huh?
http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_5286.shtml
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| FBI PROTECTS OSAMA BIN LADEN’S “RIGHT TO PRIVACY” IN DOCUMENT RELEASE Judicial Watch Investigation Uncovers FBI Documents Concerning Bin Laden Family and Post-9/11 Flights (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) has invoked privacy right protections on behalf of al Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden. In a September 24, 2003 declassified “Secret” FBI report obtained by Judicial Watch, the FBI invoked Exemption 6 under FOIA law on behalf of bin Laden, which permits the government to withhold all information about U.S. persons in “personnel and medical files and similar files” when the disclosure of such information “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) (2000)) Before invoking privacy protections for Osama bin Laden under Exemption 6, the FBI should have conducted a balancing “test” of the public’s right to disclosure against the individual’s right to privacy. Many of the references in the redacted documents cite publicly available news articles from sources such as The Washington Post and Associated Press. Based on its analysis of the news stories cited in the FBI report, Judicial Watch was able to determine that bin Laden’s name was redacted from the document, including newspaper headlines in the footnoted citations. “It is dumbfounding that the United States government has placed a higher priority on the supposed privacy rights of Osama bin Laden than the public’s right to know what happened in the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is difficult for me to imagine a greater insult to the American people, especially those whose loved ones were murdered by bin Laden on that day.” The redacted documents were obtained by Judicial Watch under the provisions of the FOIA and through ongoing litigation (Judicial Watch v. Department of Homeland Security & Federal Bureau of Investigation, No. 04-1643 (RWR)). Among the documents was a declassified “Secret” FBI report, dated September 24, 2003, entitled: “Response to October 2003 Vanity Fair Article (Re: [Redacted] Family Departures After 9/11/2001).” Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request on October 7, 2003. The full text of the report and related documents are available on the Internet by clicking here (Adobe Acrobat Reader required). |
I figure the intelligence (sic) gathering people were using all kinds of tactics to close down, confuse or misdirect any information about Osama whilst they tried to pin him down. That or they ARE as stupid as most people think they are! 
TG
So maybe Michael Moore wasn’t so crazy after all?
| Quote (Mr Soul @ April 21 2005,12:02) |
| So maybe Michael Moore wasn't so crazy after all? |
I wouldn't go that far...
I can’t say Moore is “crazy”… maybe misguided and incredibly arrogant.
You have to know a little about how these intelligence guys work to understand some of the apparently flaky things they do. Unfortunately, I do know a little about how that stuff works and it did not surprise me in the least. Personally, I think if “tweaking” a few rules in an attempt to pin down the skank-wad is necessary, then by all means, have at it! If we knew half of what really goes on, we’d probably have wide-spread panic, stock market crashes and people jumping off of buildings and stuff. Who needs that?
TG
Our government spends too much time looking back on what went wrong and not enough time looking forward to what they can do right. That is the real problem.
Mike
| Quote (DrGuitar @ April 21 2005,14:35) |
| Our government spends too much time looking back on what went wrong and not enough time looking forward to what they can do right. That is the real problem. Mike |
THAT I can agree with Doc. Hindsight may be 20/20 but looking back too much will cause you to step in front of a bus!
TG
Our government spends too much time looking back on what went wrong and not enough time looking forward to what they can do right. That is the real problem.
From my perspective, this isn't quite right. The gov spends time looking back on what went wrong but then never uses that knowledge to look forward & do things correctly.
WMD. Check out this site. I mean here's a report that basically useless, not because it's invalide but because Bush doesn't really care in the intel was bad or not, because it wouldn't have changed his mind about the Iraq war anyways. Go figure?!?!
PS - David Kay's interim report did NOT really have anything in it that justified Bush's claims about Saddam. Kay wrote a sketchy report that had to tell the truth but yet had to give his task credibility.
From my perspective, this isn't quite right. The gov spends time looking back on what went wrong but then never uses that knowledge to look forward & do things correctly.
WMD. Check out this site. I mean here's a report that basically useless, not because it's invalide but because Bush doesn't really care in the intel was bad or not, because it wouldn't have changed his mind about the Iraq war anyways. Go figure?!?!
PS - David Kay's interim report did NOT really have anything in it that justified Bush's claims about Saddam. Kay wrote a sketchy report that had to tell the truth but yet had to give his task credibility.
Hindsight may be 20/20 but looking back too much will cause you to step in front of a bus!
No TG, that's doughnuts.
And doughnuts are what killed my auntie Mary.
She stepped out into the street to cross to the doughnut store, and never heard the bus coming. (Deaf old bat).
Terrible mess, but luckily the doughnut store came to the rescue with lots of boxes.
We buried her 12 bits at a time.
But as usual, the "pecan and strawberry custard" bits, still rest at the graveside untouched.
No TG, that's doughnuts.
And doughnuts are what killed my auntie Mary.
She stepped out into the street to cross to the doughnut store, and never heard the bus coming. (Deaf old bat).
Terrible mess, but luckily the doughnut store came to the rescue with lots of boxes.
We buried her 12 bits at a time.
But as usual, the "pecan and strawberry custard" bits, still rest at the graveside untouched.
...the FBI invoked Exemption 6 under FOIA law on behalf of bin Laden, which permits the government to withhold all information about U.S. persons...
So, bin Laden is now a "US Person" worthy of protection yet those captured and set to Cuba, anyone accused of terrorist ties, etc., aren't? This whole situation is just screwed up. What we need are some activist judges to set things straight.
So, bin Laden is now a "US Person" worthy of protection yet those captured and set to Cuba, anyone accused of terrorist ties, etc., aren't? This whole situation is just screwed up. What we need are some activist judges to set things straight.
So, bin Laden is now a "US Person" worthy of protection yet those captured and set to Cuba, anyone accused of terrorist ties, etc., aren't? This whole situation is just screwed up. What we need are some activist judges to set things straight.
It's called "panic" Phoo.
For many of us, terrorism has been a fact of our lives, for all of our lives. I listened to IRA bombs going off in central London in my early teens. No, I'm not advocating acceptance, just rationality.
So I don't know if there's an answer to it, but, there is a way of dealing with it.
And hopefully the US will learn that.
150 human being killed on the roads every day, (so how long is that till it adds up to the twin towers?), and people ignore it.
But locking up legitimate American citizens and denying them the due process of law does not seem a very good way of "dealing with it".
As you say Phoo, perhaps "activist", or at least "thoughtful" judges, will prevent the USA turning into what it claims to despise.
The only justification the coalition has in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is dialogue.
"What is your problem?"
"Why do you hate us so much?"
"IS there some compromise we can come to to stop the killing?"
But compromise seems far away from the minds of many people.
It's much easier to think of "an enemy" than "another human being who has needs that are just as important as mine".
Ah fuck it! it's late at night, and I'm in a weird mood.
It's called "panic" Phoo.
For many of us, terrorism has been a fact of our lives, for all of our lives. I listened to IRA bombs going off in central London in my early teens. No, I'm not advocating acceptance, just rationality.
So I don't know if there's an answer to it, but, there is a way of dealing with it.
And hopefully the US will learn that.
150 human being killed on the roads every day, (so how long is that till it adds up to the twin towers?), and people ignore it.
But locking up legitimate American citizens and denying them the due process of law does not seem a very good way of "dealing with it".
As you say Phoo, perhaps "activist", or at least "thoughtful" judges, will prevent the USA turning into what it claims to despise.
The only justification the coalition has in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan is dialogue.
"What is your problem?"
"Why do you hate us so much?"
"IS there some compromise we can come to to stop the killing?"
But compromise seems far away from the minds of many people.
It's much easier to think of "an enemy" than "another human being who has needs that are just as important as mine".
Ah fuck it! it's late at night, and I'm in a weird mood.
Wow I don’t know how I missed this thread…but regardless, it’s been interesting to read.
Ali’s made some interesting points along with others IMHO.
I think it’s important for us not to de-humanize our advesaries, but that’s just me. Although I think alot more effort could have been made to apprehend Laden long before all this transpired. We cannot begrudge him for our own lack of effort. Seriously people lets look back here…in time. WE (my fellow Americans) created Bin Laden, supplied him with weapons and training back in the day. All to satify our fear of the USSR coming in to Afganistan was it? We used Osama to fight a dying extention of our own cold war so to speak. And now we want to conviniently find a means to eliminate him ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. What would have been so bad about the Soviet Union adding Afganistan as a providence anyway? Russia would have fallen, eventually and the country would pretty much be back in the same position as it is now…but we had no way of knowing that!
You know when I think of all the things that have transpired in the Midddle east in the past decade I cringe. First we sell surplus weapons to Iran, hello! (contra scandal) Then, Iran suddenly ends it’s 1000 year old war with Iraq to conveniently sell a large portion of those same weapons to Sadams army go figure. Then We have to be like the big hero’s comin’ in there to save the day and reclaim our own weapons and somehow stabalize the region! BS! All the while Bin Ladins runnin’ loose God only know where!
'Cmon people wake up and smell the consiracy! 
Weapons and vehichle manufacturers get rich…people die…life goes on as it has been for two centuries now…
jerm