A little more than 2000 days later

In a world that seems to be spiraling out of control it is hard to nail down one solution or one area that could be addressed to stop the full bleed out. The Iraq war will not end and the President is opening small cracks in the door of the plans set out by the powers that be. Socially our nation is getting closer to the full split with everyone at each other’s throats because of race or religion or ethnicity. We have a daily dose of fear and we can’t find the energy to shrug it off and laugh at the people who force feed us with that tactic.

Just looking at the economic situation is enough to make the hair stand on end. Washington Mutual bank has now claimed that the housing market is in a “Near perfect storm” as one financial institution after another sounds warning sirens over the current state of the economy. The worst is yet to come and I am not certain if even the masters of this system are even in control of what will happen. When the brightest economists say they don’t know what will happen, it’s a sign we should hang on.

At this point the only optimism we can afford is the occasional “feel good story” on the evening news but even those are tainted by dark and disturbing circumstances that result in a feel good story. Finding our way through the lies and deceit of our leaders is becoming even more difficult as they no longer attempt to cover their tracks. They even swear up and down that the new bin Laden videotape is who they say he is even though the man seen in the video is obviously not bin Laden. They have pulled this trick on us before with fake OBLs who are right handed as well.

Our boogy man, our haint, our campfire story of men with hooks for hands are the creatures our leaders give to us. A generation ago it was the evil empire of communists. Two generations ago it was the Godless communists and civil rights “instigators”. Three generations ago it was, for Americans, the entire outside world, with Europe festering and Japan stomping across Asia like a machine. We are fed fear from all fronts, all the time and it’s no wonder we react the way we do.

The timing of these scares and events is always convenient for the real and puppet leaders of this country. Between the last week of August and this week, the 6th anniversary of the 911 attacks we have seen the resignation of the worst attorney general in US history. The sex scandal engulfing a senior US Senator, the release of a book that catches our President in full bald faced lies regarding the future of the Iraq war. A new OBL tape has been released and the General who is overseeing the Iraq debacle is in Washington this week to report on the status of Iraq, except he has no report.

You can rest assured that the teat suckling beasts of General Dynamics, Lockheed and every other defense contractor is out in full force too, with their lobbyists, to prod and poke Congress into seeing things their way over the so-called Global War on Terrorism. Same with the numerous private contractors like McNeil Technologies, who are making billions on their “work” in Iraq. There is still wealth and power to grab from the deserts of the Middle East for them to let it go now.

The mechanisms of war and the bottom feeders that grease the gears and supply fuel to the engines of war do not turn off so easily. The open door and blank check were laid out immediately after the 911 attacks. We are told to shut up when we dissent to the atrocities done in our name and we are targeted as un-American when we point out the reality of the situation. Words like love, understanding and compassion become the vulgar and mockable descriptions for supposed left-wing kooks who are just touchy feely freaks. You cannot even say enough is enough without being labeled, red flagged and spied upon.

Americans seem to be slowly waking from their sleep of fear but there is still a long way to go. The beast has grown to a size that is almost unimaginable and the mountain that needs to be climbed to bring this beast under control seems insurmountable. On this day before the 911 attacks, a day that we should be angry, life seems to be going on with less attention to the bigger picture than what we are giving to the smaller things. We fail to focus on the bigger forest because the trees we are looking at in the small corner of the woods are the only ones on fire.

Richard Jewel and random memories of the 90's. It's 11 o'clock, do you know where your kooks are?

In many ways, for me at least, much of the 90’s seem to be a slow blur. Moments pop out at me when I look back, many good and many bad. An entire inner-connected series of memories have come back to me over the last two days with the passing of Richard Jewel. Jewel, you may remember, was the security guard at the Atlanta Olympic games whom the FBI attempted to scapegoat after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

In the summer of ’96 I was living out in the country but still a short drive into Atlanta. I watched those Olympic games and how they affected Atlanta, from afar. On the night of the bombing I was watching TV and followed the news reports closely, switching between the four local news stations and ESPN’s coverage. In the days after the bombing, when Jewel was rightly identified as a hero, I was happy to see what appeared to be a regular Georgia “country boy” making good in the city. That feel good moment was dashed only days later when the feds leaked the information to the news organizations that Jewel was the prime suspect.

One thing you develop as you get older is a prime eye for telling what is real and what is not real when it comes to people. In the case of Jewel, it was obvious the feds were lying. Their MO sounded credible until you looked at the man and how he was holding up to the insane media pressure. I wasn’t the only one who felt he was being railroaded. My co-workers, all of them “country smart” could see that something wasn’t right and that he was innocent. Jewel was eventually cleared and the investigation appeared to have reached a brick wall.

When I first moved to Atlanta we seemed to be the center of a lunatic bomber’s attention. The Olympic Park bombing, the Otherside Lounge bombing, the Sandy Springs abortion clinic bombing were making all of us more than a little uncomfortable with what was happening and where they would strike next. I remember several long lunchtime and water cooler conversations we had about who the killer could be. My pet theory was that we had a crazy redneck that was driving into town to kill Atlantans, but I was certain it was a Georgian.

When the Birmingham bombing killed a police officer and horribly injured a nurse in early ’98 all of the people I knew raised their eyebrows with attention. It was pretty obvious that the nut that was setting off bombs here in town was at work in Birmingham. The only question most of us had was whether or not the bomber lived in west Georgia or east Alabama.

When Eric Rudolph was announced as the prime suspect, all seemed to fall in place. Rudolph could be a poster child of the things that were wrong about us as a people in the 90’s and he was one of the precursor warnings of the type of lunatic fringe American that we would all see post-9/11. In a decade that gave us the Oklahoma City bombing and Eric Rudolph, we had more than enough signs of what we have become. The lunatics who weren’t satisfied with simply firebombing abortion clinics so they moved on to bombing them and killing abortion Doctors are the type of person who maintains the systems of control and power in America today.

I live in a large American city, with an international airport and high visibility facilities such as the CDC and the Federal Reserve. I am not at all worried about Islamic terrorists blowing my ass up. It’s possible but I think I am far more likely to be struck by lightning or win the lottery than to be killed by a terrorist in the city I live. I am, however, still worried about right wing extremists in America. I am, in effect, afraid of my own people. I admit this one day after posting an angrily worded entry regarding fear in America, so I do understand how this can be considered a hypocritical statement.

These extremists have always been here in this country. The south has always been the stereotypical home ground for such lunatics but don’t let that assumption steer you in the wrong direction. At the height of the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan, the largest population of members was not found in the south; Indiana was the state that boasted the highest concentration of Klansmen. Those extremists are not only down here; they are in your town too.

In the 90’s we had the rare opportunity to see these people up close and personal. We saw the militia movements and were able to hear the ideas of extreme nationalism that permeate throughout their communities. We saw the radical Christian identity movement followers who rationalize death and murder by killing abortion providers, homosexuals and non-Christians. We saw the far right anti-government radicals such as Randy Weaver and Eric Rudolph. But we also saw a more open and less afraid government who was willing to go to equally extreme ends with citizens who frightened it.

In the 90’s we had the chance to see our government up close and personal as well. The massacre at Waco, the Ruby Ridge calamity and strangeness surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing all added to a certain mistrust of the government. We instantly forgot all about those events, those radicals and those capabilities when the 9/11 attacks occurred. The faux-patriotism and “pride” in America swept through this nation in a way that was not purely spontaneous. The only genuine responses that we had to the attacks were gone within days of the attacks. Was anyone really acting “changed” when October 11 came around?

The death of Richard Jewel should be our reminder to us of what the government will do to an innocent person and Eric Rudolph should be a reminder that we have lunatics among us that compare unequivocally with the most extreme Middle East elements and are the product of America itself. Greed, hate, mistrust, fear, the lust for power and a narrow worldview are the food of American terrorists.

Granny, the Islamofascist

So typical of the twisted logic of the current crop of leaders and bureaucrats in this nation, we have learned a new factoid in the TSA scare tactic regarding dry runs of terrorists in America’s airports and skyways. The spooky references to devices that they told us were simulations of explosive devices? Nah, one was nothing more than gel based ice packs being transported by a 61 year-old woman flying out of San Diego. I saw this nice Grandmotherly woman on TV last night. A jihadi she ‘aint.

Like the “terrorist cell” in Miami and the “terrorist cell” that was planning to attack Fort Dix, the examples of why we should lose our freedoms to protect ourselves are truly pathetic. That cell in Miami? They didn’t have plans or weapons and seemed to be playing a retarded version of cowboys and Indians. A bunch of burnt stub idiots with the mouth breather quotient of typical nature for this day and age. Spend 10 minutes in Atlanta and you’ll meet at least a half dozen morons of their stature. The Fort Dix group? They “trained” by playing paintball in the woods, stole a map of the base from a local pizza delivery joint and got busted after they asked the tech people at a local Circuit City to transfer their jihad training video onto DVD. What a bunch of bullshit.

Ice packs become statistics for terror threats after they pass through DHS Secretary Chertoff’s bowels, this I am sure of. When Chertoff pinches a loaf, we have the makings of a new intelligence report. When Moe, Larry and Curley (sometimes Shemp) go traipsing into Circuit City with their Jihadi training video and ask Ron or Felisha or whoever is working the electronics aisle, to transfer it to DVD, you have to wonder how a person of such stupidity can survive even out of their teens. It calls into question the theories presented by Darwin.

For all the Grannies out there who may be planning a trip to visit the grand kids, take care that your Blue Star ointment isn’t confused with C4. Don’t let them rough you up and ruin your hairdo when you pass through the metal detector. Get tough with them, don’t suffer fools gladly and if that fails, threaten to go get yourself a hickory switch and wear out their britches if they get pushy. Our freedom, and your new do from the salon, depends on you standing tall and tough, ladies.

Doom and Gloom

A few odds and ends this morning to get things rolling.

In testimony before the Senate yesterday afternoon, AG Gonzales either let the cat out of the bag or opened himself up in yet another instance for a perjury charge as he admitted that the now infamous bedside visit with former AG Ashcroft was in regard to a completely different secret spying program than what the Senate was referring to. When Gonzales first addressed this issue of a spy program that needed authorization from Ashcroft during his testimony in May, I opined that the program he was referring to was not FISA and that the program was more sinister and the Senators were missing the nuance of Gonzales’ testimony. The link to that posting can be found here. I have a sneaky suspicion that Gonzales was indeed telling the truth about another spy program, if only the Senate will dig and investigate this further.

As stupid as Gonzales acts and appears to be, never underestimate his powers of deceit. This is a problem that far too many people have fallen for, underestimating the intelligence of the sociopaths who wield power in our government. Yes, their actions and words do seem incredibly moronic at times but they should not be discredited as simpletons. The harder you look, the more you can see grand design in their failures. They are pulling a trick like the Chief in One Flew Over The Cookoo’s Nest. They aren’t deaf and dumb no matter how convinced you are that its true.

More booga-booga terror scares are hitting the airwaves today with the TSA warning all of us that dry runs of terrorist attacks have been performed since September of last year. This hot on the heels of Chertof’s guts comment and an ever escalating anger and frustration by the American public regarding it’s government is drawing a false flag attack even closer. Conspiracy Theory bloggers and personalities have been posting information about the recent Presidential Directive signed into effect by Bush, which gives the Justice and Treasury Departments unprecedented authority to seize the funds of anyone who threatens the process of the war in Iraq. In other words, simply saying you are against the war can be grounds for the government to seize your bank accounts and freeze your rights to earn income or pay your bills.

Speaking of the Iraq bloodbath, that September date for evaluating the surge isn’t as solid as people thought. Word is coming out that the government wants to wait until December before addressing the success of the surge. Anyone who falls for these false deadlines and milestones needs to come over to my place and play cards with me. The intention is to never leave Iraq. Only with a complete changing of the guard in the highest levels of power will we ever leave Iraq. Threats of sanctions, censures and subpoenas won’t work with this crowd.

Even if the entire administration were replaced they have embedded so many of their version of the sleeper cell into all branches of power in Washington, we will be seeing the after effects of this administration for generations to come, if the playing field were level. Just look at the information that has come out about the rank and file employees at Justice and you will see exactly what they have wrought on this nation. The greedy and evil walk the halls of power.

All in all, it’s just a typical Wednesday in America.

Chertoff's guts

Two interesting and chilling comments have been made over the past few days regarding possible terrorist attacks. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a group of people from the Chicago Tribune that he has a “gut feeling” we are about to enter a new period where terrorist attacks are likely. This past Friday, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum spoke on the Hugh Hewitt Show and said that he understands that “between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen and I believe that by this time next year, the American public’s going to have a very different view of this war.”

These comments can only be classified as one of three things. 1) Typical fear mongering that is par for the course of the current Republican leadership. 2) Signs of a possible false flag op. 3) Incredible insight.

Based on the past performance of both Chertoff and Santorum, I think the word insight does not apply to these two people. Chertoff has bungled the DHS job with the near death of New Orleans, leaky borders and the disclosure this week that a massive hole in senior leadership positions within his department exists, with a quarter of the necessary senior positions unfilled. Santorum, of the “man-on-dog sex” infamy, has been wrong on so many occasions regarding the war in Iraq and life in general that they are too numerous to mention. The short list includes his 2006 comparison of Islamic fascism to Nazism and Japanese Imperialism from World War II and his adamant claim that “hundreds of WMDs” were found in Iraq. These two lackeys have the insight of men who dig tunnels.

Sign of a possible false flag op? Possible, very much within the realm of possibility. A series of warnings given before an event could give those in power the traction they need to implement sweeping changes that would allow them to cover their tracks and put out the fires in their burning castles. With the VP’s approval ratings hovering slightly above single digits at only 13%, the rising acceptance of the American public to impeachment proceedings against the President and VP, scandal upon scandal breaking and an overall sense of anger and frustration building against the Washington elite; a terrorist attack that was “predicted” would be a relief to those in power.

Typical fear mongering? I think this pony used up its single trick a while back. The average American appears to be keyed into the strategy of scaring the living hell out of them and the effect is somewhat lukewarm right now. Even the regular Joe Six Pack on the street has begun to notice that every time something comes to light that makes the powers that be look bad; “something” seems to happen involving terrorism.

The question I have out of these two comments is who in the hell thought it would be a good idea to “tune in” Santorum to something happening? Santorum is little more than a dullard, a cheerleading parrot and a freakish example of the American Dream on acid. I wouldn’t trust his strategic thinking abilities although he is very adapt at the Republican smear job and dirty tricks. But as far as letting him in on secrets, never. So his coaching on this subject probably involves some basic direction and no specific details.

The next few months should be interesting to watch. Something is afoot in DC based on the signs we see and the recent comments regarding “chatter” and now “gut feelings”.

Burning embers

This morning’s news about the bombing of the Askariya shrine adds to a foreboding situation throughout the middle east. The shrine is one of the holiest to Shiite Muslims and is prophesized as the place where the 12th Imam will return. The bodies of the 10th and 11th Imams are interred at the Mosque. With an increase of violence in Iraq, battles in Gaza spreading between Hamas and Fatah factions and verging on civil war and a tenuous cease fire being declared between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government, we are heading into a tense summer.

Old tensions are increasing throughout the region and even the cold war between the US and Russia is beginning to pick up steam once again. International tensions such as this are not new but there seems to be a sense of urgency and hair-trigger response that we haven’t seen since the late 60’s and early 70’s at the height of Israeli/Arab tensions. I believe we truly are entering a phase where one event could trigger a cascade of events that sends all of us into a real world war. The idea was floated last summer at the height of the fighting between Israel and Lebanon last summer.

As usual, watch for periphery events to guide you as to what could be in store for the future. The decision to oust General Pace as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and replace him with an Admiral who had a command level role in the Serb bombing campaign, who also has close career ties to the new head of CENTCOM, the US appears to be getting it's own ducks in order for more combat. The placing of Admirals Mullen and Fallon into these positions are a clear indication that a Naval-centric approach to US strategy in the middle east is coming.

My pet theory right now is that yet another "surge" or increase of troops in Iraq will occur within a year while the Navy begins a surface warfare strategy against Iran. Those troops already on the ground will need to dig in before the Navy begins its operations and hell will break loose once they do.

The Iraq/Iran end game.

If you have dealt with manipulative people in your life for a long enough period of time you begin to understand patterns, habits and techniques they use to get what they want or do what they want. The skilled manipulator is capable of formulating an end result they wish to achieve, forcing behavior or actions that enable them to achieve their goals and finally pulling it off with “I had no other choice” as their justification.

I’ve thought about the tactics of manipulators this past week, more specifically the manipulators that we all deal with, our political leaders. In this context of our political leaders I have focused on the ongoing war in Iraq and the still beating drumbeat of war in Iran. Let’s look at a few facts that can hardly be disputed:

1) The neo-con leaders and brain trust are dead set on a nuclear strike on Iran. Not a ground invasion, not a conventional air strike, a nuclear air strike. They make no secret of their feelings and this is openly discussed and defended by them on a daily basis.

2) If the efforts to date in Iran had been an honest attempt to democratize and rebuild a nation, this could only be considered an absolute failure of diplomacy and leadership. While it is true that even the brightest and best among us can fail and they are not above failure, the sheer number of failures in Iran are a sign that there was never an attempt to honestly democratize and rebuild the nation. The failures have been planned.

3) The current surge strategy is not and never has worked. You cannot play “whack a mole” with an enemy and expect to succeed. The number of troops that were assigned for the invasion and occupation of Iraq (Afghanistan as well) were woefully short in numbers. This set the stage for failure before combat began. This wasn’t a simply underestimation or a failure due to lack of good, hard intelligence or intelligence analysis; it was intentional.

4) There is now a complete absence of doubt that our armed forces are in a crisis mode. The loss of men and equipment, the burnout that is occurring within the ranks and a certain shift in mood by the foot soldiers on the ground in Iraq are obvious signs. Reports coming from some of the greatest rational military thinkers and strategists confirm these outward signs. Our military has been wrecked by a failure to properly lead it, and a failure to maintain it. This has had an even more dangerous impact than an intentional dismantling of the services.

Are all four of these points just random coincidences or the result of poor leadership and cloudy foresight? To simply write these things off to incompetence is to turn a blind eye to an obvious fact, the people who hold true power in this country and led us into this catastrophe did not attain those positions out of sheer good luck. They are extremely bright and perceptive people who have focused on a goal of recreating and redefining an Imperial United States. They were smart enough and capable enough to gain these positions, failures such as these do not fit the equation.

These are not failures they are intentional acts. The end goal is control over the Middle East and it’s resources. Africa has even become an official target of the current Military-Industrial Complex as well as gaining the attention of the neo-con theorists as we have seen the Pentagon officially create its first headquarters that is tasked with the monitoring and control of the African continent.

How would these people gain and maintain control over the entire Middle East or Africa? Depopulation is the only method that can be seriously considered. We are all aware of the infamous 2000 PNAC report, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century.” In which it is argued that a “New Pearl harbor” would be the impetus to enter a new world war, which addressed instability in the Middle East, our nation’s longstanding Imperial status and America’s need for a supply of oil. It is not beyond simple conjecture to question if other, far more sinister reports have circulated around Washington that take these ideas to a greater extreme and combine other connected ideas of the neo-cons. If reports do not exist, can we say with any certainty that the most extreme right-wing theorists have at least broached ideas of this nature at cocktail parties, think tank sessions and corporate retreats for quite some time?

Henry Kissinger once commented on US soldiers by saying, “Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” This attitude is not isolated, Kissinger is one of the most powerful political, social and economic elites this nation has to offer. He is a fixture on the Council on Foreign Relations, The Bilderberg Group and is nothing less than a guru in international circles.

Prince Philip has made no secret of his feelings about population control, more specifically his support of the idea of depopulation of the world. A constant periphial but connecting idea that is shared among the neo-cons, globalists and Illuminati conspiracy theorists is the idea of a massive depopulation of the world at large.

Consider the environment in the Arabic, Persian and North African worlds at this very moment. Anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high. Support for the violent ousting of American troops in all those regions is extremely high. The true masters of world power have their eyes set on the wealth and resources of those regions. Oil, poppy, gold, diamonds, and every resource they have. The overt use of military support in the capacity of an occupying force from nations such as Britain and France was shown decades ago to be an inefficient and miserable means of controlling the resources of a nation.

What would be a more efficient and overwhelming means of controlling the indigenous population while assuming complete control of the resources of those nations? Complete and overwhelming destruction would work in the nations where a certain amount of western style civilization has a foothold. In the poorest of nations it would not work simply because those people know nothing but strife, suffering and violence in their lives. In the theoretically rich Muslim nations there is a threat of religious inspired violence for which overwhelming force is seen as a challenge and is historically in their realm of consciousness.

The way to control these nations, their people and their wealth, is to use complete and overwhelming use of force combined with strong methods of depopulation. Nuclear attacks on Iran would provide both of these qualities. The weapons themselves would provide destructive power; their fallout would curse the region with radiation sickness and generations of birth defects and cancer. Imagine if this were combined in nations such as Somalia, for which the US has been targeting with Naval Shore Bombardment in recent months, with highly infectious diseases with a staggering mortality rate?

We have seen strange and isolated cases of new and old diseases break out and disappear in the most rural and impoverished areas of the world and the most cosmopolitan and wealthy areas. The SARS virus, which oddly arose and then disappeared in Toronto. The spread of and implied human-to-human transmission of H5N1 (bird flu) in several sub-Asian nations such as Vietnam. The recent XDB tuberculosis patient who traipsed across Europe and North America with no restrictions and no manhunt. It is easy to look at these and many other cases such as West Nile virus in America, Acinetobacter Baumannii that has infected wounded US troops in Iraq, and realize that data can be gathered from these events to help plot an intentional outbreak of some deadly virus.

America and many, many innocent nations would of course feel the effects of such an attack (nuclear or Biological) but they would be minimal compared to what would be felt by the nations targeted. Never forget that all during the Cold War, American strategists theorized over Nuclear War, where Megadeaths, deaths in the millions, were used and considered as acceptable losses in the scenarios considered for Thermo-Nuclear Warfare. The tenants of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) would not come into play in such a scenario as I have presented because there would be no “other side” to fire back with identical weapons.

What would be the response from Arabic, Persian and African nations in such a scenario? They pose no military threat to the US mainland. The only “threat” to come of such activity would be terrorists’ attacks on American soil. Even if a terrorist organization held a single Nuclear weapon it’s effect on the nation as a whole would be small in comparison to what US weapons could do to those nations. Retaliatory strikes would be considered a chance to inflict even more damage upon the “enemy”. At what point would the risk, MAD, be too great to consider? The only point would be if another Nuclear power threatened to strike at us in a pre-emptive measure. But, the tenants of MAD would prevent that from occurring, so the threat is neutralized.

So, how does this relate to the subject of manipulators and the current situation in Iraq and Iran? The end goal that has been propsed by PNAC and the neo-con cabal has been to gain control of resources and people. They claim an end times type of threat from Iran. The military is incapable of a ground assault in Iran. The situation in Iraq is dire.

These facts would lead them to a scenario where the Nuclear option is not only feasible, it would be the only option. The condition of the US armed forces as well as a call for a greater “shock and awe” campaign would be the justification. Radiation? Well, oil prices would of course spike, but price controls could be used in conjunction with martial law to quell the public. Of course the Military-Industrial Complex would make an even larger financial killing creating new technologies to protect workers from radiation and selling new devices. The contractors would make an even larger killing with their fees for working in a radiation hazard environment. The oil companies would ultimately make an even greater killing since they would effectively have the oil rich lands all to themselves with no interference. A virtual ghost of a population in these nations would be easily controlled as they would be sick, in a minority and powerless.

When we consider the state of affairs concerning our involvement in Iraq the end game should be in our minds just as much as the current series of moves.

The War on Terror, post Memorial Day

On the heels of a Memorial Day that has left 8 American soldiers dead in Iraq, this would be a good time to compare the operational and political methods that al-Qaeda used in 2001 and where they stood as an organization at that time to where they are today in 2007. A review of where things stand at this point in time, a "snapshot" as our President would say, can be illuminating. The information in this posting has come from various independant government reports that are freely available on the web, reports from journalists who have specialized in al-Qaeda and various books written about the organization over the last 10 years.

In 2001, al-Qaeda was organized under a strict hierarchical design. The planning , financing, leadership and operational responsibilities were centralized at the top level, with regional Lieutenants working under close supervision of the Captains of bin Laden. Training en mass was confined to Afghanistan with graduates of these training programs being sent to a handful of regions around the world without orders to train others. Instead they were sent to these places to carry out the technical aspects of their missions with support of locally recruited sympathizers who acted as soldiers.

The organization was considered outside the mainstream to Muslims in the African, Arabic and Persian cultures. Recruits for soldiers were targeted in the most susceptible environments of poverty and chaos. Recruits for positions as Lieutenants came from extremists backgrounds who had skills and educational backgrounds that could be exploited from bin Laden’s Captains. The Captains were long-term mercenaries of the Jihadist movements and virtually all shared experience in combat against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan or as covert militants in nations such as Egypt. Most of the Captains had exposure to CIA training or methods of operation that had been learned from CIA operators.

Their financial support was derived from bin Laden’s personal fortune and supplemented by running a variety of bogus religious charities worldwide, including a presence inside the US. This fund raising was apparently too small or too well run to bring attention to US authorities as this network was not exposed until well after the 9/11 attacks had occurred. They were politically marginalized, finding their only state support from governments that operated outside accepted channels of the world political stage. Sanctuary could only be found in nations of utter chaos such as Yemen and Ethiopia or a nation which rejected all norms of society and operated in it’s own bubble, as they found shelter in the Taliban government of Afghanistan.

Their strategic capabilities were severely limited although they did display an uncanny ability to organize attacks in a methodical, clockwork process. Their primary and only method of attacks were the use of bombs even though they were researching and experimenting with the use of non-conventional weapons such as poison gas. Their MO involved car bombings of buildings, vest explosive type suicide bombers and an interest in using civil aviation as a tool. The only members who had combat skills were the Captains. They had no understanding of the tactics, weapons and methods used by armed forces and no knowledge of those same subjects in how they were used by the US military.

Now, in 2007, they have altered this entire overview of their organization. Some of this was forced as Captains and Lieutenants were captured or killed, the majority appears to have been a conscious effort on their part to evolve and adapt in response to the changing environment in which they operate.

The organization is no longer operating in a rigid hierarchical structure. The planning , financing, leadership and operational responsibilities have moved away from the top down approach and it is now comprised of regional leaders who operate as independent Captains that are interconnected with one another and receive support from the top echelons of their chain of command. Regional Captains are now have autonomy. The Lieutenants now carry out the commands of the Captains, which allows them more freedom to train others, plan and lead attacks as well as creating operational relationships with sympathetic groups.

The organization is now mainstream in not only the African, Arabic and Persian cultures, it is now gaining the sympathy and empathy of Muslims residing in the First World countries of western Europe and the Americas. Soldiers once had to be recruited among the vulnerable populations using methods related to mind control and conditioning, now the organization has educated and intelligent sympathizers coming to them for membership. al-Qaeda can now pick and choose among candidates and a wider range of skills and academic backgrounds have integrated into their toolbox.

Financial support is much easier to gather, from a wider source of contributors, with a greater pool of wealth to draw upon. The actions of the current administration have forced even the polemic moderates around the world to condemn American actions, if not sympathize with the goals of al-Qaeda.

Their strategic resources have expanded, deepened and become very advanced. Combat experience has been gained as well as and understanding of how to adapt in crisis. Their chain of command appears to be robust with experienced and capable leaders able to rise as various managers and leaders are killed or captured. The entire organization appears to have evolved to a point where it is self-healing and adaptable. Their combat against US forces have given them an enormous boost in the arts of gathering, analyzing, classifying and disseminating intelligence gathered from combat missions. It also has given them real-world skills at being able to create, implement and evolve strategy based on that intelligence based on the activities seen in Iraq.

Instead of decapitating the leadership of the organization, instilling feelings of defeat and the sense of facing an unbeatable force as the war in Afghanistan began; the current administration shadow boxed with the top levels of power in the organization and brought a meager sized force to the theater of operations. While al-Qaeda was dealt a small blow at the onset and the Taliban was utterly defeated by 2003, the war in Iraq gave them a chance to regroup and prioritize their movements. al-Qaeda has since grown and become a more well defined organization and now even the Taliban have not only re-emerged but are now threatening to regain control of not only Afghanistan but possibly expand in Pakistan.

al-Qaeda operates freely in Iraq, many north and east African nations, is fortifying cells in Afghanistan and now have another government sponsored safe haven in the area of western Pakistan. The sub-Asian regions where they are actively hunted are still active and now they have created relationships with Sunni and Shiite militias that would have been unthinkable even two years ago.

The way this organization has grown and survived over the past 6 years, in spite of two declared war fronts and an undeclared front in southern Pacific nations, one cannot help but wonder if the abject failure of this administration to contain the organization is because of incompetence, or an intentional act. Following the fall of the Soviet Union the US had no clear-cut and terrifying enemy with which to base it’s military strengths and budget against. The War on Terror has seen a massive increase in defense spending and the usual suspects are the ones who have made a financial killing. Should we view the War on Terror and al-Qaeda’s growth as being a symbiotic creature, with one sustaining the growth of the other?

News - al-Qaeda claims responsibility in Algiers blasts

While searching for updates on al-Qaeda's claim of responsibility in today's bombings in Algiers I came across an interesting article regarding al-Qaeda's reach into northern Africa that has been ignored by corporate news:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/50490.html

Moroccans felt relatively safe from the Islamist terrorism plaguing
neighbouring Algeria, but that sense of security is now definitively gone. A
recent string of suicide bombings and arrests has exposed the vulnerability of
the kingdom in a region where al-Qaeda is extending its reach.

Moroccan terrorists are still amateurish, but widespread poverty and a lack
of opportunities for young people provide a fertile ground for extremism to
grow, local analysts said. (Emphasis added)

An Algerian-based, al-Qaeda-linked umbrella organization is now coordinating
North African Islamist cells which are also believed to train their activists in
Africa's Sahel countries.

I've posted a few entries to the blog over the past few days which discuss not only the fascination that al-Qaeda has with attacks on the 11th, but also about the methods of recruitment and indoctrination that link al-Qadea's efforts to create Manchurian Agents with the CIAs MKULTRA program. Links to both posts listed below:

Mind control:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/commentary-mind-control.html#links

al-Qaeda and numerology:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/ct-dates-pick-number-from-1-to-infinity.html#links