McClatchy report on Gitmo

America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men

McClatchy interviewed 66 released detainees, more than a dozen local officials — primarily in Afghanistan — and U.S. officials with intimate knowledge of the detention program. The investigation also reviewed thousands of pages of U.S. military tribunal documents and other records.

This unprecedented compilation shows that most of the 66 were low-level Taliban grunts, innocent Afghan villagers or ordinary criminals. At least seven had been working for the U.S.-backed Afghan government and had no ties to militants, according to Afghan local officials. In effect, many of the detainees posed no danger to the United States or its allies.

The investigation also found that despite the uncertainty about whom they were holding, U.S. soldiers beat and abused many prisoners.

[snip]

The McClatchy investigation found that top Bush administration officials knew within months of opening the Guantanamo detention center that many of the prisoners there weren't "the worst of the worst." From the moment that Guantanamo opened in early 2002, former Secretary of the Army Thomas White said, it was obvious that at least a third of the population didn't belong there.

Brown Shirt High

The Academy of Military-Industrial-Complex Studies

Dedicated to everything from architecture to sports medicine, "career academies" claim to offer high school kids focus, relevancy, and solid job prospects. Now add a new kind of program to the list: homeland security high. In late August, Maryland's Joppatowne High School became the first school in the country dedicated to churning out would-be Jack Bauers. The 75 students in the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness magnet program will study cybersecurity and geospatial intelligence, respond to mock terror attacks, and receive limited security clearances at the nearby Army chemical warfare lab.

[snip]

Students will choose one of three specialized tracks: information and communication technology, criminal justice and law enforcement, or "homeland security science." David Volrath, executive director of secondary education for Harford County Public Schools, says the school also hopes to offer "Arabic or some other nontraditional, Third World-type language."

Roller Derby T-shirt Threat to Air Security

The Sun UK

A TOURIST was told to turn his T-shirt inside-out at an airport — as a picture of two guns on it was deemed a SECURITY RISK.

Dave Osborne, 21, was bound for Newark, New Jersey, when guards hauled him out of the queue for his Guns N Rollers T-shirt.

They told him the two pistols on the front could constitute a security risk and upset passengers.

The Guns & Rollers (of the Rose City Rollers, Portland,OR) team logo features two crossed pistols, in a parody of the band Guns & Roses' iconic graphic.

Thanks to Lead Jammer

Al-Qaida alive and well

Army Times

As widely assumed, Osama bin Laden is alive and is probably safely hiding in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan. More troubling, however, is that the activities of his al-Qaida terrorist group — still the No. 1 threat to the U.S. and its interests — appear to be increasing, a top CIA official told Congress on Wednesday.

“We see more training, we see more money, we see more communications,” said John Kringen, the CIA’s director of intelligence. “So we see that activity rising. At the same time, they are having success in the franchising ... and the branding.”

Al-Qaida, Kringen said, seems to be once again assuming more of a role in planning terrorist operations worldwide rather than letting loosely affiliated surrogates operate in a more laissez-faire manner — even as it continues to successfully recruit individuals and groups to its cause.