tuesday reads

Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets

A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.

At least 45 Pakistani soldiers and 150 pro-Taleban militants have died in three days of fierce fighting in North Waziristan, the Pakistani army says.


Killer Law

Last November, Nicaragua became the third country in the world, after Chile and El Salvador, to criminalize all abortions. There are no exceptions; not for rape, not for incest, not for threats to the life of the mother.

So far, this law has resulted in the deaths of at least 82 women.

Glenn Greenwald: What FISA capitulations are Democrats planning next?


Amy Goodman: Chevron’s Pipeline Is Regime’s Lifeline


At the recent FCC hearing in the Windy City, citizens came out in droves to voice their displeasure over the media landscape


AlterNet: The Government Sanctioned Bombing of Appalachia


Brewers SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co. are merging their U.S. and Puerto Rican operations in a joint venture designed to create a bigger, more efficient competitor in the cut-throat U.S. market with about $6.6-billion (U.S.) in revenue and a combined value estimated at $10-billion.