Today at National Review's The Corner, Kathryn-Jean Lopez takes time out from cheering on death and destruction in Iraq --
"Right now, I could kill George Bush" ... Says an Irish Nobel laureate.
Click on the link. It's 1976 Peace Price co-recipient Betty Williams being quoted from an event in Dallas --
"Right now, I could kill George Bush," she said at the Adam's Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. "No, I don't mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that."
So a few points. First, K-Lo clipped the quote. Second, since one doubts she carefully reads the Dallas Morning News, it's more likely that someone else clipped the quote and is e-mailing it to all the big reactionary blogs. Third, K-Lo has no memory because these same blogs worked themselves into an "outrage" this time last year when Betty Williams seemed to say the same thing in Australia (Williams probably tries, like many Northern Irish people, to be abroad in July) --
"I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence,' because I don't believe that I am non-violent." She went on to say, "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush", blaming him for the deaths of children, particularly in the Middle East. "I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life."
Again the full quote is from a person enraged at George W. Bush but knowing there's not much can be done about it. She clearly refined the quote a bit for the Dallas event, but not enough for the members of the Bush Personality Cult. Maybe she needs to rephrase again and wish that God would get rid of Bush, because Bush has used that construction himself.
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin is aboard the outrage bandwagon, but at least has the wit to remember (or be told) that it's just a rehash of the same "outrage" last year. Given Malkin's Fox News connections, expect a festival of Betty Williams-bashing tonight.
UPDATE 13 JULY: Powerline joins the "outrage" -- but listen to the sound file with the post; the clipped quote is completely unrepresentative of the tone and overall sentiment.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Boogeyman, or men
A White House aide, quoted from a Wall Street Journal politics blog post about why Bush mentions al Qaeda so much these days --
It's a name that really resonates, like the boogeyman,
They're rarely so explicit that treating the populace like scared children is part of the strategy.
UPDATE: Here's the dictionary definition --
an imaginary evil character of supernatural powers, esp. a mythical hobgoblin supposed to carry off naughty children
It's a name that really resonates, like the boogeyman,
They're rarely so explicit that treating the populace like scared children is part of the strategy.
UPDATE: Here's the dictionary definition --
an imaginary evil character of supernatural powers, esp. a mythical hobgoblin supposed to carry off naughty children
How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?
In his news conference today, George Bush argued for letting his commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, determine the US troops level in Iraq -- the rationale being that the military commanders make the best decisions. He then went on to float the possibility that his commanders were wrong about troop levels for the invasion itself in 2003 --
I mean, one of the questions is, should we have sent more in the beginning? Well, I asked that question, do you need more, to General Tommy Franks. In the first phase of this operation, General Franks was obviously in charge, and during our discussions in the run up to the decision to remove Saddam Hussein after he ignored the Security Council resolutions. My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes.
Now, history is going to look back to determine whether or not there might have been a different decision made. But at the time, the only thing I can tell you, Wendell [Goler, Fox News], is that I relied upon our military commander to make the proper decision about troop strength. And I can remember a meeting with the Joint Chiefs, who said, we've reviewed the plan. I remember -- and seemed satisfied with it. I remember sitting in the PEOC, or the Situation Room, downstairs here at the White House, and I went to commander and commander that were all responsible of different aspects of the operation to remove Saddam. I said to each one of them, do you have what it takes? Are you satisfied with the strategy? And the answer was, yes.
Whether they wrong then is surely not just a matter for "history" but for whether they can be trusted now.
I mean, one of the questions is, should we have sent more in the beginning? Well, I asked that question, do you need more, to General Tommy Franks. In the first phase of this operation, General Franks was obviously in charge, and during our discussions in the run up to the decision to remove Saddam Hussein after he ignored the Security Council resolutions. My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes.
Now, history is going to look back to determine whether or not there might have been a different decision made. But at the time, the only thing I can tell you, Wendell [Goler, Fox News], is that I relied upon our military commander to make the proper decision about troop strength. And I can remember a meeting with the Joint Chiefs, who said, we've reviewed the plan. I remember -- and seemed satisfied with it. I remember sitting in the PEOC, or the Situation Room, downstairs here at the White House, and I went to commander and commander that were all responsible of different aspects of the operation to remove Saddam. I said to each one of them, do you have what it takes? Are you satisfied with the strategy? And the answer was, yes.
Whether they wrong then is surely not just a matter for "history" but for whether they can be trusted now.
He also claimed that Wild Oats Reblochon was pasteurised
If you believed that your organic fruit and veg and grass-fed meat was coming with kid-glove corporate ethics at Whole Foods, think again. Today's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd) reports that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey posted frequently on a Yahoo bulletin board under the pseudonym Rahodeb1 -- using the forum to praise Whole Foods and trash rival Wild Oats. The fact that Whole Foods is now trying to take over the latter, and that he talked up the Whole Foods stock price, puts him in dodgy legal territory.
And then there's the Internet bubble style predictions like --
13 years from now Whole Foods will be a $800+ stock before splits
Maybe 13 years is far enough away that there's not much meat to that "prediction."
The main crisis though may not be at the board of Whole Foods, but at the keyboard of the National Review's Jonah Goldberg, with his book Liberal Fascism: From Hegel to Whole Foods, coming out in December. The issue: how to fit Internet sock-puppetry into the narrative, which the publisher would surely love to have a nice topical hook.
1 Rahodeb being the lamest of lame pseudonyms -- his wife's name spelled backwards (and two letters switched).
UPDATE: Here's the New York Times story.
And then there's the Internet bubble style predictions like --
13 years from now Whole Foods will be a $800+ stock before splits
Maybe 13 years is far enough away that there's not much meat to that "prediction."
The main crisis though may not be at the board of Whole Foods, but at the keyboard of the National Review's Jonah Goldberg, with his book Liberal Fascism: From Hegel to Whole Foods, coming out in December. The issue: how to fit Internet sock-puppetry into the narrative, which the publisher would surely love to have a nice topical hook.
1 Rahodeb being the lamest of lame pseudonyms -- his wife's name spelled backwards (and two letters switched).
UPDATE: Here's the New York Times story.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Running to stand still
Chastening, Andrew Sullivan style --
The Turks and the Kurds can become an arc of hope for some Persians who want to live in a free society and lack an obvious regional role model. I fear, alas, that Arab culture is simply immune to modern democratic norms - at least for the foreseeable future. That doesn't mean we shouldn't discourage democrats or liberals; but that we should have no illusions about their viability in Arab society. Mercifully, the Middle East is not all Arab dysfunction. The Turks, the Jews, the Kurds and the Persians offer much hope. It seems to me we should be investing in those places that have a chance, rather than further antagonizing those regions that have yet to develop any politics but violence, paranoia and graft.
Leave aside the fact that "Arab" means hundreds of millions of people. These people live right next to his envisaged "arc of hope", and they live pretty close to Europe as well. The only way to keep a lid on all the potential problems would be to have a bunch of repressive dictators in charge of Arab countries.
The Turks and the Kurds can become an arc of hope for some Persians who want to live in a free society and lack an obvious regional role model. I fear, alas, that Arab culture is simply immune to modern democratic norms - at least for the foreseeable future. That doesn't mean we shouldn't discourage democrats or liberals; but that we should have no illusions about their viability in Arab society. Mercifully, the Middle East is not all Arab dysfunction. The Turks, the Jews, the Kurds and the Persians offer much hope. It seems to me we should be investing in those places that have a chance, rather than further antagonizing those regions that have yet to develop any politics but violence, paranoia and graft.
Leave aside the fact that "Arab" means hundreds of millions of people. These people live right next to his envisaged "arc of hope", and they live pretty close to Europe as well. The only way to keep a lid on all the potential problems would be to have a bunch of repressive dictators in charge of Arab countries.
Murdoch couldn't be any worse
The Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd; alt. free link) presents a pleasing account of progress under the Surge, written by someone named Kimberly Kagan. Things are going well. The main enemy of course is al Qaeda, with that awful man Moqtada al-Sadr playing a bit part in the evilitude. Good news is everywhere e.g.
some Iranian- and militia-backed mortar teams firing on the Green Zone have been destroyed.
It must have been with the knowledge that her article was imminent that the terrorists therefore launched their biggest ever mortar attack on the Green Zone yesterday, but that only shows how desperate they are. But anyway, leave all that aside and let's look at the WSJ's bio of Ms Kagan --
Ms. Kagan, an affiliate of Harvard's John M. Olin Institute of Strategic Studies, is executive director of the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.
Unstated is that she is also the wife of Fred Kagan, the architect of the Surge.
UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias asks --
Is the conservative media machine really so short on wannabe apologists for Iraq at this point that it can't find enough non-Kagans to write about the Kagan-authored escalation scheme [?]
some Iranian- and militia-backed mortar teams firing on the Green Zone have been destroyed.
It must have been with the knowledge that her article was imminent that the terrorists therefore launched their biggest ever mortar attack on the Green Zone yesterday, but that only shows how desperate they are. But anyway, leave all that aside and let's look at the WSJ's bio of Ms Kagan --
Ms. Kagan, an affiliate of Harvard's John M. Olin Institute of Strategic Studies, is executive director of the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.
Unstated is that she is also the wife of Fred Kagan, the architect of the Surge.
UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias asks --
Is the conservative media machine really so short on wannabe apologists for Iraq at this point that it can't find enough non-Kagans to write about the Kagan-authored escalation scheme [?]
Globalisation
The inevitable Irish aspect to the Washington Madam scandal, which has already claimed the career of the head of the US Agency for International Development Randall Tobias and seems set to do the same to Republican Senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, (Irish Times, subs. req'd) --
Self-confessed escort agency manager Deborah Jeane Palfrey ... The records show that Ms Palfrey had 68 business phone calls on her mobile phone while on a trip to Dublin between November 25th and November 29th, 2004.
One call log shows her calling a Dublin number at 11.03pm on November 27th, 2004, while Ms Palfrey made 29 calls to her home base in Vallejo in California, where prosecutors say she ran an escort business for 13 years and allegedly made $2 million (€1.5 million).
Many other calls are to numbers in the greater Washington area, where US prosecutors say Ms Palfrey ran a prostitution ring for high-paying clients.
Ms Palfrey spent $110.88 on business calls during her trip to Ireland, including 29 incoming phone calls. Apart from calling her California base, Ms Palfrey also called numbers in Alexandria and Leesburg, Virginia, and Silver Spring and Pikesville, Maryland. Many of the phone numbers are believed to be those of suburban Washington hotels, where many of Ms Palfrey's clients were staying.
At a rate of well under $2 a call, she must have had a good roaming plan. Incidentally, that period that she was in Ireland was when Republican hubris was at its peak following the November election -- the wheels had not yet started to come off the wagon. Some bigshots could have gotten careless.
UPDATE 12 July: The Irish Times follows up (subs. req'd) the story with Palfrey telling their correspondent that she was in Ireland as part of considering where to retire.
Self-confessed escort agency manager Deborah Jeane Palfrey ... The records show that Ms Palfrey had 68 business phone calls on her mobile phone while on a trip to Dublin between November 25th and November 29th, 2004.
One call log shows her calling a Dublin number at 11.03pm on November 27th, 2004, while Ms Palfrey made 29 calls to her home base in Vallejo in California, where prosecutors say she ran an escort business for 13 years and allegedly made $2 million (€1.5 million).
Many other calls are to numbers in the greater Washington area, where US prosecutors say Ms Palfrey ran a prostitution ring for high-paying clients.
Ms Palfrey spent $110.88 on business calls during her trip to Ireland, including 29 incoming phone calls. Apart from calling her California base, Ms Palfrey also called numbers in Alexandria and Leesburg, Virginia, and Silver Spring and Pikesville, Maryland. Many of the phone numbers are believed to be those of suburban Washington hotels, where many of Ms Palfrey's clients were staying.
At a rate of well under $2 a call, she must have had a good roaming plan. Incidentally, that period that she was in Ireland was when Republican hubris was at its peak following the November election -- the wheels had not yet started to come off the wagon. Some bigshots could have gotten careless.
UPDATE 12 July: The Irish Times follows up (subs. req'd) the story with Palfrey telling their correspondent that she was in Ireland as part of considering where to retire.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Oceania is just now at war with Eurasia
So The Surge, which was the successor to Operation Together Forward II, and announced as such last December, and implemented as the "Baghdad Security Plan" aka Operation Fardh al-Qanoon with subcomponents Arrowhead Ripper and Phantom Thunder, all evolving over the last 6 months, actually only began two weeks ago. So says the White House Press Office (Scott Stanzel) --
MR. STANZEL: The shift in strategy occurred with the new way forward, which is now two weeks underway. And that was a dramatic shift in strategy, based on the input that the President received from commanders on the ground and leaders in Washington. That operation is now just two weeks underway in its full array of troops.
So the President believes that this June -- or, July 15th report will be an opportunity for an initial snapshot of how that is going; just an initial snapshot after a few weeks. September 15th is another time to provide an assessment and receive some recommendations from commanders on the ground.
Let's note that Congress debated this issue for 100 days. They debated the Iraq war funding for 100 days. Then they put in place, in passing that, they put in place two opportunities to get those updates: July 15th and then two months later on September 15th. So we are just now in the beginning phases of that.
Note the particular disengenuousness of trying to use the Congressional debate on the Surge as having stopped the clock, when -- highlighting a structural flaw in the US Constitution -- the President went ahead and put the troops in place without congressional approval.
MR. STANZEL: The shift in strategy occurred with the new way forward, which is now two weeks underway. And that was a dramatic shift in strategy, based on the input that the President received from commanders on the ground and leaders in Washington. That operation is now just two weeks underway in its full array of troops.
So the President believes that this June -- or, July 15th report will be an opportunity for an initial snapshot of how that is going; just an initial snapshot after a few weeks. September 15th is another time to provide an assessment and receive some recommendations from commanders on the ground.
Let's note that Congress debated this issue for 100 days. They debated the Iraq war funding for 100 days. Then they put in place, in passing that, they put in place two opportunities to get those updates: July 15th and then two months later on September 15th. So we are just now in the beginning phases of that.
Note the particular disengenuousness of trying to use the Congressional debate on the Surge as having stopped the clock, when -- highlighting a structural flaw in the US Constitution -- the President went ahead and put the troops in place without congressional approval.
Not counting the dirty money
The lowered expectations of this year's tourist season in Galway, via the Irish Times (subs. req'd) --
Galway's annual race festival will be "cryptosporidium-free" within the confines of Ballybrit, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was assured during a visit to the track yesterday.
The track's new €150,000 water filtration and UV light system proved clear in tests last Friday, according to its manager, John Maloney.
The track needing its own filtration system because the city's water is not safe to drink. But still, it was always going to be Perrier inside the Fianna Fail fundraising tent anyway, so it doesn't matter to them.
Galway's annual race festival will be "cryptosporidium-free" within the confines of Ballybrit, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was assured during a visit to the track yesterday.
The track's new €150,000 water filtration and UV light system proved clear in tests last Friday, according to its manager, John Maloney.
The track needing its own filtration system because the city's water is not safe to drink. But still, it was always going to be Perrier inside the Fianna Fail fundraising tent anyway, so it doesn't matter to them.
Monday, July 09, 2007
More believable at the White House
From the Alastair Campbell diaries, a story that is either not true or disturbing in its Bush-like sentiments --
April 2003: "Clare [Short] was rabbiting on more than ever [about Iraq]. I slipped TB [Tony Blair] a note about the time Saddam shot his health minister at a meeting because she was annoying him and did he want me to get a gun? 'Yes,' he scribbled."
April 2003: "Clare [Short] was rabbiting on more than ever [about Iraq]. I slipped TB [Tony Blair] a note about the time Saddam shot his health minister at a meeting because she was annoying him and did he want me to get a gun? 'Yes,' he scribbled."
They don't get it
Today's Wall Street Journal (on the still Murdoch-free news pages) reports on the latest bureaucratic fiasco concerning the Guantanamo Bay executive branch "trials." After the Gitmo judges threw out the cases against two detainees last month, on the ground that they hadn't been properly classified as "unlawful enemy combatants" before the trial began, the Bush administration needed to set up an appeals panel so that they could appeal that verdict. Apparently it never occurred to them to set one up beforehand, presumably because they assumed they'd never lose in any of the "trials."
So they set it up. It has 16 members who decide whether the original court was right in dismissing the charges, charges brought, in effect, by George W. Bush. 12 of the members are military officers. Their boss: George W. Bush. The other four are civilians who were on a predecessor panel -- the panel that set up the original Gitmo tribunals, later struck down by the courts. And of course they were given their original and new appointments by, ultimately, the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces. That man again.
As the WSJ adds (subs. req'd)
Two of the four -- former Attorney General Griffin Bell and former Transportation Secretary William Coleman -- advised Mr. Rumsfeld in drafting the rules of the system struck down by the high court. Mr. Coleman also attended a mock trial the Pentagon staged in 2003 to help prosecutors sharpen their cases against detainees.
Anyway the good news from the article is that the military lawyers who represent the defendants plan on challenging this structure, and legal experts think that given the obvious conflicts of interest, they'll win. But the basic point -- that one branch of government can't be police, judge, jury, jailer, and on-the-fly rule maker, seems still lost on their less honourable bosses.
So they set it up. It has 16 members who decide whether the original court was right in dismissing the charges, charges brought, in effect, by George W. Bush. 12 of the members are military officers. Their boss: George W. Bush. The other four are civilians who were on a predecessor panel -- the panel that set up the original Gitmo tribunals, later struck down by the courts. And of course they were given their original and new appointments by, ultimately, the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces. That man again.
As the WSJ adds (subs. req'd)
Two of the four -- former Attorney General Griffin Bell and former Transportation Secretary William Coleman -- advised Mr. Rumsfeld in drafting the rules of the system struck down by the high court. Mr. Coleman also attended a mock trial the Pentagon staged in 2003 to help prosecutors sharpen their cases against detainees.
Anyway the good news from the article is that the military lawyers who represent the defendants plan on challenging this structure, and legal experts think that given the obvious conflicts of interest, they'll win. But the basic point -- that one branch of government can't be police, judge, jury, jailer, and on-the-fly rule maker, seems still lost on their less honourable bosses.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
He completes her
Fans of Condi Rice's occasional verbal slips and double entendres will have a field day with her CNBC interview yesterday. For example, did she hint that she'll resign as Secretary of State early in 2008? --
QUESTION: Would you consider being a running mate of any of the declared or undeclared GOP candidates?
SECRETARY RICE: I'll be back -- I'll be headed back to Stanford and there'll be great people to step forward. I'm sure of that.
The implication of her pre-correction statement being that she'll already be in Stanford when the Republican candidate is shopping for a running mate.
But the main high-jinks ensure with her discussion of her relationship with George Bush --
You know, when I was -- first met then Governor Bush, it was actually not foreign policy that attracted me to him. It was because he cared so much about education, and when he talked about the soft bigotry of low expectations of minority children, he had me at that point because I've seen it.
QUESTION: Would you consider being a running mate of any of the declared or undeclared GOP candidates?
SECRETARY RICE: I'll be back -- I'll be headed back to Stanford and there'll be great people to step forward. I'm sure of that.
The implication of her pre-correction statement being that she'll already be in Stanford when the Republican candidate is shopping for a running mate.
But the main high-jinks ensure with her discussion of her relationship with George Bush --
You know, when I was -- first met then Governor Bush, it was actually not foreign policy that attracted me to him. It was because he cared so much about education, and when he talked about the soft bigotry of low expectations of minority children, he had me at that point because I've seen it.
The suffering sweepstakes
Condi Rice, in an interview with Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo --
QUESTION: Looking at Afghanistan and Iraq. We have lost almost 4,000 people, closing in on $500 billion and the end result has been a civil war. In your own heart and in your mind, do you think this war has been worth it?
SECRETARY RICE: Certainly, the difficulties and the sacrifice in Iraq and the sacrifice in Afghanistan are difficult to look at every day. I think that it's even more difficult for those who had a responsibility in leading the country to war, and I know how strongly the President feels about that sacrifice, and you can never ever give back the lost family members, the fathers, the sons, the daughters. You can never do that.
This bizarre construction rates the sacrifice of war in terms of how it looks, and then claims that's trumped by it being more difficult for the leaders to look at. If we couldn't see it, for example this guy, would there be any sacrifice at all?
QUESTION: Looking at Afghanistan and Iraq. We have lost almost 4,000 people, closing in on $500 billion and the end result has been a civil war. In your own heart and in your mind, do you think this war has been worth it?
SECRETARY RICE: Certainly, the difficulties and the sacrifice in Iraq and the sacrifice in Afghanistan are difficult to look at every day. I think that it's even more difficult for those who had a responsibility in leading the country to war, and I know how strongly the President feels about that sacrifice, and you can never ever give back the lost family members, the fathers, the sons, the daughters. You can never do that.
This bizarre construction rates the sacrifice of war in terms of how it looks, and then claims that's trumped by it being more difficult for the leaders to look at. If we couldn't see it, for example this guy, would there be any sacrifice at all?
Friday, July 06, 2007
Weekend reading
The Pat Finucane Centre has struck gold with this previously secret British Army evaluation of their experience in Northern Ireland. The document, given the title of the Army's umbrella name for its operations in Northern Ireland, is called Operation Banner. We're reading it. In view of the terminological wars that have been waged over the years in parallel with the actual Troubles, the document begins by setting out the definitions e.g.
‘Ulster’ is an historic province of Ireland – the others being Munster, Leinster and Connaught. Ulster comprised the six counties now forming Northern Ireland and three others. Therefore it is not strictly correct to describe Northern Ireland as ‘Ulster’, nor as ‘The Province’.
If you're ever looking for an official source when this issue arises, you just got it.
[More to come ... analogies to Iraq will be particularly interesting ...]
_________________________________
Internment (paragraphs 219-220) -- The Rt Hon Brian Faulkner, Stormont Prime Minister since 23 March 1971, persuaded the Rt Hon Edward Heath, the British Prime Minister, to support Internment, contrary to military advice. The Army and RUC were poorly prepared: suspect lists were badly out of date and detention facilities were inadequate. The former led to many of the wrong people being arrested and the latter meant that those arrested could not be properly segregated during screening. In addition the Army subjected a small number11 to deep interrogation techniques which had been developed in other theatres during the 1950s and 1960s.1
Operation DEMETRIUS, the introduction of Internment, was in practice an operational level reverse. A considerable number of terrorist suspects were interned: the net total of active IRA terrorists still at large decreased by about 400 between July and December 1971. A very large amount of intelligence had been gained: the number of terrorists arrested doubled in six months. However, the information operations opportunity handed to the republican movement was enormous. Both the reintroduction of internment and the use of deep interrogation techniques had a major impact on popular opinion across Ireland, in Europe and the US. Put simply, on balance and with the benefit of hindsight, it was a major mistake.
Note the phrase "deep interrogation techniques" which is a variation on the "enhanced interrogation techniques" of the GWOT, which, remember, were themselves justified by reference to Northern Ireland.
_____________________
The Discussion of Operation Motorman has a lot of Surge echoes (page 19) ... note in particular the high concentration of troops in just two areas -- very hard to replicate that strategy in a place the size of Iraq.
1 A later discussion in the document indicates that "other theatres" refers to Malaya, Kenya, Aden and Cyprus, an overlap that we've noted before. And here's a previous post of ours on the Pat Finucane case, one of the egregious outstanding matters from the Troubles.
‘Ulster’ is an historic province of Ireland – the others being Munster, Leinster and Connaught. Ulster comprised the six counties now forming Northern Ireland and three others. Therefore it is not strictly correct to describe Northern Ireland as ‘Ulster’, nor as ‘The Province’.
If you're ever looking for an official source when this issue arises, you just got it.
[More to come ... analogies to Iraq will be particularly interesting ...]
_________________________________
Internment (paragraphs 219-220) -- The Rt Hon Brian Faulkner, Stormont Prime Minister since 23 March 1971, persuaded the Rt Hon Edward Heath, the British Prime Minister, to support Internment, contrary to military advice. The Army and RUC were poorly prepared: suspect lists were badly out of date and detention facilities were inadequate. The former led to many of the wrong people being arrested and the latter meant that those arrested could not be properly segregated during screening. In addition the Army subjected a small number11 to deep interrogation techniques which had been developed in other theatres during the 1950s and 1960s.1
Operation DEMETRIUS, the introduction of Internment, was in practice an operational level reverse. A considerable number of terrorist suspects were interned: the net total of active IRA terrorists still at large decreased by about 400 between July and December 1971. A very large amount of intelligence had been gained: the number of terrorists arrested doubled in six months. However, the information operations opportunity handed to the republican movement was enormous. Both the reintroduction of internment and the use of deep interrogation techniques had a major impact on popular opinion across Ireland, in Europe and the US. Put simply, on balance and with the benefit of hindsight, it was a major mistake.
Note the phrase "deep interrogation techniques" which is a variation on the "enhanced interrogation techniques" of the GWOT, which, remember, were themselves justified by reference to Northern Ireland.
_____________________
The Discussion of Operation Motorman has a lot of Surge echoes (page 19) ... note in particular the high concentration of troops in just two areas -- very hard to replicate that strategy in a place the size of Iraq.
1 A later discussion in the document indicates that "other theatres" refers to Malaya, Kenya, Aden and Cyprus, an overlap that we've noted before. And here's a previous post of ours on the Pat Finucane case, one of the egregious outstanding matters from the Troubles.
He wanted to be some kind of professional
Here's the raised eyebrow moment of the day: considering the preparation for the 9/11 plot, a surge of al-Qaeda operatives into flight schools, and now the common occupational characteristics of the Haymarket/Glasgow bombers, what was the previous career aspiration of the Glasgow bomber now critically ill from the burns he sustained in the airport attack? --
It has emerged he [Kafeel Ahmed] was an aeronautical engineering student at Queen's University in Belfast.
A spokeswoman for Queen's said Scotland Yard had advised that they say nothing in relation to Mr Ahmed.
It is believed he enrolled for a post-graduate course at Queen's in 2001 and then stayed on as a research assistant until the middle of 2004.
It has emerged he [Kafeel Ahmed] was an aeronautical engineering student at Queen's University in Belfast.
A spokeswoman for Queen's said Scotland Yard had advised that they say nothing in relation to Mr Ahmed.
It is believed he enrolled for a post-graduate course at Queen's in 2001 and then stayed on as a research assistant until the middle of 2004.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Listen to the shipping forecast
Ireland's abysmal summer weather is making for rough seas, catching both cocaine smugglers and regatta organisers by surprise. Although one probably expects June-July seas to be calm, quick scrutiny of the current Irish and UK forecasts would alert one otherwise. Luckily it's only the odd bale of cocaine, and not any sailors, that are unaccounted for. Incidentally the cocaine incident may, amongst other things, have brought to light an apparently well-organised trade in fraudulent Irish passports.
UPDATE 10 JULY: More details on the passport -- it was obtained in the name of a deceased child from Northern Ireland. One wonders if someone found a loophole in the procedures for issuing Irish passports to residents of Northern Ireland.
UPDATE 10 JULY: More details on the passport -- it was obtained in the name of a deceased child from Northern Ireland. One wonders if someone found a loophole in the procedures for issuing Irish passports to residents of Northern Ireland.
A Beltway State of Mind
Another interesting thing about the al-Qaeda #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, video is that he cites Bob Woodward and, indirectly, Tom Friedman --
For example, in discussing Saudi Arabia and the malignancy of the Saudi Royal Family in regard to that country, Iraq, and the entire region, Zawahiri uses excerpts from Bob Woodward’s book, Plan of Attack, to portray the Kingdom’s culpability in the War in Iraq, its agenda, and collaboration with the West at the expense of Muslims. A PBS Frontline documentary and words from Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Dr. Sa’ad al-Faqih also serve this purpose, highlighting corruption, particularly in the Yamamah arms deal, and the socioeconomic gap between classes in Saudi Arabia.
Other words for al-Qaeda come from footage excerpted from conference in which Dr. Saud al-Hashimi cites Thomas Friedman and the concept of globalization, believing that al-Qaeda has utilized the tools in the globalized world to its advantage.
That Afghan/Pakistani cave that the top leadership are always supposed to be in must have good broadband.
[previous post about the video]
For example, in discussing Saudi Arabia and the malignancy of the Saudi Royal Family in regard to that country, Iraq, and the entire region, Zawahiri uses excerpts from Bob Woodward’s book, Plan of Attack, to portray the Kingdom’s culpability in the War in Iraq, its agenda, and collaboration with the West at the expense of Muslims. A PBS Frontline documentary and words from Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Dr. Sa’ad al-Faqih also serve this purpose, highlighting corruption, particularly in the Yamamah arms deal, and the socioeconomic gap between classes in Saudi Arabia.
Other words for al-Qaeda come from footage excerpted from conference in which Dr. Saud al-Hashimi cites Thomas Friedman and the concept of globalization, believing that al-Qaeda has utilized the tools in the globalized world to its advantage.
That Afghan/Pakistani cave that the top leadership are always supposed to be in must have good broadband.
[previous post about the video]
Muslim un-Brotherhood
Melanie Phillips, in a much-linked piece --
And this Hamas coup [release of Alan Johnston] is in turn but one part of a broader strategy. Hamas is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. All over the world, the Brotherhood is behind the pincer movement of jihad through terrorism and jihad through cultural capture. And manipulation is the name of the game it plays. It creates terrorist or insurrectionary pressure; it then poses as the ‘honest broker’ peacemaker; it thus turns its victims into its supplicants and can then turn the ratchet still further. ...
And it is playing it in Britain and the US, where its proxies have been pushing hard for ‘engagement’ with the Brotherhood as an antidote to al Qaeda — and where, with the British and American political elite now in such moral, intellectual and political disarray, it is now succeeding.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, 2nd in command of al-Qaeda in his latest video --
During the course of his segments Zawahiri continually laments the ceding of four-fifths of Palestine, and again voices his anger at Hamas for entering into negotiations and abandoning Shari’a, and warns it to not fall into the same trap as former PLO leader, Yassir Arafat, giving up everything before allegedly being poisoned. Zawahiri also attacks the Egyptian regime and its prisons, and questions the Muslim Brotherhood’s position on peace initiatives and acting as its progency, Hamas, has done in regard to Palestine.
Of course it could be that al-Zawahiri is fiendishly contradicating in public what is his true strategy in private, the one that Phillips claim. This would also be strange, though, as none other than George W. Bush always prefers to take the words of al-Qaeda at face value.
And this Hamas coup [release of Alan Johnston] is in turn but one part of a broader strategy. Hamas is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. All over the world, the Brotherhood is behind the pincer movement of jihad through terrorism and jihad through cultural capture. And manipulation is the name of the game it plays. It creates terrorist or insurrectionary pressure; it then poses as the ‘honest broker’ peacemaker; it thus turns its victims into its supplicants and can then turn the ratchet still further. ...
And it is playing it in Britain and the US, where its proxies have been pushing hard for ‘engagement’ with the Brotherhood as an antidote to al Qaeda — and where, with the British and American political elite now in such moral, intellectual and political disarray, it is now succeeding.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, 2nd in command of al-Qaeda in his latest video --
During the course of his segments Zawahiri continually laments the ceding of four-fifths of Palestine, and again voices his anger at Hamas for entering into negotiations and abandoning Shari’a, and warns it to not fall into the same trap as former PLO leader, Yassir Arafat, giving up everything before allegedly being poisoned. Zawahiri also attacks the Egyptian regime and its prisons, and questions the Muslim Brotherhood’s position on peace initiatives and acting as its progency, Hamas, has done in regard to Palestine.
Of course it could be that al-Zawahiri is fiendishly contradicating in public what is his true strategy in private, the one that Phillips claim. This would also be strange, though, as none other than George W. Bush always prefers to take the words of al-Qaeda at face value.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
A taxi driver dictates
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman is legendary for his ability to deduce all important facts about a country from the taxi-ride from the airport to his luxury hotel in whatever city he is in. But of course for that time-honoured pundit trick to work, you have to be able to get a taxi. This would be the only logical explanation of Friedman's otherwise bizarre first-person anecdote of being in London on the day of the Haymarket attempted bomb (subs. req'd) --
I knew something was up when I couldn't get a cab. There were sirens and helicopters whirring overhead. I stopped a passerby to ask what was going on. He said something about a car bomb outside a disco six blocks from my hotel. A few hours later, I finally found a taxi. The driver warned me that it was nearly impossible to get across town.
So in a city with slow -- and expensive -- surface transport at the best of times, he waited hours for a taxi, even though it wasn't clear it would be able to take him anywhere? Unless the journey was the destination with a column deadline rapidly approaching.
I knew something was up when I couldn't get a cab. There were sirens and helicopters whirring overhead. I stopped a passerby to ask what was going on. He said something about a car bomb outside a disco six blocks from my hotel. A few hours later, I finally found a taxi. The driver warned me that it was nearly impossible to get across town.
So in a city with slow -- and expensive -- surface transport at the best of times, he waited hours for a taxi, even though it wasn't clear it would be able to take him anywhere? Unless the journey was the destination with a column deadline rapidly approaching.
Any colour so long as it's black
George Bush, in the course of his latest rhetorical atrocity as noted earlier --
In the great country of the United States, we believe that you should be able to worship any way you see fit; that you're equally American, regardless of your religious beliefs. They [Islamo-bad guys] believe that if you don't worship the way they see it, then they're going to bring you harm.
We believe in an Almighty, we believe in the freedom for people to worship that Almighty.
UPDATE: Since we're discussing the West Virginia event, it's a nice case study in the cult of personality photography that goes on around Bush: compare this shot of him, Patton-like, in front of giant flag with this one that shows (a) the gap between him and the backdrop and (b) the cropping not to reveal the empty space at the back of the crowd.
FINAL UPDATE: Dan Froomkin confirms that the crowd was too small for the venue (down a bit in column).
In the great country of the United States, we believe that you should be able to worship any way you see fit; that you're equally American, regardless of your religious beliefs. They [Islamo-bad guys] believe that if you don't worship the way they see it, then they're going to bring you harm.
We believe in an Almighty, we believe in the freedom for people to worship that Almighty.
UPDATE: Since we're discussing the West Virginia event, it's a nice case study in the cult of personality photography that goes on around Bush: compare this shot of him, Patton-like, in front of giant flag with this one that shows (a) the gap between him and the backdrop and (b) the cropping not to reveal the empty space at the back of the crowd.
FINAL UPDATE: Dan Froomkin confirms that the crowd was too small for the venue (down a bit in column).
Know your place
George Bush gave a speech at an invitation-only 4th of July event in West Virginia. Amid all the hollow rhetoric --
After the speech, Bush was returning to the White House to watch fireworks and celebrate his 61st birthday on Friday.
"I told her to fire up the grill," Bush said he told first lady Laura Bush, who did not attend.
One wonders how many in his audience (of West Virginia Air National Guard families) actually believe that Laura will be grilling on the 4th.
After the speech, Bush was returning to the White House to watch fireworks and celebrate his 61st birthday on Friday.
"I told her to fire up the grill," Bush said he told first lady Laura Bush, who did not attend.
One wonders how many in his audience (of West Virginia Air National Guard families) actually believe that Laura will be grilling on the 4th.
Energy Independence Day
In an event that will surely have some viewers at the White House, given its propensity for free tax cuts, free wars, and indeed free energy, the Irish company claiming that it has produced a perpetual motion machine will at 6pm (BST) this evening unveil a prototype of it. The machine will be on display in London and apparently streamed live here, although the website of the company, Steorn, doesn't currently mention the event.1
1On closer inspection, the company's website main page does mention the event (see bottom of page), but is unclear about the time zone. We think it's still BST.
1On closer inspection, the company's website main page does mention the event (see bottom of page), but is unclear about the time zone. We think it's still BST.
This one is after the kidnapping
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem; caption
Although it's hard to tell, freed BBC reporter Alan Johnston is ecstatic in this photo and similar ones. The Fox News crowd will doubtless complain about Johnston's reference in his news conference to "Prime Minister Haniyeh" as Mr Haniyeh has been consigned to the ranks of Islamo-Bad Guys by George Bush and deposed as PM. A small price to pay for being free.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Detachable Cheney
Thursday of this week [July 5] will mark one full month since any public event featuring US Vice President Dick Cheney, or at least any event rising to the level of being documented by the normally meticulous White House website1. As far as we can see, this marks the longest gap between appearances since Cheney become VP. While Cheney's reputation might lead one to fear that silence indicates something really nefarious going on, Cheney was always adept at keeping his schemes moving even while being more active publicly.
So where is he? Is he deemed so toxic to public opinion that the political types at the White House no longer want him out in the open? Or could it be that his absence supports rumours of a summer plan to ease him out? A little idle speculation for a particularly hollow 4th of July.
1 There was one appearance at an American Enterprise Institute event in Colorado, but Cheney with AEI counts as private, not public. And [update 5 July], one month ago today seems to mark his last public appearance on Capitol Hill. [UPDATE: He attended a Republican Senate lunch "last week" (as of 7 July)]
FINAL UPDATE: The only event Cheney has been documented attending in the last few weeks is the weekly Senate Republican lunch.
So where is he? Is he deemed so toxic to public opinion that the political types at the White House no longer want him out in the open? Or could it be that his absence supports rumours of a summer plan to ease him out? A little idle speculation for a particularly hollow 4th of July.
1 There was one appearance at an American Enterprise Institute event in Colorado, but Cheney with AEI counts as private, not public. And [update 5 July], one month ago today seems to mark his last public appearance on Capitol Hill. [UPDATE: He attended a Republican Senate lunch "last week" (as of 7 July)]
FINAL UPDATE: The only event Cheney has been documented attending in the last few weeks is the weekly Senate Republican lunch.
Islamo-socialism
In what is probably the most abysmal of the right-wing talking points on the London/Glasgow plots, Powerline endorses the developing view at National Review's The Corner that it's all the fault of the NHS --
... the high percentage of non-British doctors practicing in England under the NHS. Socialized medicine, it seems, tends to chase British doctors into other careers or other countries.
The UK is not that big a country. Its population can't do everything. The health services have to come from somewhere if the locals find that other occupations, those part of the UK's comparative advantage, if you will, are more attractive. Do they want fewer British people working in financial services and more in the NHS, just to keep out the Islamo-doctors? Of course those wily Islamo-doctors would then all become Islamo-brokers and then the scandal would be that it's all the fault of the City of London.
Note also the awkward problem with their claim that socialized medicine is still an attractive career for people in other countries. And it's not just the Middle East. French doctors find the British system attractive too. The better argument about NHS hiring practices would be in terms of brain-drain, not in terms of the particular occupational details of this plot.
UPDATE 5 JULY: Fox News takes the argument up to 11.
... the high percentage of non-British doctors practicing in England under the NHS. Socialized medicine, it seems, tends to chase British doctors into other careers or other countries.
The UK is not that big a country. Its population can't do everything. The health services have to come from somewhere if the locals find that other occupations, those part of the UK's comparative advantage, if you will, are more attractive. Do they want fewer British people working in financial services and more in the NHS, just to keep out the Islamo-doctors? Of course those wily Islamo-doctors would then all become Islamo-brokers and then the scandal would be that it's all the fault of the City of London.
Note also the awkward problem with their claim that socialized medicine is still an attractive career for people in other countries. And it's not just the Middle East. French doctors find the British system attractive too. The better argument about NHS hiring practices would be in terms of brain-drain, not in terms of the particular occupational details of this plot.
UPDATE 5 JULY: Fox News takes the argument up to 11.
A faraway country of which we know nothing
So Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness luvs the job that the US Special Representative for Northern Ireland, Paula Dobriansky, is doing --
"The energy and drive that Paula has brought to her position is quite exciting and very convincing. It's not an act. She's really determined to do something," Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness told me. [Irish Times reporter, subs. req'd]
It's a shame that Martin is not reading more widely because Dobriansky is one of the drivers of a key American policy towards Iraq: one which denies the existence of refugees from that conflict in the conventionally understood sense of people who are not going to be able to return home for a long, long time. Instead the US maintains the fiction that even the millions of Iraqis abroad are merely "displaced" and can return home just as soon as that Surge succeeds, which could be any month now. Or as she says herself --
“We are committed to working with the Iraqi government to create a stable and secure environment that enables Iraqis to repatriate voluntarily to their homeland.”
The only resettlement need that Dobriansky has acknowledged is for Iraqi translators working with the US military, which amounts to a few hundred visas. This contrasts with the tens of thousands of Iraqis already resettled by Scandinavian countries.
Since American government assistance to NI is no longer essential, and in current form is coming from the lamest of lame duck administrations anyway, how about if Paula was just told to spend more time working on a real humanitarian crisis and less time on love-ins with Irish politicians and businessmen?
"The energy and drive that Paula has brought to her position is quite exciting and very convincing. It's not an act. She's really determined to do something," Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness told me. [Irish Times reporter, subs. req'd]
It's a shame that Martin is not reading more widely because Dobriansky is one of the drivers of a key American policy towards Iraq: one which denies the existence of refugees from that conflict in the conventionally understood sense of people who are not going to be able to return home for a long, long time. Instead the US maintains the fiction that even the millions of Iraqis abroad are merely "displaced" and can return home just as soon as that Surge succeeds, which could be any month now. Or as she says herself --
“We are committed to working with the Iraqi government to create a stable and secure environment that enables Iraqis to repatriate voluntarily to their homeland.”
The only resettlement need that Dobriansky has acknowledged is for Iraqi translators working with the US military, which amounts to a few hundred visas. This contrasts with the tens of thousands of Iraqis already resettled by Scandinavian countries.
Since American government assistance to NI is no longer essential, and in current form is coming from the lamest of lame duck administrations anyway, how about if Paula was just told to spend more time working on a real humanitarian crisis and less time on love-ins with Irish politicians and businessmen?
Monday, July 02, 2007
Omerta
Among the advantages of George Bush's decision to commute Scooter Libby's sentence -- and not pardon him -- is that it keeps Scooter's appeal of his conviction alive, and therefore maintains the 3 year silence from the White House concerning the leaks that originally prompted the investigation. Because any questions can still be dismissed on the grounds of refusal to comment on "an ongoing legal process."
Note also the role of this Washington Post op-ed from nearly a month ago in the kite-flying for the commute option. Note the provenance of the author, William Otis, classic "Wise Man of Washington" type (and, apparently, with a Powerline connection).
UPDATE: The statement of justification from the White House for the commutation.
FINAL UPDATE: Our initial line of argument above has been around for a while.
Note also the role of this Washington Post op-ed from nearly a month ago in the kite-flying for the commute option. Note the provenance of the author, William Otis, classic "Wise Man of Washington" type (and, apparently, with a Powerline connection).
UPDATE: The statement of justification from the White House for the commutation.
FINAL UPDATE: Our initial line of argument above has been around for a while.
Hear no evil
The last sentence at the end of the brief Bush-Putin Q&A in Maine -
PRESIDENT PUTIN: Of course we will continue our relations in the future. Today's fishing party demonstrated that we have a very similar -- we share the same passion -- that is, passion.
Q Is Cheney a member of the executive branch?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I didn't hear you.
Maybe that's what Cheney said when Bush asked him the same question.
[We'll attribute the odd-sounding Putin quote to awkward translation]
PRESIDENT PUTIN: Of course we will continue our relations in the future. Today's fishing party demonstrated that we have a very similar -- we share the same passion -- that is, passion.
Q Is Cheney a member of the executive branch?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I didn't hear you.
Maybe that's what Cheney said when Bush asked him the same question.
[We'll attribute the odd-sounding Putin quote to awkward translation]
The river war meets the land between the rivers
A very strange post at National Review's The Corner from Steve Hayward -- long-time trafficker in Bush-Churchill comparisons. He's upset about a Lynne Olson op-ed in the Washington Post ridiculing Bush's Churchill pretensions, and in particular the claim that --
Churchill would snort, I believe, at the administration's equation of 'Islamofascism,' an amorphous, ill-defined movement of killers forced to resort to terrorism by their lack of military might, to Nazi Germany, a global power that had already conquered several countries before Churchill took office in 1940.
To rebut the idea that Churchill would have recoiled at a concept like Islamofascism, Hayward presents a Churchill quote (from The River War) that refers to all of Islam. This quote has circulated for years among the reactionary right; one always had the sense that it's not broadcast more widely precisely because it's so inflammatory --
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. etc etc.... and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science-the science against which it had vainly struggled-the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.
Hayward then concludes:
Now, just imagine what Ms. Olson would say if Bush dared to quote this passage.
So what does he want? Does he think the passage is correct and that Bush should quote it, to solidify his Churchill credentials? Does he want Bush to ape a young Churchill, writing a jingoistic diatribe following a not especially successful colonial war against Sudan's Mahdi army? Does he think that Sudan turned out so well that Bush should be proud to make such an association? And most of all, does he think that Islamofascism and Islam are the same thing, or that he knows that Bush thinks that they are the same thing but won't say so publicly?
UPDATE: This Washington Post article notes that Bush is reading Olson's book; one also wonders if Hayward is included in the pack of historians that meet Bush privately -- or if he's jealous that Olson's book also made it to Bush's reading pile.
Churchill would snort, I believe, at the administration's equation of 'Islamofascism,' an amorphous, ill-defined movement of killers forced to resort to terrorism by their lack of military might, to Nazi Germany, a global power that had already conquered several countries before Churchill took office in 1940.
To rebut the idea that Churchill would have recoiled at a concept like Islamofascism, Hayward presents a Churchill quote (from The River War) that refers to all of Islam. This quote has circulated for years among the reactionary right; one always had the sense that it's not broadcast more widely precisely because it's so inflammatory --
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. etc etc.... and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science-the science against which it had vainly struggled-the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.
Hayward then concludes:
Now, just imagine what Ms. Olson would say if Bush dared to quote this passage.
So what does he want? Does he think the passage is correct and that Bush should quote it, to solidify his Churchill credentials? Does he want Bush to ape a young Churchill, writing a jingoistic diatribe following a not especially successful colonial war against Sudan's Mahdi army? Does he think that Sudan turned out so well that Bush should be proud to make such an association? And most of all, does he think that Islamofascism and Islam are the same thing, or that he knows that Bush thinks that they are the same thing but won't say so publicly?
UPDATE: This Washington Post article notes that Bush is reading Olson's book; one also wonders if Hayward is included in the pack of historians that meet Bush privately -- or if he's jealous that Olson's book also made it to Bush's reading pile.
Let the leaks flow
As the inevitable off-the-record briefings by securocrats begins, a few of the tidbits being tossed --
[Wall Street Journal, subs. req'd] U.S. federal law-enforcement officials say there are links between some of the suspects in London and individuals in New York and California, and that they are being monitored closely. ...
One suspect in the most recent attempted attacks is Bestun Salim, who was named earlier this year as a fugitive from his control order, said a person familiar with the British probe. Mr. Salim is an Islamist who was detained as a peripheral figure in a police investigation called "Operation Rhyme."
[BBC] Earlier, Ms Smith [Home Secretary] had declined to comment on reports that US Intelligence had recently warned the UK that Glasgow could be a target.
The Glasgow claim is sourced to ABC News; weirdly well-informed US sources have figured in such leaks in the past.
UPDATE: CBS News says that "inside sources" identify the the so-far un-named overseas arrest as of an Australian resident who worked in the UK. And [later update], Australian officials are confirming an arrest in Brisbane.
[Wall Street Journal, subs. req'd] U.S. federal law-enforcement officials say there are links between some of the suspects in London and individuals in New York and California, and that they are being monitored closely. ...
One suspect in the most recent attempted attacks is Bestun Salim, who was named earlier this year as a fugitive from his control order, said a person familiar with the British probe. Mr. Salim is an Islamist who was detained as a peripheral figure in a police investigation called "Operation Rhyme."
[BBC] Earlier, Ms Smith [Home Secretary] had declined to comment on reports that US Intelligence had recently warned the UK that Glasgow could be a target.
The Glasgow claim is sourced to ABC News; weirdly well-informed US sources have figured in such leaks in the past.
UPDATE: CBS News says that "inside sources" identify the the so-far un-named overseas arrest as of an Australian resident who worked in the UK. And [later update], Australian officials are confirming an arrest in Brisbane.
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