🚀 go-pugleaf

On 2007-06-09 16:28:55 -0400, David Agnew <DavidAgnew@nospam.nul> said:

> On Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:14:38 GMT, leroyblue@pillinor.net wrote:
> 
>> On Fri, 8 Jun 2007 17:06:30 -0400, Slim <slim@pickins.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> "The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment Monday, except to 
>>> note that such searches are now legal under the Patriot Act that 
>>> President Bush signed last October."
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Published on Monday, June 24, 2002 by the Associated Press
>>> FBI Begins Visiting Libraries
>>> by Christopher Newton
>>>  
>>> WASHINGTON –– The FBI is visiting libraries nationwide and checking the 
>>> reading records of people it suspects of having ties to terrorists or 
>>> plotting an attack, library officials say.
>>> The FBI effort, authorized by the antiterrorism law enacted after the 
>>> Sept. 11 attacks, is the first broad government check of library 
>>> records since the 1970s when prosecutors reined in the practice for 
>>> fear of abuses.
>>> The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment Monday, except to 
>>> note that such searches are now legal under the Patriot Act that 
>>> President Bush signed last October.
>>> Libraries across the nation were reluctant to discuss their dealings 
>>> with the FBI. The same law that makes the searches legal also makes it 
>>> a criminal offense for librarians to reveal the details or extent.
>>> "Patron information is sacrosanct here. It's nobody's business what you 
>>> read," said Kari Hanson, director of the Bridgeview Public Library in 
>>> suburban Chicago.
>>> Hanson said an FBI agent came seeking information about a person, but 
>>> her library had no record of the person. Federal prosecutors allege 
>>> Global Relief Foundation, an Islamic charity based in the Chicago 
>>> suburb, has ties to Osama bin Laden's terror network
>>> The University of Illinois conducted a survey of 1,020 public libraries 
>>> in January and February and found that 85 libraries had been asked by 
>>> federal or local law enforcement officers for information about patrons 
>>> related to Sept. 11, said Ed Lakner, assistant director of research at 
>>> the school's Library Research Center.
>>> The libraries that reported FBI contacts were nearly all in large urban areas.
>>> In Florida, Broward County library director Sam Morrison said the FBI 
>>> had recently contacted his office. He declined to elaborate on the 
>>> request or how many branch libraries were involved.
>>> "We've heard from them and that's all I can tell you," Morrison said. 
>>> He said the FBI specifically instructed him not to reveal any 
>>> information about the request.
>>> The library system has been contacted before. A week after the Sept. 11 
>>> attacks, the FBI subpoenaed Morrison to provide information on the 
>>> possible use of computer terminals by some of the suspected hijackers 
>>> in the Hollywood, Fla., area.
>>> In October, investigators revisited the county's main library in Fort 
>>> Lauderdale and also checked a regional library in Coral Springs.
>>> At least 15 of the 19 hijackers had Florida connections.
>>> The process by which the FBI gains access to library records is quick 
>>> and mostly secret under the Patriot Act.
>>> First, the FBI must obtain a search warrant from a court that meets in 
>>> secret to hear the agency's case. The FBI must show it has reason to 
>>> suspect that a person is involved with a terrorist or a terrorist plot 
>>> – far less difficult than meeting the tougher legal standards of 
>>> probable cause, required for traditional search warrants or reasonable 
>>> doubt, required for convictions.
>>> With the warrant, FBI investigators can visit a library and gain 
>>> immediate access to the records.
>>> Judith Krug, the American Library Association's director for 
>>> intellectual freedom, said the FBI was treading on the rights it is 
>>> supposed to be upholding.
>>> "It's unfortunate because these records and this information can be had 
>>> with so little reason or explanation," Krug said. "It's super secret 
>>> and anyone who wants to talk about what the FBI did at their library 
>>> faces prosecution. That has nothing to do with patriotism."
>>> Krug tells worried librarians who call that they should keep only the 
>>> records they need and should discard records that would reveal which 
>>> patron checked out a book and for how long.
>>> She is frustrated by the hate mail she says she receives when she 
>>> speaks out against the Patriot Act.
>>> "People are scared and they think that by giving up their rights, 
>>> especially their right to privacy, they will be safe," Krug said. "But 
>>> it wasn't the right to privacy that let terrorists into our nation. It 
>>> had nothing to do with libraries or library records."
>>> Some libraries said they will still resist government efforts to obtain 
>>> records.
>>> Pat McCandless, assistant director for public services for Ohio State 
>>> University's libraries, said, "State law and professional ethics say we 
>>> do not convey patron information and that is still our stance.
>>> "To the best of our ability, we would try to support patron 
>>> confidentiality," she said.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Of course we know now that the investigation was the early stages of
>> that which uncovered the plot to sabotage the fuel farm at JFK. We can
>> all be thankful for the diligent work of our Homeland Security and FBI
>> agencies.
> 
> Too bad Bush let 9-11 happen because of either stupidity or conspiracy
> doing business with the Bin Laden family.

HOW ABOUT THAT TWO BILLION BUCKS IN PAYOFF MONEY TO THE SAUDIS!!!!

Brit-Saudi payoff claimed


THE NEW YORK TIMES
LONDON — A major British arms contractor paid more than $2 billion 
clandestinely into bank accounts in Washington controlled by Prince 
Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, two British news organizations 
reported Thursday.
Bandar denied accepting "improper secret commissions."
The alleged payments by the contractor, BAE, were tied to a major arms 
deal negotiated in 1985 and then worth 43 billion pounds, the BBC and 
The Guardian newspaper said.
A long-running controversy over the arms deal has proved to be so 
sensitive and potentially disruptive to British-Saudi relations that 
last December the government canceled an official inquiry into the 
claims of corruption that have swirled around the transaction.
BAE denied acting illegally and said it acted with the approval of the 
authorities.
"The Al Yamamah program is a government-to-government agreement, and 
all such payments made under those agreements were made with the 
express approval of both the Saudi and U.K. governments," BAE said in a 
statement.
The BBC and The Guardian said payments of up to 120 million pounds 
(about $240 million) a year were made by BAE to Bandar, the former 
ambassador to the United States, through two accounts for over a decade.
The BBC said its investigative "Panorama" program "has established that 
these accounts were actually a conduit to Bandar."
"The purpose of one of the accounts was to pay the expenses of the 
prince's private Airbus," the BBC said.
Bandar, currently the secretary-general of the Saudi National Security 
Council, issued a statement on Thursday "categorically denying" 
receiving any "improper secret commissions or backhanders" over the 
Yamamah arms deal, Britain's Press Association reported.

-- 
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in 
England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after 
all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it 
is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a 
democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist 
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to 
the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL 
THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of 
patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY 
COUNTRY."
 
--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials