralph Nader
By Jonathan Chait
...
Greenwald, like Nader, marries an indefatigable mastery of detail with fierce moralism. Every issue he examines has a good side and an evil side. Greenwald, speaking not long ago to the New York Times, said something revealing about his intellectual style:
“I approach my journalism as a litigator,” he said. “People say things, you assume they are lying, and dig for documents to prove it.”
That is a highly self-aware account. Of course, the job description of a litigator does not include being fair. You take a side, assume the other side is lying, and prosecute your side full tilt. It’s not your job to account for evidence that undermines your case — it’s your adversary’s job to point that out.
I won’t pretend to be neutral here — I’ve tangled with Greenwald numerous times. So, for instance, he called me a “McCain worshiper,” and it is true that I have written some highly favorable things about John McCain. I’ve also written some highly critical things. I pointed out to Greenwald that, when I have called McCain, among other things, a “dangerous sociopath,” it would at least complicate the picture in such a way as to preclude me from being called a “worshiper.” But no, Greenwald dug in deeper, assembling all the evidence he could muster for his side and ignoring all the evidence pointing in the opposite direction.
...
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/glenn-greenwald-is-ralph-nader.html
By Jonathan Chait
...
Greenwald, like Nader, marries an indefatigable mastery of detail with fierce moralism. Every issue he examines has a good side and an evil side. Greenwald, speaking not long ago to the New York Times, said something revealing about his intellectual style:
“I approach my journalism as a litigator,” he said. “People say things, you assume they are lying, and dig for documents to prove it.”
That is a highly self-aware account. Of course, the job description of a litigator does not include being fair. You take a side, assume the other side is lying, and prosecute your side full tilt. It’s not your job to account for evidence that undermines your case — it’s your adversary’s job to point that out.
I won’t pretend to be neutral here — I’ve tangled with Greenwald numerous times. So, for instance, he called me a “McCain worshiper,” and it is true that I have written some highly favorable things about John McCain. I’ve also written some highly critical things. I pointed out to Greenwald that, when I have called McCain, among other things, a “dangerous sociopath,” it would at least complicate the picture in such a way as to preclude me from being called a “worshiper.” But no, Greenwald dug in deeper, assembling all the evidence he could muster for his side and ignoring all the evidence pointing in the opposite direction.
...
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/glenn-greenwald-is-ralph-nader.html
In Jonathan Chait's article, the segment that likens Greenwald's journalism to litigation has a link that points to the New York Times:
Blogger, With Focus on Surveillance, Is at Center of a Debate
By NOAM COHEN and LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: June 6, 2013
...
Being at the center of a debate is a comfortable place for Mr. Greenwald, 46, who came to mainstream journalism through his own blog, which he started in 2005. Before that he was a lawyer, including working 18 months at the high-powered New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he represented large corporate clients.
“I approach my journalism as a litigator,” he said. “People say things, you assume they are lying, and dig for documents to prove it.”
Mr. Greenwald’s writings at The Guardian — and before that, for Salon and on his own blog — can resemble a legal brief, with a list of points, extended arguments and detailed references and links. As Andrew Sullivan, a frequent sparring partner and sometime ally, put it, “once you get into a debate with him, it can be hard to get the last word.”
While Mr. Greenwald notes that he often conducts interviews and breaks news in his columns, he describes himself as an activist and an advocate. But with this leak about the extremely confidential legal apparatus supporting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, he has lifted the veil on some of the government’s most closely held secrets.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/business/media/anti-surveillance-activist-is-at-center-of-new-leak.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
By NOAM COHEN and LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: June 6, 2013
...
Being at the center of a debate is a comfortable place for Mr. Greenwald, 46, who came to mainstream journalism through his own blog, which he started in 2005. Before that he was a lawyer, including working 18 months at the high-powered New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he represented large corporate clients.
“I approach my journalism as a litigator,” he said. “People say things, you assume they are lying, and dig for documents to prove it.”
Mr. Greenwald’s writings at The Guardian — and before that, for Salon and on his own blog — can resemble a legal brief, with a list of points, extended arguments and detailed references and links. As Andrew Sullivan, a frequent sparring partner and sometime ally, put it, “once you get into a debate with him, it can be hard to get the last word.”
While Mr. Greenwald notes that he often conducts interviews and breaks news in his columns, he describes himself as an activist and an advocate. But with this leak about the extremely confidential legal apparatus supporting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, he has lifted the veil on some of the government’s most closely held secrets.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/business/media/anti-surveillance-activist-is-at-center-of-new-leak.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
The third link in the BooMan article points to a article by Bob Cesca in The Daily Banter:
Greenwald and Nader, Cut From the Same Cloth
Posted on June 29, 2013 at 9:33 am by Bob Cesca
Jonathan Chait wrote an excellent analysis of Glenn Greenwald in which he compares his approach with the style of Ralph Nader.
We’ve seen this many time. If you disagree with one aspect of the Obama administration, you’re morally compelled to reject the whole thing.
...
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/06/greenwald-and-nader-cut-from-the-same-cloth.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=greenwald-and-nader-cut-from-the-same-cloth&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
Posted on June 29, 2013 at 9:33 am by Bob Cesca
Jonathan Chait wrote an excellent analysis of Glenn Greenwald in which he compares his approach with the style of Ralph Nader.
Greenwald, like Nader, marries an indefatigable mastery of detail with fierce moralism. Every issue he examines has a good side and an evil side.
We’ve seen this many time. If you disagree with one aspect of the Obama administration, you’re morally compelled to reject the whole thing.
Greenwald, like Nader, does not believe in meliorist progress. If you are not good, you are evil. [...]
...
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/06/greenwald-and-nader-cut-from-the-same-cloth.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=greenwald-and-nader-cut-from-the-same-cloth&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
The analysis put forward in the above-referenced article in the BooMan Tribune is essentially a rehashing of the above-linked Jonathan Chait article - an article in which Chait takes the Greenwald quotation from the above-linked NYT article out of context and shifts the quotation's context from one of a search for credible substantiation of assertions to one of a relentless propagation of one's own beliefs as truth in spite of any countervailing evidence. Chait admits his bias against Greenwald, but this does not make his attempt to alter the context of the NYT quotation any more honest. The article in The Daily Banter simply refers back to Chait's above article.
All told, the underlying problems of the NSA's surveillance overreach and of the misrepresentation made to Congress regarding the NSA surveillance program are ignored and the story is shifted by the facile dodge - "It's All About Greenwald."
Once again, here is the questioning of DNI Clapper by Senator Wyden:
Watch U.S. Intel Chief Clapper Lie to Congress
June 26, 2013
However, it is certain that DNI Clapper lied to Congress about the scope of NSA surveillance:
Clapper's Words: "No, Sir."
Edward Snowden has underscored Clapper's lie and, thus, deserves credit for his whistle-blowing.
The "Snowden" Effect: We Have No Idea If It Actually Exists, But DNI Clapper Did Lie To Congress
"...militants have begun responding by altering methods of communication...could make it harder...."
"...have begun altering communications patterns in what was believed to be a direct response...."
"...too early to tell whether the recent changes in communications methods had caused a loss...."
"Previous dire warnings of leaks causing huge damage to U.S. national security interests have proved overplayed."
"...militants changing the way they communicate could actually hinder plots...."
"The officials declined to specify what changes were spotted among militant groups...."
"...militants' latest adjustments likely included reduced electronic transmissions and more frequent switching...."
"Exactly how serious the damage might be is difficult to measure...."
"Militants have a long history of trying to cover their electronic tracks."
"Largely using written messages and trusted couriers, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hid for years...."
"...analysts around the world are working to determine the operational impact of Snowden's exposure of methods...."
"...the potential damage...is...may have found out technical details...."
"...there could be further fallout...."
"...U.S. agencies are already operating on a "worst case" assumption...."
"U.S. and British officials insist...that...surveillance...has stopped attacks and is essential to public security."
"...is still in the early stages of damage assessment...."
"Washington may face charges of a double standard...."
"How can the United States continue to stand on high moral ground...?"
"It will make it more difficult for us to appear holier than thou...."
http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-effect-u-spies-militants-013034065.html
"...have begun altering communications patterns in what was believed to be a direct response...."
"...too early to tell whether the recent changes in communications methods had caused a loss...."
"Previous dire warnings of leaks causing huge damage to U.S. national security interests have proved overplayed."
"...militants changing the way they communicate could actually hinder plots...."
"The officials declined to specify what changes were spotted among militant groups...."
"...militants' latest adjustments likely included reduced electronic transmissions and more frequent switching...."
"Exactly how serious the damage might be is difficult to measure...."
"Militants have a long history of trying to cover their electronic tracks."
"Largely using written messages and trusted couriers, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hid for years...."
"...analysts around the world are working to determine the operational impact of Snowden's exposure of methods...."
"...the potential damage...is...may have found out technical details...."
"...there could be further fallout...."
"...U.S. agencies are already operating on a "worst case" assumption...."
"U.S. and British officials insist...that...surveillance...has stopped attacks and is essential to public security."
"...is still in the early stages of damage assessment...."
"Washington may face charges of a double standard...."
"How can the United States continue to stand on high moral ground...?"
"It will make it more difficult for us to appear holier than thou...."
http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-effect-u-spies-militants-013034065.html
However, it is certain that DNI Clapper lied to Congress about the scope of NSA surveillance:
Clapper's Words: "No, Sir."
Edward Snowden has underscored Clapper's lie and, thus, deserves credit for his whistle-blowing.
June 18, 2013
On C-SPAN, the House Intelligence Committee hearing addresses this plot at time indices 0:37:52, 1:08:28, 1:11:23, 1:58:32, 2:38:12, 2:39:06 and 2:39:47. This video is here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/AgencyOp .
The Ouazzani Indictment is here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/ouazzani_indictment.pdf
The Ouazzani Plea is here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/ouazzani_plea.pdf
The FBI report on the Ouazzani Plea from May 2010 follows:
One might note that neither the indictment, the plea nor the FBI report at the time of the plea make the claim that there was a plot directed at the NY Stock Exchange.
Is this a new claim made in order to justify the scale of surveillance that is ongoing?
Sean Joyce notes that several individuals were lured to the USA, arrested and subsequently convicted for their terrorist activity - time index 1:10:30 in the C-SPAN video.
Who are these individuals and when and where were they convicted?
Is this the plot against the NY Stock Exchange to which they are referring?
If it is, this is two years after the prior defendant agreed to a guilty plea. Is it reasonable to believe that two years after a plea agreement is made that one is still an active participant in an on-going plot?
How important is transparency in these issues?
Foiled NY Stock Exchange Plot: Limited Background Information
NSA director says plot against Wall Street foiled
Jun 18, 1:02 PM (ET)
By KIMBERLY DOZIER
WASHINGTON (AP) - The director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the government's sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange, in a forceful defense of the spy operations.
...
Under questioning, Joyce said the NSA was able to identify an extremist in Yemen who was in touch with an individual in Kansas City, Mo. They were able to identify co-conspirators and thwart a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.
...
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130618/DA7095E00.html
Jun 18, 1:02 PM (ET)
By KIMBERLY DOZIER
WASHINGTON (AP) - The director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the government's sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange, in a forceful defense of the spy operations.
...
Under questioning, Joyce said the NSA was able to identify an extremist in Yemen who was in touch with an individual in Kansas City, Mo. They were able to identify co-conspirators and thwart a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.
...
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130618/DA7095E00.html
On C-SPAN, the House Intelligence Committee hearing addresses this plot at time indices 0:37:52, 1:08:28, 1:11:23, 1:58:32, 2:38:12, 2:39:06 and 2:39:47. This video is here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/AgencyOp .
The Ouazzani Indictment is here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/ouazzani_indictment.pdf
The Ouazzani Plea is here: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/ouazzani_plea.pdf
The FBI report on the Ouazzani Plea from May 2010 follows:
Al Qaeda Supporter Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorist Organization
Kansas City Man Also Admits to Bank Fraud, Overseas Money Laundering
KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist organization al Qaeda. He also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering.
“National security is the highest priority of the Department of Justice,” Phillips said. “I applaud the diligent work of our law enforcement partners from local, state and federal agencies that serve on the Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force. These agencies have made significant investments of manpower and resources to the task force, and I appreciate their commitment to defeating terrorism. Much of their work is done behind the scenes, investigating and gathering information, but they play a crucial role in preventing terrorist activities.”
Khalid Ouazzani, 32, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to a federal information that charges him with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Ouazzani also pleaded guilty to charges contained in an indictment that was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Feb. 3, 2010.
Ouazzani, a native of Morocco and a naturalized citizen of the United States, swore an oath of allegiance to al Qaeda in June 2008. Ouazzani admitted that, from August 2007 to February 2010, he participated in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to al Qaeda.
Ouazzani also admitted that he personally provided more than $23,000 to al Qaeda and performed other tasks at the request of and for the benefit of al Qaeda. Ouazzani had conversations with others about various ways to support al Qaeda, including plans for them to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia.
“Citizens here in the heartland should be alert to suspicious activity and never hesitate to report their concerns to law enforcement. This case serves as a reminder that terrorist-related activities can occur anywhere,” said Special Agent in Charge Brian A. Truchon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Kansas City field office.
Ouazzani agreed to contribute $6,500 to al Qaeda in August 2007. A co-conspirator, who is not identified in court documents, made that payment on Ouazzani’s behalf. Ouazzani repaid the co-conspirator in November 2007 through a wire transfer to the co-conspirator’s bank account in the United Arab Emirates. Those funds came from Ouazzani’s sale of his business, Hafssa LLC, doing business as Truman Used Auto Parts, a retail operation that bought and sold used auto parts and used motor vehicles.
In June or July 2008, Ouazzani also agreed to pay al Qaeda $17,000, which represented his profit from the sale of an apartment in the United Arab Emirates that was owned by Ouazzani and a co-conspirator (who is not identified in court documents).
Bank Fraud Scheme
Ouazzani obtained a $175,000 line of credit commercial loan from Union Bank in April 2007 for Hafssa LLC (Truman Used Auto Parts). Under the terms of the loan, the funds were to be used as working capital for his business. Ouazzani admitted that he submitted false financial information about himself and the company to obtain the loan, and used substantial amounts of the loan proceeds for various personal purposes.
Ouazzani made only approximately $13,000 in payments on this loan. In September 2008 Union Bank wrote off the loan (then in the amount of $174,028) as uncollectible. On Feb. 11, 2009, Union Bank obtained a civil default judgment against Ouazzani and Hafssa LLC in the amount of $177,001.
Money Laundering
Ouazzani admitted that he used part of the proceeds of the Union Bank loan to purchase an apartment in the United Arab Emirates with a co-conspirator.
On May 23, 2007, Ouazzani caused a wire transfer of $112,830 to be sent to a bank account in the United Arab Emirates. The funds for this wire transfer included funds obtained from the $175,000 Union Bank loan and involved a series of transactions designed to make it more difficult to trace the funds.
Ouazzani used the wire-transferred funds to purchase an apartment in the United Arab Emirates, which he later sold for a profit of approximately $17,000. Ouazzani requested a co-conspirator to pay this $17,000 to al Qaeda.
“The criminal justice system is a valuable tool for disrupting terrorist plots and bringing terrorists to justice,” Phillips said. “We must use every means—criminal prosecutions as well as intelligence and military operations—to protect the American people. Federal prosecutions not only result in long prison sentences, but yield valuable intelligence that can be used in the fight against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”
Under federal statutes, Ouazzani is subject to a sentence of up to 65 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1 million and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Daniel Stewart, David M. Ketchmark and Brian P. Casey and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Menzel of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, with assistance from attorneys at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, including the Counterterrorism Section. It was investigated by the Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Missouri Department of Social Services - Division of Legal Services Investigation Section.
Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Defense Criminal Investigative Service
Federal Air Marshals Service
IRS-Criminal Investigation
Kansas City, Kan., Police Department
Kansas City, Mo., Police Department
Kansas Highway Patrol
Missouri State Highway Patrol
Overland Park, Kan., Police Department
U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Missouri and the District of Kansas
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Marshals Service
U.S. Postal Inspection Service
U.S. Secret Service
http://www.fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2010/kc051910.htm
Kansas City Man Also Admits to Bank Fraud, Overseas Money Laundering
KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist organization al Qaeda. He also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering.
“National security is the highest priority of the Department of Justice,” Phillips said. “I applaud the diligent work of our law enforcement partners from local, state and federal agencies that serve on the Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force. These agencies have made significant investments of manpower and resources to the task force, and I appreciate their commitment to defeating terrorism. Much of their work is done behind the scenes, investigating and gathering information, but they play a crucial role in preventing terrorist activities.”
Khalid Ouazzani, 32, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to a federal information that charges him with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Ouazzani also pleaded guilty to charges contained in an indictment that was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Feb. 3, 2010.
Ouazzani, a native of Morocco and a naturalized citizen of the United States, swore an oath of allegiance to al Qaeda in June 2008. Ouazzani admitted that, from August 2007 to February 2010, he participated in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to al Qaeda.
Ouazzani also admitted that he personally provided more than $23,000 to al Qaeda and performed other tasks at the request of and for the benefit of al Qaeda. Ouazzani had conversations with others about various ways to support al Qaeda, including plans for them to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia.
“Citizens here in the heartland should be alert to suspicious activity and never hesitate to report their concerns to law enforcement. This case serves as a reminder that terrorist-related activities can occur anywhere,” said Special Agent in Charge Brian A. Truchon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Kansas City field office.
Ouazzani agreed to contribute $6,500 to al Qaeda in August 2007. A co-conspirator, who is not identified in court documents, made that payment on Ouazzani’s behalf. Ouazzani repaid the co-conspirator in November 2007 through a wire transfer to the co-conspirator’s bank account in the United Arab Emirates. Those funds came from Ouazzani’s sale of his business, Hafssa LLC, doing business as Truman Used Auto Parts, a retail operation that bought and sold used auto parts and used motor vehicles.
In June or July 2008, Ouazzani also agreed to pay al Qaeda $17,000, which represented his profit from the sale of an apartment in the United Arab Emirates that was owned by Ouazzani and a co-conspirator (who is not identified in court documents).
Bank Fraud Scheme
Ouazzani obtained a $175,000 line of credit commercial loan from Union Bank in April 2007 for Hafssa LLC (Truman Used Auto Parts). Under the terms of the loan, the funds were to be used as working capital for his business. Ouazzani admitted that he submitted false financial information about himself and the company to obtain the loan, and used substantial amounts of the loan proceeds for various personal purposes.
Ouazzani made only approximately $13,000 in payments on this loan. In September 2008 Union Bank wrote off the loan (then in the amount of $174,028) as uncollectible. On Feb. 11, 2009, Union Bank obtained a civil default judgment against Ouazzani and Hafssa LLC in the amount of $177,001.
Money Laundering
Ouazzani admitted that he used part of the proceeds of the Union Bank loan to purchase an apartment in the United Arab Emirates with a co-conspirator.
On May 23, 2007, Ouazzani caused a wire transfer of $112,830 to be sent to a bank account in the United Arab Emirates. The funds for this wire transfer included funds obtained from the $175,000 Union Bank loan and involved a series of transactions designed to make it more difficult to trace the funds.
Ouazzani used the wire-transferred funds to purchase an apartment in the United Arab Emirates, which he later sold for a profit of approximately $17,000. Ouazzani requested a co-conspirator to pay this $17,000 to al Qaeda.
“The criminal justice system is a valuable tool for disrupting terrorist plots and bringing terrorists to justice,” Phillips said. “We must use every means—criminal prosecutions as well as intelligence and military operations—to protect the American people. Federal prosecutions not only result in long prison sentences, but yield valuable intelligence that can be used in the fight against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.”
Under federal statutes, Ouazzani is subject to a sentence of up to 65 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1 million and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Daniel Stewart, David M. Ketchmark and Brian P. Casey and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Menzel of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, with assistance from attorneys at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, including the Counterterrorism Section. It was investigated by the Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Missouri Department of Social Services - Division of Legal Services Investigation Section.
Heart of America Joint Terrorism Task Force
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Defense Criminal Investigative Service
Federal Air Marshals Service
IRS-Criminal Investigation
Kansas City, Kan., Police Department
Kansas City, Mo., Police Department
Kansas Highway Patrol
Missouri State Highway Patrol
Overland Park, Kan., Police Department
U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Missouri and the District of Kansas
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Marshals Service
U.S. Postal Inspection Service
U.S. Secret Service
http://www.fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2010/kc051910.htm
One might note that neither the indictment, the plea nor the FBI report at the time of the plea make the claim that there was a plot directed at the NY Stock Exchange.
Is this a new claim made in order to justify the scale of surveillance that is ongoing?
Sean Joyce notes that several individuals were lured to the USA, arrested and subsequently convicted for their terrorist activity - time index 1:10:30 in the C-SPAN video.
Who are these individuals and when and where were they convicted?
Is this the plot against the NY Stock Exchange to which they are referring?
Man arrested in FBI terror sting also targeted N.Y. Stock Exchange
NEW YORK — A Bangladeshi man snared in an FBI terror sting considered targeting a high-ranking government official and the New York Stock Exchange before authorities say he raised the bar by picking one New York City's most fortified sites: The Federal Reserve.
In a September meeting with an undercover agent posing as a fellow jihadist, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis explained he chose the Federal reserve as his car bomb target "for operational reasons," according to a criminal complaint. Nafis also indicated he knew that choice would "cause a large number of civilian casualties, including women and children," the complaint said.
The bomb was phony, but authorities alleged that Nafis' admiration of Osama bin Laden and aspirations for martyrdom were not.
FBI agents grabbed the 21-year-old Nafis — armed with a cellphone he believed was rigged as a detonator — after he made several attempts to blow up a fake 1,000-pound the bomb inside a vehicle parked next to the Federal Reserve Wednesday in lower Manhattan, the complaint said.
...
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/man_arrested_in_fbi_terror_sti.html
NEW YORK — A Bangladeshi man snared in an FBI terror sting considered targeting a high-ranking government official and the New York Stock Exchange before authorities say he raised the bar by picking one New York City's most fortified sites: The Federal Reserve.
In a September meeting with an undercover agent posing as a fellow jihadist, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis explained he chose the Federal reserve as his car bomb target "for operational reasons," according to a criminal complaint. Nafis also indicated he knew that choice would "cause a large number of civilian casualties, including women and children," the complaint said.
The bomb was phony, but authorities alleged that Nafis' admiration of Osama bin Laden and aspirations for martyrdom were not.
FBI agents grabbed the 21-year-old Nafis — armed with a cellphone he believed was rigged as a detonator — after he made several attempts to blow up a fake 1,000-pound the bomb inside a vehicle parked next to the Federal Reserve Wednesday in lower Manhattan, the complaint said.
...
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/man_arrested_in_fbi_terror_sti.html
If it is, this is two years after the prior defendant agreed to a guilty plea. Is it reasonable to believe that two years after a plea agreement is made that one is still an active participant in an on-going plot?
How important is transparency in these issues?
June 18, 2013
Snowden / Manning 2016 or Manning / Snowden 2016 would be great...
but neither would meet the age requirement to run for the office of President. After all, it takes time for corruption to set in properly.
Some may object to the above, but it seems that a person is doing something right if his or her actions cause Dick Cheney to label that individual a traitor - this is the honorable reverse of W awarding certain prominent Bush functionaries the "Medal of Freedom (TM) for which they hate us":
"Dick Cheney To Chris Wallace: ‘Traitor’ Snowden Possibly Had Chinese Connection Before Leaking Info
...
Cheney had no kind words for Snowden, whom he forthrightly labelled a traitor. “I think he has committed crimes in effect by violating the agreements given the position he had,” Cheney said, and went on to question his choice of hideout. “I’m suspicious because he went to China. That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.”
...
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dick-cheney-tells-chris-wallace-traitor-snowden-possibly-had-chinese-connection-before-leaking-info/
...
Cheney had no kind words for Snowden, whom he forthrightly labelled a traitor. “I think he has committed crimes in effect by violating the agreements given the position he had,” Cheney said, and went on to question his choice of hideout. “I’m suspicious because he went to China. That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.”
...
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/dick-cheney-tells-chris-wallace-traitor-snowden-possibly-had-chinese-connection-before-leaking-info/
June 6, 2013
Feinstein Defends & (the) Obama Administration Confirms Massive Surveillance Program...
Learning To Love The Matrix: Feinstein Defends Warrantless Surveillance of All Citizens
Published: June 6, 2013
As expected, in facing yet another attack on civil liberties by the Obama Administration, Democratic members are choosing personality over principle. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., CA) has come out to assure the public that it is a good thing that the Administration is spying on them and encourage them to accept such surveillance as the new normal. In the meantime, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, Ga), insists that the surveillance must be fine because “to my knowledge we have not had any citizen who has registered a complaint relative to the gathering of this information.” Of course, it has been secret and just last February the Administration succeeded in blocking an effort of dozens of citizens and groups challenging such surveillance programs before the Supreme Court.
Feinstein is notorious among civil libertarians as someone who knew of many of the abuses during the Bush Administration, including possible knowledge of the torture program and warrantless surveillance programs. However, the Administration is clearly putting the push on to get members in front of cameras to claim that that surveillance stopped a plot. It is an effort to get citizens to give up this core liberty. Of course, if you strip every civil liberty, you can claim additional plots. These members are responsible, again, for a failure to use oversight authority to protect civil liberties. They have clearly been given the message to try to change the story in the critical first 24-hours in classic Bush (now Obama) terms: yes we put everyone under surveillance but it paid off.
Feinstein has continued her dubious record of leading the charge against liberty — a curious role for the Democratic senator from a state like California.
My favorite however is Chambliss who seems clueless that the Obama Administration has classified information needed to challenge these laws and no citizens had information to complain about . . . because Chambliss and his colleagues kept it from their constituents.
...
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/06/learning-to-love-the-matrix-feinstein-defends-warrantless-surveillance-of-all-citizens/
Published: June 6, 2013
As expected, in facing yet another attack on civil liberties by the Obama Administration, Democratic members are choosing personality over principle. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., CA) has come out to assure the public that it is a good thing that the Administration is spying on them and encourage them to accept such surveillance as the new normal. In the meantime, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R, Ga), insists that the surveillance must be fine because “to my knowledge we have not had any citizen who has registered a complaint relative to the gathering of this information.” Of course, it has been secret and just last February the Administration succeeded in blocking an effort of dozens of citizens and groups challenging such surveillance programs before the Supreme Court.
Feinstein is notorious among civil libertarians as someone who knew of many of the abuses during the Bush Administration, including possible knowledge of the torture program and warrantless surveillance programs. However, the Administration is clearly putting the push on to get members in front of cameras to claim that that surveillance stopped a plot. It is an effort to get citizens to give up this core liberty. Of course, if you strip every civil liberty, you can claim additional plots. These members are responsible, again, for a failure to use oversight authority to protect civil liberties. They have clearly been given the message to try to change the story in the critical first 24-hours in classic Bush (now Obama) terms: yes we put everyone under surveillance but it paid off.
Feinstein has continued her dubious record of leading the charge against liberty — a curious role for the Democratic senator from a state like California.
My favorite however is Chambliss who seems clueless that the Obama Administration has classified information needed to challenge these laws and no citizens had information to complain about . . . because Chambliss and his colleagues kept it from their constituents.
...
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/06/learning-to-love-the-matrix-feinstein-defends-warrantless-surveillance-of-all-citizens/
Obama Administration Confirms Massive Surveillance Program Of U.S. Citizens
Published: June 6, 2013
While the media in the United States (with some notable exceptions) have been criticized for relatively soft coverage of attacks on civil liberties by the Obama Administration, the British press appears to be filling the gap. The Guardian is reporting on a massive surveillance program by the Obama Administration where the government has ordered Verizon (and presumably other carriers) to turn over all calls made within the United States and calls between the United States and other countries. The surveillance was conducted under an order from our controversial secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and demanded by the Justice Department and the FBI. The Administration has confirmed the existence of the program — another blow to civil liberties under Attorney General Eric Holder and this president. It also adds another area where Obama officials appear less than candid with Congress. [Update: USA Today first revealed aspects of this program in 2006]
The order signed by Judge Roger Vinson requires the company to turn over the phone numbers, location, duration, time and unique identifiers for all calls for all citizens. There is no effort to confine the search for individuals connected to any investigation. It is a sweeping surveillance on all citizens. Of course, just as Democrats have remained quiet over the recent attacks on the free press, it is not clear if even this abuse will generate opposition in Congress. Civil libertarians have been complaining for years about these programs and have met a wall of silence from Democrats protecting President Obama and Eric Holder.
In February, the Administration succeeded in blocking a challenge to its surveillance policies by arguing that any confirmation of such programs would put American lives at risk. Now that the case is dismissed, they have simply acknowledged the program. The decision is Clapper v. Amnesty International, No. 11-1025, and it is a true nightmare for civil liberties. The Supreme Court rejected the standing of civil liberties groups and citizens to challenge the Obama Administration’s surveillance programs. President Obama has long been criticized for his opposition to such lawsuits and his Justice Department has continued a successful attack on the ability of citizens to challenge the unconstitutional actions of their government in the war on terror. The 5-4 opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. insulates such programs from judicial review in yet another narrowing of standing rules.
Alito rejected the ability of an array of journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates to challenge the constitutionality of the 2008 law allowing secret surveillance without meeting constitutional standards of probable cause. Alito simply said that the parties could not prove that they were subject to surveillance — since the Obama Administration has classified such evidence — and insisted that their fears and precautionary actions are merely efforts to “manufacture standing by incurring costs in anticipation of nonimminent harms.”
...
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/06/obama-administration-confirms-massive-surveillance-program-by-nsa/
Published: June 6, 2013
While the media in the United States (with some notable exceptions) have been criticized for relatively soft coverage of attacks on civil liberties by the Obama Administration, the British press appears to be filling the gap. The Guardian is reporting on a massive surveillance program by the Obama Administration where the government has ordered Verizon (and presumably other carriers) to turn over all calls made within the United States and calls between the United States and other countries. The surveillance was conducted under an order from our controversial secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and demanded by the Justice Department and the FBI. The Administration has confirmed the existence of the program — another blow to civil liberties under Attorney General Eric Holder and this president. It also adds another area where Obama officials appear less than candid with Congress. [Update: USA Today first revealed aspects of this program in 2006]
The order signed by Judge Roger Vinson requires the company to turn over the phone numbers, location, duration, time and unique identifiers for all calls for all citizens. There is no effort to confine the search for individuals connected to any investigation. It is a sweeping surveillance on all citizens. Of course, just as Democrats have remained quiet over the recent attacks on the free press, it is not clear if even this abuse will generate opposition in Congress. Civil libertarians have been complaining for years about these programs and have met a wall of silence from Democrats protecting President Obama and Eric Holder.
In February, the Administration succeeded in blocking a challenge to its surveillance policies by arguing that any confirmation of such programs would put American lives at risk. Now that the case is dismissed, they have simply acknowledged the program. The decision is Clapper v. Amnesty International, No. 11-1025, and it is a true nightmare for civil liberties. The Supreme Court rejected the standing of civil liberties groups and citizens to challenge the Obama Administration’s surveillance programs. President Obama has long been criticized for his opposition to such lawsuits and his Justice Department has continued a successful attack on the ability of citizens to challenge the unconstitutional actions of their government in the war on terror. The 5-4 opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. insulates such programs from judicial review in yet another narrowing of standing rules.
Alito rejected the ability of an array of journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates to challenge the constitutionality of the 2008 law allowing secret surveillance without meeting constitutional standards of probable cause. Alito simply said that the parties could not prove that they were subject to surveillance — since the Obama Administration has classified such evidence — and insisted that their fears and precautionary actions are merely efforts to “manufacture standing by incurring costs in anticipation of nonimminent harms.”
...
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/06/obama-administration-confirms-massive-surveillance-program-by-nsa/
Transcript: Dianne Feinstein, Saxby Chambliss explain, defend NSA phone records program
By Ed O'Keefe
Published: June 6, 2013
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who lead the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke with reporters Thursday morning at a hastily arranged news conference to explain and defend the National Security Agency’s collection of Verizon telephone records.
An unofficial transcript of the exchange appears below:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: I just had an opportunity to review the Guardian article and I’d like to make the following points.
As far as I know, this is the exact three month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years. This renewal is carried out by the FISA Court under the business records section of the Patriot Act. Therefore, it is lawful.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/06/06/transcript-dianne-feinstein-saxby-chambliss-explain-defend-nsa-phone-records-program/
By Ed O'Keefe
Published: June 6, 2013
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who lead the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke with reporters Thursday morning at a hastily arranged news conference to explain and defend the National Security Agency’s collection of Verizon telephone records.
An unofficial transcript of the exchange appears below:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: I just had an opportunity to review the Guardian article and I’d like to make the following points.
As far as I know, this is the exact three month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years. This renewal is carried out by the FISA Court under the business records section of the Patriot Act. Therefore, it is lawful.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/06/06/transcript-dianne-feinstein-saxby-chambliss-explain-defend-nsa-phone-records-program/
May 17, 2013
If only everyone were allowed to carry around loaded weapons....
Gunfire Shatters Quiet at AC Library: Retired Police Officer Shoots Self in Foot...
Gunfire Shatters Quiet at AC Library
Retired Police Officer Shoots Self in Foot
Appleton City Journal, May 10, 2013, Volume 133, Number 3
by Cindy Arms, Sac-Osage Publishing Staff
Gunfire startled librarians and visitors alike around noon on Saturday, April 27, when Rich Bauer accidentally discharged a weapon he was carrying while visiting the Appleton City Library. Bauer was injured by a bullet through his foot and drove himself to the hospital. No one else was injured.
According to the police report, Bauer, who was doing some work at the library, had a semi-automatic weapon in his hand as Police Chief Bill Smith entered the library. Smith stated he was on his way to the library to meet with Bauer and was nearby when he heard five shots and smelled the odor of gun powder. According to the report, when Smith saw Bauer, he said, "I think I shot myself in the foot."
...
http://www.iclassifiedsnetwork.com/editionviewer/default.aspx?Edition=8d77972b-de18-4229-931a-4f9b83fa4319
Retired Police Officer Shoots Self in Foot
Appleton City Journal, May 10, 2013, Volume 133, Number 3
by Cindy Arms, Sac-Osage Publishing Staff
Gunfire startled librarians and visitors alike around noon on Saturday, April 27, when Rich Bauer accidentally discharged a weapon he was carrying while visiting the Appleton City Library. Bauer was injured by a bullet through his foot and drove himself to the hospital. No one else was injured.
According to the police report, Bauer, who was doing some work at the library, had a semi-automatic weapon in his hand as Police Chief Bill Smith entered the library. Smith stated he was on his way to the library to meet with Bauer and was nearby when he heard five shots and smelled the odor of gun powder. According to the report, when Smith saw Bauer, he said, "I think I shot myself in the foot."
...
http://www.iclassifiedsnetwork.com/editionviewer/default.aspx?Edition=8d77972b-de18-4229-931a-4f9b83fa4319
If only everyone were allowed to carry around loaded weapons....
May 17, 2013
Here is a passage whose context is the war in Algeria from 1954-1962: the passage is excerpted from Counterinsurgency Warfare by David Galula:
For more on the late David Galula, one may see this retrospective:
Greenwald: Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent
Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent
Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two
Glenn Greenwald
guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 May 2013 07.54 EDT
Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of": indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack:
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis for this "war" - the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) - should be revised (meaning: expanded). This is how Wired's Spencer Ackerman (soon to be the Guardian US's national security editor) described the most significant exchange:
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/17/endless-war-on-terror-obama
Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two
Glenn Greenwald
guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 May 2013 07.54 EDT
Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of": indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack:
"Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. Given the way al-Qaida continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight. . . . That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism."
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis for this "war" - the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) - should be revised (meaning: expanded). This is how Wired's Spencer Ackerman (soon to be the Guardian US's national security editor) described the most significant exchange:
"Asked at a Senate hearing today how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered, 'At least 10 to 20 years.' . . . A spokeswoman, Army Col. Anne Edgecomb, clarified that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today - atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted. Welcome to America's Thirty Years War."
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/17/endless-war-on-terror-obama
Here is a passage whose context is the war in Algeria from 1954-1962: the passage is excerpted from Counterinsurgency Warfare by David Galula:
"Essential though it is, the military action is secondary to the political one, its primary purpose being to afford the political power enough freedom to work safely with the population."
(Counterinsurgency Warfare (Praeger, 2006), p. 63)
http://www.amazon.com/Counterinsurgency-Warfare-Theory-Practice-Classics/dp/0275993035
(Counterinsurgency Warfare (Praeger, 2006), p. 63)
http://www.amazon.com/Counterinsurgency-Warfare-Theory-Practice-Classics/dp/0275993035
For more on the late David Galula, one may see this retrospective:
DAVID GALULA: HIS LIFE AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT
Ann Marlowe August 2010
INTRODUCTION
It is a safe bet that if the United States had not found itself—or to be more accurate, identified it-
self—as fighting an insurgency in Iraq sometime in 2003, “David Galula” would still be a nearly forgotten
name. In 2003, his two books on counterinsurgency had been out of print for forty years. One, Pacification
in Algeria, had never really been published at all; written as a study for RAND, it was classified until 2005.
One of the characteristics which makes Galula’s work so robust—its infusion with both the French and
Anglo-American counterinsurgency traditions—also left him an intellectual orphan. In his lifetime, Galula
had the bad luck to be an expert who wrote in English about a conflict mainly of interest to the French. Still
worse, the Algerian war was tainted for Americans by the shadows of colonialism and torture. Though Galula
was in the United States during the early years of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, he
seems to have had only a fleeting influence on those who formed our strategy.
In France, counterinsurgency theory had enjoyed a great flourishing in the 1950s and 1960s, as the French
Army fought successively in Indochina, Suez, and Algeria. But the stars of this movement, a group of colonels
including Roger Trinquier and Charles Lacheroy,were already famous before Galula began to write. In
the context of the French tradition of guerre revolutionnaire, there was little novelty in Galula’s approach.
By 2006, when FM 3-24 brought Anglophone writers back into the game, the French had less reason to be absorbed in counterinsurgency studies. So even after Galula’s works were republished in English — and translated for the first time into French, nearly 40 years after his death—he remains almost unknown to the nation whose uniform he wore for most of his adult life.
...
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1016.pdf
Ann Marlowe August 2010
INTRODUCTION
It is a safe bet that if the United States had not found itself—or to be more accurate, identified it-
self—as fighting an insurgency in Iraq sometime in 2003, “David Galula” would still be a nearly forgotten
name. In 2003, his two books on counterinsurgency had been out of print for forty years. One, Pacification
in Algeria, had never really been published at all; written as a study for RAND, it was classified until 2005.
One of the characteristics which makes Galula’s work so robust—its infusion with both the French and
Anglo-American counterinsurgency traditions—also left him an intellectual orphan. In his lifetime, Galula
had the bad luck to be an expert who wrote in English about a conflict mainly of interest to the French. Still
worse, the Algerian war was tainted for Americans by the shadows of colonialism and torture. Though Galula
was in the United States during the early years of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, he
seems to have had only a fleeting influence on those who formed our strategy.
In France, counterinsurgency theory had enjoyed a great flourishing in the 1950s and 1960s, as the French
Army fought successively in Indochina, Suez, and Algeria. But the stars of this movement, a group of colonels
including Roger Trinquier and Charles Lacheroy,were already famous before Galula began to write. In
the context of the French tradition of guerre revolutionnaire, there was little novelty in Galula’s approach.
By 2006, when FM 3-24 brought Anglophone writers back into the game, the French had less reason to be absorbed in counterinsurgency studies. So even after Galula’s works were republished in English — and translated for the first time into French, nearly 40 years after his death—he remains almost unknown to the nation whose uniform he wore for most of his adult life.
...
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1016.pdf
May 15, 2013
Noteworthy is Lauer's smooth transition away from anything that might require a thoughtful response from the guest. At this point, Lauer could have been replaced by a fluffy bunny in Wolf Blitzer glasses and the interview would have been equally well done.
One should recall that Donald Rumsfeld knows about protecting people who are put at risk:
So, here (apparently) is Rumsfeld's Rule on protecting people who are put at risk:
For a more complete presentation of Rumsfeld's statement, one may consult this article:
Matt Lauer Interviews Donald Rumsfeld who Releases "Rumsfeld's Rules"...
As is to be expected, Matt Lauer conducted a short, fluffy interview and offered no meaningful resistance or forceful counterpoints to Rumsfeld's statements. Here is an excerpt that may call to mind one of the many things that Rumsfeld has said in the past:
NBC's Lauer Asks Rumsfeld if Benghazi Scandal is Just GOP Trying to 'Discredit' Hillary
By Kyle Drennen | May 14, 2013 | 17:33
...
LAUER: Do you think that the administration has answered enough questions on it? Do you think it's possible that some Republicans are trying to use this to discredit Hillary Clinton in case she decides to run for president in 2016?
RUMSFELD: No. I think that's a side – that's the sideshow, is the Hillary Clinton piece of it. No, the first problem was if you're going to put people at risk, you have to try to protect them. And the British took their people out because they knew they were at risk. And the Americans were left in and they weren't provided the kind of security that they needed, obviously, because they're dead.
LAUER: Let's turn to your book. Lots of rules and maxims in here. Some make perfect common sense, "Set your goals, learn from those who have been there, trust your instincts." This one caught my eye, though, Mr. Secretary, "It is easier to get into something than to get out of it."
RUMSFELD: It's true.
...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2013/05/14/nbcs-lauer-asks-rumsfeld-if-benghazi-scandal-just-gop-trying-discredit
Noteworthy is Lauer's smooth transition away from anything that might require a thoughtful response from the guest. At this point, Lauer could have been replaced by a fluffy bunny in Wolf Blitzer glasses and the interview would have been equally well done.
One should recall that Donald Rumsfeld knows about protecting people who are put at risk:
So, here (apparently) is Rumsfeld's Rule on protecting people who are put at risk:
"You go to war with the army you have..uh..not the army you might want
or wish to have at a later time."
--Donald Rumsfeld, Camp Buehring, Kuwait, December 8, 2004
or wish to have at a later time."
--Donald Rumsfeld, Camp Buehring, Kuwait, December 8, 2004
For a more complete presentation of Rumsfeld's statement, one may consult this article:
Iraq-Bound Troops Confront Rumsfeld Over Lack of Armor
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 8, 2004
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, Dec. 8 - In an extraordinary exchange at this remote desert camp, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld found himself on the defensive today, fielding pointed questions from Iraq-bound troops who complained that they were being sent into combat with insufficient protection and aging equipment.
Specialist Thomas Wilson, a scout with a Tennessee National Guard unit scheduled to roll into Iraq this week, said soldiers had to scrounge through local landfills here for pieces of rusty scrap metal and bulletproof glass - what they called "hillbilly armor" - to bolt on to their trucks for protection against roadside bombs in Iraq.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/international/middleeast/08cnd-rumsfeld.html?_r=0
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 8, 2004
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, Dec. 8 - In an extraordinary exchange at this remote desert camp, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld found himself on the defensive today, fielding pointed questions from Iraq-bound troops who complained that they were being sent into combat with insufficient protection and aging equipment.
Specialist Thomas Wilson, a scout with a Tennessee National Guard unit scheduled to roll into Iraq this week, said soldiers had to scrounge through local landfills here for pieces of rusty scrap metal and bulletproof glass - what they called "hillbilly armor" - to bolt on to their trucks for protection against roadside bombs in Iraq.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/international/middleeast/08cnd-rumsfeld.html?_r=0
May 2, 2013
An APS article on the subject:
Patrick Bruno's commentary:
Time Crystals: Original Articles, an APS Commentary, and Bruno's Commentary...
To see exactly what is being discussed, one needs to read these papers and the appended commentaries:
The original papers:
Classical Time Crystals
Alfred Shapere and Frank Wilczek
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40502 USA
Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
We consider the possibility that classical dynamical systems display motion in their lowest energy
state, forming a time analogue of crystalline spatial order. Challenges facing that idea are identified
and overcome. We display arbitrary orbits of an angular variable as lowest-energy trajectories for
nonsingular Lagrangian systems. Dynamics within orbits of broken symmetry provide a natural
arena for formation of time crystals. We exhibit models of that kind, including a model with
traveling density waves
In this paper we will investigate a cluster of issues around the question of whether time-independent, con-
servative classical systems might exhibit motion in their lowest energy states. Fully quantum systems are the sub-
ject of a companion paper [1]. Related issues have been raised in a cosmological context [2][3], but those investi-
gations consider quite different aspects, in which the time dependence introduced by the expansion of the universe
plays a significant role. (The term \time crystal" has been used previously to describe periodic phenomena in other contexts [4, 5].)
...
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.2537v2.pdf
Alfred Shapere and Frank Wilczek
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40502 USA
Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
We consider the possibility that classical dynamical systems display motion in their lowest energy
state, forming a time analogue of crystalline spatial order. Challenges facing that idea are identified
and overcome. We display arbitrary orbits of an angular variable as lowest-energy trajectories for
nonsingular Lagrangian systems. Dynamics within orbits of broken symmetry provide a natural
arena for formation of time crystals. We exhibit models of that kind, including a model with
traveling density waves
In this paper we will investigate a cluster of issues around the question of whether time-independent, con-
servative classical systems might exhibit motion in their lowest energy states. Fully quantum systems are the sub-
ject of a companion paper [1]. Related issues have been raised in a cosmological context [2][3], but those investi-
gations consider quite different aspects, in which the time dependence introduced by the expansion of the universe
plays a significant role. (The term \time crystal" has been used previously to describe periodic phenomena in other contexts [4, 5].)
...
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.2537v2.pdf
Quantum Time Crystals
Frank Wilczek
Center for Theoretical Physics
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge Massachusetts 02139 USA
Some subtleties and apparent difficulties associated with the notion of spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry in quantum mechanics are identified and resolved. A model exhibiting that phenomenon is displayed. The possibility and significance of breaking of imaginary time translation symmetry is discussed.
Symmetry and its spontaneous breaking is a central theme in modern physics. Perhaps no symmetry is more fundamental than time translation symmetry, since time translation symmetry underlies both the reproducibility of experience and, within the standard dynamical frameworks, the conservation of energy. So it is natural to consider the question, whether time translation symmetry might be spontaneously broken in a closed quantum-mechanical system. That is the question we will consider, and answer affirmatively, here.
...
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.2539v2.pdf
Frank Wilczek
Center for Theoretical Physics
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge Massachusetts 02139 USA
Some subtleties and apparent difficulties associated with the notion of spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry in quantum mechanics are identified and resolved. A model exhibiting that phenomenon is displayed. The possibility and significance of breaking of imaginary time translation symmetry is discussed.
Symmetry and its spontaneous breaking is a central theme in modern physics. Perhaps no symmetry is more fundamental than time translation symmetry, since time translation symmetry underlies both the reproducibility of experience and, within the standard dynamical frameworks, the conservation of energy. So it is natural to consider the question, whether time translation symmetry might be spontaneously broken in a closed quantum-mechanical system. That is the question we will consider, and answer affirmatively, here.
...
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.2539v2.pdf
An APS article on the subject:
Viewpoint: Crystals of Time
Jakub Zakrzewski, Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
Published October 15, 2012 | Physics 5, 116 (2012) | DOI: 10.1103/Physics.5.116
Researchers propose how to realize time crystals, structures whose lowest-energy states are periodic both in time and space.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking is ubiquitous in nature. It occurs when the ground state (classically, the lowest energy state) of a system is less symmetrical than the equations governing the system. Examples in which the symmetry is broken in excited states are common—one just needs to think of Kepler’s elliptical orbits, which break the spherical symmetry of the gravitational force. But spontaneous symmetry breaking refers instead to a symmetry broken by the lowest energy state of a system. Well-known examples are the Higgs boson (due to the breaking of gauge symmetries), ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, liquid crystals, and superconductors. While most examples come from the quantum world, spontaneous symmetry breaking can also occur in classical systems [1].
Three articles in Physical Review Letters investigate a fascinating manifestation of spontaneous symmetry breaking: the possibility of realizing time crystals, structures whose lowest-energy states are periodic in time, much like ordinary crystals are periodic in space. Alfred Shapere at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, and Frank Wilczek at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge [2], provide the theoretical demonstration that classical time crystals can exist and, in a separate paper, Wilczek [3] extends these ideas to quantum time crystals. Tongcang Li at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues [4] propose an experimental realization of quantum time crystals with cold ions trapped in a cylindrical potential.
In nature, the most common manifestation of spontaneous symmetry breaking is the existence of crystals. Here continuous translational symmetry in space is broken and replaced by the discrete symmetry of the periodic crystal. Since we have gotten used to considering space and time on equal footing, one may ask whether crystalline periodicity can also occur in the dimension of time. Put differently, can time crystals—systems with time-periodic ground states that break translational time symmetry—exist? This is precisely the question asked by Alfred Shapere and Frank Wilczek.
How can one create a time crystal? The key idea of the authors, both for the classical and quantum case, is to search for systems that are spatially ordered and move perpetually in their ground state in an oscillatory or rotational way, as shown in Fig. 1. In the time domain, the system will periodically return to the same initial state.
...
http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/116
Jakub Zakrzewski, Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
Published October 15, 2012 | Physics 5, 116 (2012) | DOI: 10.1103/Physics.5.116
Researchers propose how to realize time crystals, structures whose lowest-energy states are periodic both in time and space.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking is ubiquitous in nature. It occurs when the ground state (classically, the lowest energy state) of a system is less symmetrical than the equations governing the system. Examples in which the symmetry is broken in excited states are common—one just needs to think of Kepler’s elliptical orbits, which break the spherical symmetry of the gravitational force. But spontaneous symmetry breaking refers instead to a symmetry broken by the lowest energy state of a system. Well-known examples are the Higgs boson (due to the breaking of gauge symmetries), ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, liquid crystals, and superconductors. While most examples come from the quantum world, spontaneous symmetry breaking can also occur in classical systems [1].
Three articles in Physical Review Letters investigate a fascinating manifestation of spontaneous symmetry breaking: the possibility of realizing time crystals, structures whose lowest-energy states are periodic in time, much like ordinary crystals are periodic in space. Alfred Shapere at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, and Frank Wilczek at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge [2], provide the theoretical demonstration that classical time crystals can exist and, in a separate paper, Wilczek [3] extends these ideas to quantum time crystals. Tongcang Li at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues [4] propose an experimental realization of quantum time crystals with cold ions trapped in a cylindrical potential.
In nature, the most common manifestation of spontaneous symmetry breaking is the existence of crystals. Here continuous translational symmetry in space is broken and replaced by the discrete symmetry of the periodic crystal. Since we have gotten used to considering space and time on equal footing, one may ask whether crystalline periodicity can also occur in the dimension of time. Put differently, can time crystals—systems with time-periodic ground states that break translational time symmetry—exist? This is precisely the question asked by Alfred Shapere and Frank Wilczek.
How can one create a time crystal? The key idea of the authors, both for the classical and quantum case, is to search for systems that are spatially ordered and move perpetually in their ground state in an oscillatory or rotational way, as shown in Fig. 1. In the time domain, the system will periodically return to the same initial state.
...
http://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/116
Patrick Bruno's commentary:
Comment on “Quantum Time Crystals”: a new paradigm or just another proposal of perpetuum mobile?
In a recent Letter [1], Wilczek proposes the existence of a new state of matter, “quantum time crystals”, defined
as systems which, in their quantum mechanical ground state, display a time-dependent behavior (periodic os-
cillation) of some physical observable. The proposal is based upon a model consisting of (discernible) particles
on an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring,
...
Patrick Bruno
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043
Grenoble Cedex, France
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1210.4128v1.pdf
In a recent Letter [1], Wilczek proposes the existence of a new state of matter, “quantum time crystals”, defined
as systems which, in their quantum mechanical ground state, display a time-dependent behavior (periodic os-
cillation) of some physical observable. The proposal is based upon a model consisting of (discernible) particles
on an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring,
...
Patrick Bruno
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043
Grenoble Cedex, France
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1210.4128v1.pdf
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