Flight Pundit

President Bush, September 24 2001:

We know that many of these individuals and groups operate primarily overseas, and they don’t have much money in the United States. So we’ve developed a strategy to deal with that. We’re putting banks and financial institutions around the world on notice, we will work with their governments, ask them to freeze or block terrorist’s ability to access funds in foreign accounts. If they fail to help us by sharing information or freezing accounts, the Department of the Treasury now has the authority to freeze their bank’s assets and transactions in the United States.

We have developed the international financial equivalent of law enforcement’s “Most Wanted” list. And it puts the financial world on notice. If you do business with terrorists, if you support or sponsor them, you will not do business with the United States of America.

And the New York Times, today:

WASHINGTON, June 22 — Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.

The President has mentioned many times- the US would be seeking information about funding, bank account info for terrorism related issues. This is no secret. But the NYT choses to make it appear so.

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And another group of young men who mean to harm America have been caught and arrested. I applaud the government, the FBI- for making this happen.

WASHINGTON — Seven men described as “homegrown terrorists” have been charged with conspiring with Al Qaeda to “levy war against the United States” by committing acts of violence that included blowing up Chicago’s Sears Tower and an FBI building in Florida.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday that the seven suspects were part of a group of who sought to work with Al Qaeda but ended up conspiring instead with a law enforcement informant. These men were living and working in the cities they were planning on attacking, Gonzales said, just as the Madrid, London and Toronto bombers — or would-be bombers — were.

Heh…

“They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy,” Gonzalez said.

We need to find the answers to this. Were they members of a mosque that allowed hate preaching?

The men — five of whom are American citizens — along with others yet unknown, set out to “combine, conspire, confederate, and agree to provide material support and resources” to Al Qaeda “by agreeing to provide personnel, including themselves, to work under Al Qaeda’s direction and control, knowing that Al Qaeda has engaged or engages in terrorist activity,” according to a four-count indictment handed up Thursday against the seven men.

In other words, some of them would have been willing to blow themselves up; others would have been more than willing to fly a plane into a building; still others would have grabbed some hostages and cut off their heads…you know- the tactics of the Religion of Peace AKA Al Qaeda.

Gonzales said the terror suspects had the intent to carry out the attacks, but not necessarily the capability at the time of their arrest.

I see the ACLU coming to the rescue of the seven scum. And the liberals and democrats. Give them a few days.

“We try to identify plots in the earliest stages possible because we don’t know what we don’t know about a terrorism plot. Once we have sufficient information to move forward with a prosecution, that’s what we do and that is what has occurred here,” Gonzales said. “We took action when we did because we believe we have an obligation to protect America … We felt that the combination of the planning and overt acts taken were sufficient to go forward with this prosecution. There is no immediate threat.”

They stopped a plan in it’s tracks. No matter how early in it’s planning- the attacks won’t be happening now.

He continued: “These seven individuals are members of a homegrown terror cell. They lived and worked in the United States and enjoyed all the great freedom our nation offered. Yet they pledged their allegiance to Al Qaeda, or at least who they thought was Al Qaeda.”

He noted that the suspects planned attacks as big, if not bigger, than those of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed over 3,000 people.

“The struggle is far from over. We cannot afford to become complacent, as the threats are real, and the stakes are high,” Pistole added.

During a press conference later in Miami, Jonathan Solomon, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami office, stressed that the indictment is against individuals, “it is not an indictment against any religion or segments of our community.”

He’s being PC. I would indite the entire religion. Without hesitation. Have we heard any reaction from the Muslim community yet?

CrossPosted @ ARS

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“Acta, non verba” is the motto for the United States Merchant Marines. It means: Act, Don’t Talk.

For many years these men and women have served without proper recognition. Recently President Bush visited the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island. This was the very first time a sitting President visited this acedemy.

All told, more than 20,000 academy graduates have served the maritime industry and the armed forces at sea and ashore. In peacetime as in war, it is the Merchant Marines who keep us afloat.

It is to be noted that the Merchant Marine Academy is the first federal service to enroll women students – two years ahead of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard. Twenty-eight women are part of this year’s class, bringing the total number of academy female graduates to 552.

The academy, operated by the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943, and its college-level four-year program is fully accredited.

Many people don’t know these things about the Merchant Marines.

Did you know this?

Despite the fact that our U.S. Merchant Marines are subject to the military code of conduct and could be court-martialed, and despite the fact that 7,000 gallant mariners were killed at sea on more than 800 American ships that were sunk, the merchant seamen of World War II got a raw deal when peace returned.

For 43 years, our government denied surviving heroes benefits, ranging from housing to health care to education under the G.I. Bill. Congress awarded them veteran status only in 1988 – too late for the 125,000 mariners who had already passed away (roughly half of those who had served).

The politics of those times prevented the MM from getting the credit they so deserved.

It was General Dwight D. Eisenhower who said, “When final victory is ours, there is no organization to share its credit more deservedly than the Merchant Marines.”

Our Merchant Marines have a proud and bloodied history. By the end of World War II, the Merchant Marine Academy had graduated 6,634 officers, many of whom never made it home. The academy accelerated graduating classes during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

During the Persian Gulf War and prior to the conflict, academy graduates and midshipmen played key roles in a massive sealift of military supplies to the war zone. They also participated in the sealift to Somalia. More recently, they were vital in the transportation of supplies to the Iraq war and have served supporting naval roles in ports in Iraq and Kuwait.

These brave young men and women risk their lives on a day-to-day basis aboard ships loaded with high-test fuel and munitions on which our fighting troops depend.

Check out the US Merchant Marines web site; and think of them next Memorial Day and on Veterans Day.

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When a politician does something- anything- to draw attention to themselves, they better be prepared for some scrutiny.

Rep. John Murtha is thinking big thoughts. Since coming out for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq last year, he has accused Marines of murder “in cold blood” before a preliminary investigation is even complete; accused the military of a cover up over the same incident; declared his candidacy for the House majority leadership post; and, most recently, refined his cut-and-run strategy in Iraq to mean “redeployment” to Okinawa, Japan.

It’s pretty obvious Murtha just wants some name recognition here, so he can try to take over the Majority leadership role.

Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported how the ranking member on the defense appropriations subcommittee has a brother, Robert Murtha, whose lobbying firm represents 10 companies that received more than $20 million from last year’s defense spending bill. “Clients of the lobbying firm KSA Consulting — whose top officials also include former congressional aide Carmen V. Scialabba, who worked for Rep. Murtha as a congressional aide for 27 years — received a total of $20.8 million from the bill,” the L.A. Times reported.

Why isn’t this getting more attention? They go after GOP folks who might be involved with similar situations. Why not go after this big dufus??

In early 2004, according to Roll Call, Mr. Murtha “reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco.” Laurence Pelosi, nephew of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the time was an executive of the company which owned the rights to the land. The same article also reported how Mr. Murtha has been behind millions of dollars worth of earmarks in defense appropriations bills that went to companies owned by the children of fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski. Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group, lists Mr. Murtha as the top recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election cycle.

The old boy network at work here…all polcats are guilty of this shit, it’s just damned funny how Murtha seems to get away with this. The scumbag.

As Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, has said, “If there is a potential pattern where Congressman Murtha has helped other Democrats secure appropriations that also benefited relatives of those members, I believe this would be something that merits further review by the ethics committee.”

Then why isn’t this being reviewed? The honorable old Marine, who only has the best interest of the military at heart? Sure.
What an ass.

It’s odd that the media, which has been fairly unbiased in going after corrupt politicians recently, has gone silent on Mr. Murtha’s questionable actions. Or maybe it isn’t. Since December, Mr. Murtha has become the darling of the antiwar crowd, and, as we’ve seen with other such darlings, scrutinizing their behavior is considered disrespectful. But as we’re on the subject, few might recall that after the massive 1980 Abscam scandal, Mr. Murtha was named by the FBI as an “unindicted co-conspirator.”

Go over and donate money to his opponent. Give her some cash. Vote this bastard out of office.

Cross Posted @ ARS

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