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[more
CNN tapes:] "I was shocked at
the quantum leaps that al Qaeda
has made in their explosive development program.
They have effectively managed to develop explosives and blasting caps with materials that
are virtually undetectable or raise [alarms] for authorities.
"The overarching point here is that they can pick any venue or target city
- with nothing on them - arrive in that city and, based on what we are
seeing here, [construct a bomb] using common materials"
Urban
Terrorist Tactics and Assassination: "I don't think anyone ever fathomed, even in the intelligence
community, how sophisticated their training was,
how well-prepared they were and how they were
working away secretly in imparting this advice,"
said Magnus Ranstorp, deputy director of the
Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland.
"The training tapes also include
step by step instructions on how to use a surface-to-air missile, raising concerns about the
implications for civil aviation. Lessons on complex hostage-taking
techniques and assassination operations are also featured.
""Just the intensity of the training that's described in these tapes. Very
determined. Covered a lot of different
areas,' Grange said. 'Information on warfare, bomb making,
assassinations, raids, snatches, destruction of bridges, of lines of
communication.'"
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 "If an Afghan village is bombed and CNN is not there to film it, did it really happen?"
Padilla,
the 'dirty bomb' al Qaida figure turns out to be
"small fish" and there's no evidence a
radiological bomb plot was under way. Oops. He still
doesn't have access to a lawyer or the courts because he's
an "enemy combatant" (at least maybe).
I
think Tom Tomorrow has the best grasp on the situation:
"Constitutional rights are meaningless if they do not apply equally to everyone, even Ted Bundy and Charlie Manson and Tim McVeigh, and even traitorous high ranking
al-Qaeda
dirty bomb plotting except as it turns out not really gang members from Chicago. You either believe in our system
of Constitutional protections or you don't, but there's nothing
to debate here, especially when your strongest argument is,
But he's a terrorist! I just know he is! There was never much
doubt that Charlie Manson was a mass murderer--he still got a
damn trial.
"If you don't understand this, if you have learned nothing from
the lessons of history, if you so blithely dishonor the gift of
liberty which has been passed down to you from preceding generations...then I guess you deserve the world you will
inevitably inhabit. Unfortunately, you will also drag the rest of
us down with you, like a cinder block chained to the feet of a
drowning man."
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