Clipmarks | pokkets's 'security' clips

Blackwater likely to be reassigned

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:20:04 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: "There is a mutual feeling that the Sept 16 shooting deaths, mean the company cannot continue in it's current role"US officials said. "No diplomats have died while riding in Blackwater's heavily armed convoys."(Surprise?) They are unlikely to be fired, but are likely to be reassigned-and kept on the payroll.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By ANNE GEARAN

A State Department review of private security guards for diplomats in Iraq is unlikely to recommend firing Blackwater USA over the deaths of 17 Iraqis last month, but the company probably is on the way out of that job, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Blackwater's work escorting U.S. diplomats outside the protected Green Zone in Baghdad expires in May, one official said, and other officials told The Associated Press they expect the North Carolina company will not continue to work for the embassy after that.

It is likely that Blackwater does not compete to keep the job, one official said. Blackwater probably will not be fired outright

or even "eased out," the official added, but there is a mutual feeling that the Sept. 16 shooting deaths mean the company cannot continue in its current role.

They gave admiring appraisals of Blackwater's work overall, noting that no diplomats have died while riding in Blackwater's heavily armed convoys.

Tags: blackwater, iraq, security, diplomat, us, death

One Million Ways to Die

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:09:43 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Driving off the road... as in being IED'ed?
Falling... as in falling in battle in an illegal war?
Accidental poisoning... as in D.U. munitions?
Dying from work... as in US Military? (Or more like David Kelly?)
Walking down the street... as in being "disappeared"?
Accidental drowning... as in waterboarding?

Hmm... well thank heavens at least the billions of $$$ spent have made us safe from "terrorists".

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Comparing official mortality data with the number of Americans who have been killed inside the United States by terrorism since the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma reveals that scores of threats are far more likely to kill an American than any terrorist

In fact, your appendix is more likely to kill you than al-Qaida is.

With that in mind, here's a handy ranking of the various dangers confronting America, based on the number of mortalities in each category throughout the 11-year period spanning 1995 through 2005

S E V E R E
Driving off the road: 254,419
Falling: 146,542
Accidental poisoning: 140,327

H I G H
Dying from work: 59,730
Walking down the street: 52,000.
Accidentally drowning: 38,302

E L E V A T E D
Killed by the flu: 19,415
Dying from a hernia: 16,742

G U A R D E D
Accidental firing of a gun: 8,536
Electrocution: 5,171

L O W
Being shot by law enforcement: 3,949
Terrorism: 3147
Carbon monoxide in products: 1,554

Tags: bogus war on terror, security, statistics, usa, terrorism, death

Woman told to ditch bra to enter court

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:04:07 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: She set off the metal detector

Clip Source: www.mail.com

Security guards refused to allow a woman into a federal courthouse until she removed a bra that triggered a metal detector.

Lori Plato said she and her husband, Owen Plato, were stunned when U.S. Marshals Service employees asked her to remove her bra after the underwire supports set off the alarm.

"I asked if I could go into the bathroom because they didn't have a privacy screen and no women security officers were available," Plato said Wednesday. "They said, 'No.'

"I wasn't carrying a shank in my bra. If it's so dangerous, why did they give it back and let me put it on?"

Patrick McDonald, the U.S. Marshal in Boise,

said appropriate security protocols were followed in the Sept. 20 matter, and guards suggested she simply remove the bra in her car outside, or find a restaurant bathroom.

Generally, McDonald said, undergarments aren't considered a danger to security.

He declined to discuss other ways the federal courthouse guards could have screened Plato for weapons.

Tags: court, bra, metal, detector, protocol, security

Refused passenger "Choked on her own handcuffs"

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:37:40 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: An average Mother, related to the N.Y.C. Public Advocate was running late for her plane. Officials said: "They had booked her on a later flight, Mace or tasers were not used, and no-one saw a thing."

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By KAREN MATTHEWS

A traveler who may have accidentally choked herself to death while handcuffed in an airport holding cell was a "wonderful" woman and mother, according to New York City's public advocate, who is her relative.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, was arrested Friday at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix after she became irate when gate crews refused to let her board a flight for which she was late, officials said.

"She was a wonderful mother; she was sweet and kind and loving," said public advocate Betsy Gotbaum, the woman's stepmother-in-law. "It's obviously very, very difficult for us; we are dealing with it as best we can. My No.

1 focus is those children and my stepson."

The events that led to Gotbaum's death began when she became irate over not being allowed on a US Airways flight

Officers handcuffed her and took her to the holding room, where she kept screaming, authorities said. They checked on her when she became quiet and found her unresponsive, said

Sgt. Andy Hill.

Tags: airport, security, handcuffed, mother

Bush Admin urges Social Security fix

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:19:57 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The Economy has been fixed like a dog. Spend the pension fund in a chronic bout of pyromania, then go on as though things like that happen all the time.
Reduce benefits, but cut taxes. The rich benefit from this war. They should pay for it.
No, the pensioners and unemployed pay. If you don't wan't your benefits reduced join the Marines.
If the U.S. goes bankrupt, the rich have it planned. They have moved the money offshore, and kept the debt in the U.S.
When the U.S. is declared banktupt, they can bunker down until the debt is discharged, then bring the money back. Dubai is a lovely place for a long holiday, no expenses spared.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

The Bush administration said in a new report Monday that Social Security is facing a $13.6 trillion shortfall in coming years and that delaying reforms is not fair to younger workers.

A report issued by the Treasury Department said that some combination of benefit cuts and tax increases will need to be considered to permanently fix the funding shortfall. But White House officials stressed that President Bush remains opposed to raising taxes.

"The administration's new report is a reminder of President Bush's determination to not only privatize Social Security but to make deep cuts in the benefits that American workers have earned," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev

the gap between what Social Security is expected to need to pay out in benefits and what it will raise in payroll taxes at $13.6 trillion "over the indefinite future."

"Social Security can be made permanently solvent

by reducing the present value of scheduled benefits and/or

scheduled tax increases

Tags: bush, administration, social, security, tax treasury

Homeland Security cyber attacks probed

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:06:10 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By EILEEN SULLIVAN

A top homeland security lawmaker has called for an investigation into possible cyber attacks on computer systems at the Homeland Security Department.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he believes Unisys Corp -- the company that holds the $1.7 billion contract to build parts of the Homeland Security Department's computer network -- is at fault for these network break-ins.

Thompson's investigation found that dozens of computers may have been compromised by hackers, but the incidents were not noticed until months af

ter the attacks. Information taken from the department's systems was sent to a Web service that connects to Chinese Internet sites, and contractors gave misleading information to the department about the attacks

"The department is the victim not only of cyber attacks initiated by foreign entities, but of incompetent and possibly illegal activity by the contractor charged with maintaining security on its networks,"

Tags: unisys, mhomeland, security, computer, data

Iraq concedes possible 'Security Vacuum'

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 13:59:42 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Blackwater resumed guarding a reduced number of U.S. convoys on Firiday. Iraqis say new rules must be put in place.
So they've got the U'.S. military covering Iraq, and they have a 'security vacuum'. They'll need more troops

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By KATARINA KRATOVAC

An Iraqi official conceded Sunday that Blackwater USA's exit would create a "security vacuum" in Baghdad and said U.S. and Iraqi officials were instead working on revamping regulations governing private security companies after a deadly shooting of civilians.

The killing of at least 11 civilians allegedly involving Blackwater guards near a square in central Baghdad has thrown a spotlight on the practices of foreign security contractors who have long angered Iraqis by their aggressive behavior in protecting Western diplomats and other dignitaries.

The North Carolina-based company has insisted that its guards came under fire and

shot back only to defend themselves.

The company resumed guarding a reduced number of U.S. convoys on Friday.

But officials said new rules have to be put in place to govern the behavior of the security companies.

"If we expel this company immediately there will be a security vacuum that will demand pulling some troops off the battlefield,"

Tags: iraq, security, blackwater, guards, shooting

Iraqi PM fears for Nation's Sovereignty

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 05:57:37 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By JOHN DANISZEWSKI and TAREK EL-TABLAWY

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki walked a fine line Sunday: confronting his American backers over what he sees as violations of Iraq's sovereignty while stressing that his relations are rock solid with the country on whose support he still relies.

"Success is shared," he said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to his deeply intertwined partnership with President Bush and the U.S. government. "God forbid, failure is also shared."

In a half-hour talk conducted in his Manhattan hotel suite, the 57-year-old politician from Iraq's Shiite heartland said it is unacceptable that U.S. security contractors would kil

l Iraqi civilians, a reference to a Sept. 16 shooting incident involving company Blackwater USA that left at least 11 Iraqis dead.

He repeatedly referred to Iraq's sovereignty and how the government was answerable only to the people

Al-Maliki stressed that his country has the main duty to protect its people

Tags: iraq, sovereignty, nation, p m, security, government, politics

Iraq:Blackwater guards fired unprovoked

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 02:06:04 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By ROBERT H. REID

Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in a shooting last week that left 11 people dead, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case was referred to the Iraqi judiciary.

Iraq's president, meanwhile, demanded that the Americans release an Iranian arrested this week on suspicion of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias. The demand adds new strains to U.S.-Iraqi relations only days before a meeting between President Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi authoritie

s had completed an investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths.

He told The Associated Press that the conclusion was based on witness statements as well as videotape shot by cameras at the nearby headquarters of the national police command.

Tags: blackwater, iraq, security, shooting, video, civilians

Feds target Blackwater in weapons probe

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:35:01 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By MATTHEW LEE

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press. Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C.

A spokeswoman for Blackwater did not return calls seeking comment Friday. The U.S. attorney

for the eastern district of North Carolina, George Holding, declined to comment, as did Pentagon and State Department spokesmen

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that two former Blackwater employees -

Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of Virginia Beach, Va.,

and William Ellsworth "Max" Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. -- are cooperating with federal investigators.

Tags: blackwater, iraq, security, weapons, fbi, federal

Bush wants spy law permanent,more extensive

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:12:41 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By DEB RIECHMANN

President Bush said Wednesday he wants Congress to expand and make permanent a law that temporarily gives the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on suspected foreign terrorists.

Without such action, Bush said, "our national security professionals will lose critical tools they need to protect our country."

"It will be harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to train, recruit and infiltrate operatives into America," the president said during a visit to the super-secret National Security Agency's headquarters. "Without these tools, our country will be much more vulnerable to attack."

This year's update

allows more efficient interceptions of foreign communications

Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop without a court order on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the U.S., even if an American is on one end of the conversation -- so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance.

Tags: spy, law, bush, surveilance, security, privacy, rights.

Diplomatic convoys curtailed in Iraq

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:04:12 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By ROBERT H. REID and MATTHEW LEE

The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting public outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the U.S. Embassy's security provider Blackwater USA.

The move came even as the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater's license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country

"We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefi

nitely but we do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.

The U.S. order confines most American officials to a 3.5-square-mile area in the center of the city, meaning they cannot visit U.S.-funded construction sites or Iraqi officials elsewhere in the country except by helicopter. The notice did not say when the suspension would expire.

Tags: iraq, security, licence, green zone, diplomat, revoke

FBI Want Law To Ban Hat & Sunglasses

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:10:50 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

The FBI may turn to a new ploy to combat bank robberies: a dress code.

Special Agent Larry Carr plans to work with Washington state lawmakers on legislation that would forbid banks from doing business with customers who wear hats and sunglasses while inside the bank.

Carr, who heads the FBI's bank-robbery division in Seattle, said that most bank robbers cover their heads "with a hat, sunglasses or a hoodie [hooded sweat shirt]" to avoid being identified by surveillance photos. With most bank security cameras positioned in front of and above customers, the disguises are often successful because the cameras capture the bill of a cap or brim of a hat, he said.

"Even if you zoom in, all you're getting is the tighter picture of a baseball cap," Carr said. "Banks can spend billions of dollars on surveillance systems, and it's meaningless."

Tags: security, measures, surveillance, cameras

Iraq to review Security Companies

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:27:37 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

The Iraqi government said Tuesday it would review the status of private security companies as anger over the alleged involvement of Blackwater USA in a fatal shooting of civilians threatened to spread to other firms providing protection for dignitaries and Westerners on Iraq's chaotic streets.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for all contracts of foreign securities firms to be annulled and blamed the government for failing to protect Iraqis, noting the shootings occurred on a busy square filled with Iraqi troops.

It also called for a speedy investigation, the referral of those involved to the Iraqi justice system and compensation for families of the victims.

A series of bombings, meanwhile, ripped through Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens, police said.

The developments came a day after the government announced it was ordering Blackwater, the North Carolina-based security firm that protects U.S. diplomats, to leave the country

Tags: iraq, security, company, review, bombing

Blackwater licence being revoked in Iraq

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:08:20 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By BASSEM MROUE

The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was the latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.

"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities," Khalaf said.

Tags: iraq, blackwater, security, licence, revoke, contractors