It just keeps coming. Oh, this is rich. From the AFP:
The color-coded terror alert system went from yellow to orange, after CIA agents thought they saw secret numbers encoded in the moving text at the bottom of the screen of an Al-Jazeera broadcast, NBC said late Monday.
The “scrawl” was thought to contain attack dates, flight numbers and geographic coordinates for targets, which included the White House, Seattle’s tallest structure, the Space Needle, and even the small town of Tappahanock in Virginia.
For weeks after Christmas 2003, a high level terror alert was maintained leading to the cancellation of almost 30 international flights by Air France, British Airways, Continental and Aeromexico, the news service said.
In the end, the treasure of secret information the
Central Intelligence Agency analysts thought they had uncovered turned out to be completely wrong.
However, nothing was revealed to the public about the mistake until NBC News was told by unidentified senior US officials.
Tom Ridge, who was Secretary of Homeland Security at the time of the snafu, in an interview with NBC defended the CIA analysis at the time, although he did call it “bizarre, unique, unorthodox, unprecedented.”
“Maybe that’s very much the reason that you’d be worried about it, because you hadn’t seen it before,” said Ridge, who during the 2003 terror alert said it was based on “credible sources.”
This is too much. They thought the ‘scrawler’ was sending detailed messages about specific targets and flight numbers? If you are into irony, you can read al-Jazeera’s article reporting on the terror alert. Little did they know that it wasn’t Zawahiri’s taped message that caused us to raise the alert, but their scrawler.
There is so much disinformation going on, I have no idea what to believe. Governor Ridge, apparently has no idea either.
“We acted accordingly, based on our best information and best conclusions and the information that we had at the time,” he said.
However, he added, “speaking for myself I’ve got to admit to wondering whether or not it was credible.”
Believe no one, presently in, or recently departed from, this administration…trust me…the check’s in the mail.
Boo, seriously: What or who can we believe?
I find it personally troubling that, one day I’m bashing the NYT or WaPo, but the next day quoting them when I like what they’re reporting. Is that intellectually dishonest? Am I able to ferret out what’s true and what’s not?
P.S. About an hour ago, MSNBC interviewed Robin Wright of the WaPo and a Middle East expert — she used to write for the LA Times, as I recall. The host asked her about the Downing Street memos. She replied — rather flatly — that the memos caused more of a stir in Britain and weren’t an issue here. The host changed the subject. (P.P.S. I have a buddy who thinks that Wright is CIA. I have no clue.)
is very tight with the CIA. It’s possible that she is part of their Book of the Month club. Sacred Rage is an interesting read, and well researched, but it also strikes me as the party line for the ‘we must have military bases throughout the Middle East’ crew.
Who knows?
I have respect for her reporting, for the most part.
As for the intellectual honesty of citing suspect sources like the NYT and the WP, the best we can do is read them with a skeptical eye, and pay close attention to what the sources are saying, and ask why they are saying it.
Code Elmo is my favorite!
This is too much. Where did these CIA ‘analysts’ come from? The crop circle division?
I can’t wait to see what they’re going to find next with their Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Rings.
Somebody screwed up on that one. In fact I don’t think the Space Needle has ever been Seattle’s tallest structure. Maybe for a while after it was built in 1962, but by 1969 it was overshadowed by the 1001 Fourth Avenue building, known to locals as “the box the Space Needle came in.”
In fact as far as I can tell it ranks about sixth in the city, dwarfed by buildings like the Band of America Tower (over half again as tall) and the Washington Mutual Tower. (My wife has had the pleasure of working in both of these buildings. Year before last we went to her company’s Christmas party on the top floor of the Bank of America Tower. She says the women’s rest room on that floor has the best view of Seattle available. I’ll have to take her word for it.)
I don’t know why I’m getting irked about this; certainly there are more important things to worry about, and if they had said “Seattle’s most recognizable structure” I would have been hard pressed to argue. It just bugs me that once upon a time newspapers and news agencies would have had copy editors checking facts like this as a matter of routine, and nowadays, copy editing and fact-checking are almost nonexistent.
Since we’re talkin’ local stuff here, can you explain this to me?
A couple weeks ago, we took the Bainbridge Island ferry to/fro Seattle. We saw no state patrol on the Bainbridge side. But, on our trip leaving Seattle, we saw four Wash. State patrol + a bomb-sniffing pitt bull who checked under all the cars.
Now, why would a bomber leave Seattle and blow up Bainbridge Island, but not anything in Seattle?
— sign me Curious
P.S. We could use four more state patrol personnel up here to patrol Hwy 101, a death trap.
As near as I can tell, it has to do with this pie chart that describes how Homeland Security operates:
See, more people will be impressed by security on the Seattle side of the ferry than on the Bainbridge side.
Gosh darn. I never thought of it that way. Well, it’s better if methed-up drivers cross the center line on Hwy 101 than one bomb-laden car make it to the Town & Country market on Bainbridge. (Did you hear that Brad and Jen toured Bainbridge? — that was before they split up.)
P.S. Matt LeBlanc was here yesterday. Enroute to Victoria.
Um, I don’t recognize the names. Are these friends of yours?
Oh, and on the reordering of police resources . . . I’m with you, SuHu. But then they just don’t ever ask us about these things, do they?
Boogah boogah boogah!!!!
Pax
why the CIA dont go back to what they were best at – drug running.
Oh sorry, I forgot about the cocaine into the US and ammo and small arms to right wing Columbian death squads where people keep getting caught. Maybe they just aint good at anything anymore.