Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Category Archives: Balls cried the Queen
Rove & Libby Caught Lying to Grand Jury?
Someone perjured himself to Fitzgerald. See link.
Libby told Special Prosecuter Fitzgerald that he learned Plame’s identity from Tim Russert. Tim Russert told a grand jury NO, I didn’t tell Libby about Plame.
Rove told Fitzgerald he learned Plame’s identity from Robert Novak. Novak “has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor”. The story goes on to detail discrepancies between Matt Cooper’s testimony, and Rove’s.
Perjury: probably. But there may be more serious charges pending.
Rove & Libby Caught Lying to Grand Jury?
Someone perjured himself to Fitzgerald. See link.
Libby told Special Prosecuter Fitzgerald that he learned Plame’s identity from Tim Russert. Tim Russert told a grand jury NO, I didn’t tell Libby about Plame.
Rove told Fitzgerald he learned Plame’s identity from Robert Novak. Novak “has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor”. The story goes on to detail discrepancies between Matt Cooper’s testimony, and Rove’s.
Perjury: probably. But there may be more serious charges pending.
Cooking People the High Tech Way
No, I’m not referring to Islam Karimov, the dictator of Uzbekistan who likes to boil his enemies alive. That’s low tech.
My subject is the Active Denial System, scheduled to go into service in Iraq in 2006. In development for more than ten years by the Air Force, it is a non-lethal energy beam weapon intended for use against rioters and combatants.
The weapon fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam which causes an intense burning sensation within 2-3 seconds.
The manufacturer, Raytheon, and military developers claim that the device does not cause permanent damage and, hence, is safer than taser weapons, tear gas, rubber bullets, etc. Unfortunately, there are still a few lingering questions.
Test subjects were required to remove their contact lenses, glasses, and any metal objects before exposure. Due to the lack of details provided, possible corneal damage (literally cooking your eye), or very uncomfortably located burns from metal zippers could possibly occur in a riot situation.
Since the beam induces extreme pain without apparent lasting damage or scars, it could also be used as a very effective torture device. Raytheon is also developing a hand-held version for use by police and security forces, thus increasing the likelihood of “non-sanctioned” use by official agencies, criminals, terrorists, and freedom fighters (okay, I admit it, I’m being sarcastic).
Incidentally, this technology isn’t foolproof. Remember how you’re not supposed to put metal in your microwave oven? A microwave beam can be deflected by metal plate or foil. Or, have you seen the episodes in Mythbusters when Jaime and Adam painted themselves gold? Protesters might walk around covered in gold and wearing tin-foil hats.
Why Don’t They Love Us?
EXTREME SARCASM WARNING!
I’ve never understood how people can ignore reality. I like reality, sanity and logic.
Take the neocons (non)plan for Iraq. Why did they think the Iraqi civilians would welcome U.S. soldiers? Twelve years of sanctions resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children under the age of five, plus 500,000 adults through malnutrition, lack of medical supplies, filthy water, etc.
Or was it 1.5 million? It’s hard to come up with a figure since the greatest press in the free world doesn’t like to talk about it.
Yes, yes, I know, Saddam Hussein is a Bad Man and he’s responsible for everything. And whatever he didn’t do, then the Syrians did it, or maybe the Iranians. It’s hard to keep up with the Axis of Evil.
Besides, the sanctions were a noble attempt to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Denis Halliday, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraqi aid, well, he shouldn’t have resigned in 1998. It was so insulting when he said,”I don’t want to administer a programme that satisfies the definition of genocide.”
More Fun with Doomsday
The second sarin attack was the Tokyo subway gassing. According to this CDC report,
“On the morning of March 20, 1995, packages were placed on five different trains in the Tokyo subway system. The packages consisted of plastic bags filled with a chemical mix and wrapped inside newspapers. Once placed on the floor of the subway car, each bag was punctured with a sharpened umbrella tip, and the material was allowed to spill onto the floor of the subway car. As the liquid spread out and evaporated, vaporous agent spread throughout the car…The attack was carried out at virtually the same moment at five different locations in the world’s largest city: five trains, many kilometers apart, all converging on the center of Tokyo [where key government agencies were located]. The resulting deaths and injuries were spread throughout central Tokyo.”
Twelve people died and more than 5,000 were injured.
Japanese police agencies believed that the goal was the instigation of Armageddon. Alternate theories held that it was an attempt to: 1) distract the police from a planned raid upon the group’s main headquarters, or 2) destabilize the government, which would lead to Asahara’s control of Japan.
In any case, the attack did not kill as many as one would expect; the sarin they produced probably contained impurities. Also, if they had chosen a different dispersal method that produced aerosolized droplets, for example, far more deaths would have occurred.
The Japanese authorities began arresting members of Aum Shinrikyo within 48 hours, although some perpetrators took years to apprehend. Asahara was arrested in his meditation chamber at the group’s compound.
Since Asahara refused to cooperate with his court-appointed lawyers, his trial lasted almost 8 years. He was sentenced to death by hanging on February 27, 2004. His case is under appeal. Twelve other members of the group were sentenced to death and five others received life sentences for the sarin attacks, the Sakamoto killings, the murders of dissident cult members, and others. More than 190 members have been convicted of lesser charges.
In 1999, the group changed their name to Aleph and disavowed violence, although a recruit died on Jan. 3rd, 2005 during a “training accident“. Aleph is closely monitored by Japanese authorities. Keroyon, a separate group created by former members, was involved in the Sept. 10, 2004 beating death of a 36-year-old female recruit. Both groups still worship Asahara.
So what’s the point? Morbid curiosity? Well, yes, but I was interested in the different motivations and capabilities of terrorist groups. Extremist religious groups with delusional leaders may wish to commit apocalyptic crimes for no rational reason. They have no boundaries. If Aum Shinrikyo had recruited biological scientists with expertise in recombinant DNA, they could have produced a lethal bioweapon. For example, genetically manipulate a flu virus, culture it to produce large quantities, spray the mixture liberally in airports and mass transit systems throughout the world, and voila, you’ve killed more than 99% of the human race.
Still, Aum Shinrikyo made many errors, despite their considerable resources. A religious group may be insane enough to want to attack but too insane to adequately prepare and implement the attack.
Bin Laden, on the other hand, may be motivated by hatred, but he isn’t crazy or stupid; according to his fatwas, he realizes the tremendous difficulty in seeking to undermine the U.S., but, hey, you never know until you try. He doesn’t expect to achieve the complete destruction of Western nations but he does want a united Islamic state, the Caliphate, that stretches through Northern Africa, through the Middle East and into central Asia. This state could fight back against the military and economic power of Western nations.
First and foremost, al Qaeda is a political group and their activities are crafted to create a political effect. That is why they are less scary than Japanese Buddhist terrorist groups — or, for that matter, any religiously motivated crazies with money, some technical ability, and a violent theology.
My remarks are a short summary of a complex case. A great deal more material can be found on the web. The following are the links I used in researching this blog:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_gas_attack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakamoto_family_murder
http://english.aleph.to/
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fd20050327pb.htm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040228a6.htm
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/aums.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/sarin/basics/facts.asp
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/45394.htm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040228a4.htm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040226b6.htm
http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/aum.htm
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1995_rpt/aum/index.html
http://www.nasog.net/intelligence/terrorism/organizations/Aum_Supreme_Truth.htm
http://www.georgetown.edu/sfs/programs/stia/students/vol.02/chiricom.htm
http://www.nci.org/index.htm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040529a2.htm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041022a6.htm
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ed20040711a1.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no4/olson.htm
Technorati tags: terrorism, London, Bin Laden, al Qaeda, Aum Shinrikyo, Aum Supreme Truth
Road to Armageddon
So, last I left off I was discussing Aum Shinrikyo’s first murders.
By the mid ’90s, the group had approximately 40,000 members in New York, Russia, Japan, Germany and Sri Lanka and one billion dollars in assets. They had also managed to attract members with advanced degrees in physics, applied physics, and organic chemistry. They did NOT appear to have attracted many experts in the biological sciences.
Some of these people were very successful individuals. So why were they attracted to this rather odd religion? I am Japanese-American but that doesn’t mean I have the answer. I will say that the Japanese tend to take things to extremes; if a little bit is good, then a huge amount is desirable, e.g. a very strong educational system, or more pruriently, the management at strip clubs passing out magnifying glasses to their patrons. The extremism of the cult may have appealed to Aum Shinrikyo’s recruits.
In any event, Aum Shinrikyo was a dangerous mixture of apocalyptic religion, wealth, resources, and technologic expertise.
Asahara’s motivations are difficult to parse out; his theology changed over the years and madmen are not noted for their organized thought processes. He did preach that a nuclear war between Japan and the U.S. would occur in 1997 and that ultimately, the entire world population would be dead except for a small group of Aum Shinrikyo. At least initially, however, the stated goal of the cult was the prevention of the apocalypse.
Apparently toward that end, in 1989-1990 he attempted to gain political power by running candidates for the Japanese Diet (parliament). His party was soundly defeated which ended his goal to become the leader of Japan through peaceful means.
The group began to investigate biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, i.e. cholera, anthrax, botulinum toxin, Q fever, ebola virus, sarin and VX nerve gas agents, and the black market purchase of nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union. They had some difficulty manufacturing anthrax and botulinum; VX, although highly lethal in small doses, does not evaporate well and works best as an aerosol. The group decided upon sarin and set up a laboratory to manufacture large quantities.
The first sarin attack occurred on June 27, 1994, in the Kita-Fukashidistrict of Matsumoto in central Japan. Seven people were killed and hundreds injured. The targets were three judges who were set to hear a court case against the group.
To be continued
I Had a Migraine Yesterday
so I didn’t post the answer on how to detonate a nuclear warhead. Sorry about that unresolved cliffhanger.
Okay, I’m still under the weather so this will be short. According to Luis Alvarez, Nobel Prize winning physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project:
“With modern weapons-grade uranium, the background neutron rate is so low that terrorists, if they had such material, would have a good chance of setting off a high-yield explosion simply by dropping one half of the material onto the other half… Even a high school kid could make a bomb on short order.”
Luis Alvarez, Adventures of a Physicist (Basic Books, 1987), p. 125.
You may not get maximum yield, i.e. biggest bang for your buck, but it would certainly make the evening news and that’s what terrorism is all about.
Allegedly, a plutonium warhead would require shape charges in order to achieve detonation which is not quite so simple. For more information to keep you up at night, this is a link discussing Aum Shinrikyo, terrorism and nuclear bombs.
However, nuclear warheads are not the most lethal weapon in the arsenal, albeit the most spectacular and expensive. I will continue this discussion later.
Religion Can Be a Bitch
While watching the news on the July 7th London bombings, I saw a brief discussion on the methodology of the attack. The speaker stated that terrorist attacks are like theatrical events; the point is the intended emotional impact upon the audience. The number of deaths or injuries is not neccessarily important.
After a few days of letting that stew in my brain, I decided that statement was inaccurate since terrorist groups may have vastly different goals. The Japanese religious group, Aum Shinrikyo, also known as Aum Supreme Truth is a good example. They are most famous for the March 20th, 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, 1, 2. The well-coordinated attack killed 12 and injured several thousand.
In 1984, Shoko Asahara founded the religious organization later called Aum Shinrikyo. He drew his theology from Tibetan Buddhism, a deity called Shiva, some elements of Taoism, the Book of Revelations in the New Testament, the writings of Nostradamus, physicist Nicola Tesla’s so-called death rays, and the science fiction Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Asahara’s sanity is questionable at best.
Asahara MAY have begun as a sincere practioner of Buddhism, yoga, and meditation. Eventually, his group grew in size and wealth, attracting young and highly educated people recruited from some of the most elite Japanese universities. By 1989, though, Asahara’s group had become a cult, requiring followers to turn over their personal savings, cut all ties with family members, and use various drugs to facilitate “proper” behavior. Kidnappings, assaults and threats against recruits and their families were also reported which led a lawyer, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, to work on lawsuits against the group. In November, 1989, members of Aum Shinrikyo murdered Sakamoto, his wife, and their one-year-old child.
These first murders were precursors to the terrorist attacks that they believed would trigger Armageddon, a massive war that would kill almost every person on earth. Religious terrorists kill for a goal that is based upon their faith; political terrorists still deal within the real world. While Osama Bin Laden may wish to defeat the western industrialized nations, even he is not willing to risk total annihilation of the human race.
Enough for tonight. Coming soon, how to explode a nuclear weapon if you have weapons grade uranium. Hint: it’s easier than you think.
Technorati tags: terrorism, London, Bin Laden, al Qaeda, Aum Shinrikyo, Aum Supreme Truth
What Else Could Fitzgerald Be Investigating
I posted a version of this in the comment section over at Pen and Sword.
This is absolute pure speculation on my part and I’m not saying I believe this. But, is Patrick Fitzgerald, the independent counsel, also investigating the other CIA leak that featured many of the same players as Rovegate?
On June 2, 2004, the New York Times printed a story on Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi sleazeball extraordinaire and associate of the Bush Administration. He allegedly told Iran that U.S. intelligence had cracked the code used by the Iranian spy service on their encrypted communications. Of course, the Iranians immediately changed their codes and the U.S. lost an extremely important source of information.
As for Chalabi, he is/was quite chummy with Judith Miller, the neocons and, apparently, President Bush himself. In 1989, Jordan convicted Chalabi in absentia of bank fraud, after he stole $300 million in bank deposits. But surprisingly, on May 11, 2005, King Abdullah of Jordan pardoned Chalabi. According to journalist Seymour Hersh, George Bush himself asked King Abdullah to pardon Chalabi.
Like Rovegate, this particular story features CIA leaks, neocons, Judith Miller and George Bush. Of course, there are many sleazy stories floating in the toilet called the White House. Who knows what Fitzgerald is investigating?
The Karl Rove Controversy Continued
Point 2
Over on DailyKos.com there is an interesting thread (search for espionage) discussing whether the Espionage Act of 1917 was violated. (If you’re a real glutton for eye strain, here is the actual statute .)
The MSM is only discussing whether the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was broken. Allegedly, Rove is unlikely to be prosecuted under the Identities Act since that crime is almost impossible to prove in a court of law. As stated today in the New York Times:
“The 1982 law that makes it a crime to disclose the identities of covert operatives is not easy to break. It has apparently been the basis of a single prosecution, against Sharon M. Scranage, a C.I.A. clerk in Ghana who pleaded guilty in 1985 to identifying two C.I.A. agents to a boyfriend.”
If you want to read a discussion on the application of this law, click over here at Tabella .
Of course, the controversy is NOT solely a legal question. Even if no one is convicted, the story could catch on with the public and cause real political embarrassment to the Bush Administration. A “successful” scandal is relatively simple, easily explained, and contains a dramatic hook with an emotional appeal. For example, if Valerie Plame’s alleged network was exposed and an operative was killed in an excessively gory fashion, that might provide enough drama to hold public interest.
Do I sound cold? I go through dozens of news sites each day. THAT would make anyone jaded.