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Is your google finger broken or something? I mean seriously, where do you get off saying "Do something that is so easy for me to do or I'll label you as something you don't want to be labeled as". Hell, you even added the obligatory, If your source is something I don't like because of my perceived biases towards them, I will counter with a sit you should have preconceived biases with.

And while this was supposedly discussed by conservatives as shocking, it was widely reported in the news media and dismissed out of hand so I figured it would be common knowledge by now.

But hey, I'll give you credit. I didn't realize that my google finger would bring up a story on this very topic from Salon.com. Nor did I realize that most of the larger media organizations I could find stories about this at ended up just talking down the the importance of the role ghostwriting plays on a book. And articles debunking it without actually debunking it. IT even goes on to describe the dangers in the values people assign to the authors of books they support. And that was my main point, I wouldn't give him that much credit.

So i guess it is all a conservative conspiracy or something right? I mean a big conspiracy in which Obama's Publisher was in on too. Maybe it was a ploy to build sales. Maybe it was a comment reflecting the truth. It's hard to say, and we all know we can trust the news media right? I mean especially this conservative media outlet.

Anyways, whether it's true or not, it doesn't seem to be that Obama is following his manifesto in practice.

I posted this link above, but so you don't miss it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8213932/Wintry-weather-brings-snow-to-Australia-in-midsummer.html
There were many other stories around the Internet about it, I'm not sure how you missed it.

This year, New South Wales had a white Christmas. There were other stories about it, but here is one link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8213932/Wintry-weather-brings-snow-to-Australia-in-midsummer.html

Are you 'pro-profiling' people really so stupid that you can't grasp 'If we search group X more than group Y, terrorists will make sure to be in group Y, or hell, just make sure one member of their group can fake being in group Y and have them carry the stuff.'?

Jihad Jane

Manning was "livid" after being "lectured by ex-boyfriend",.

There are a couple of good excuses, actually, both of which are squarely on point to his case. One is the oath of office, the other is the Nuremberg principles.

He violated his oath, betrayed his country, and Nuremberg never came into it.

He got the so called 'Collateral Murder' thing wrong.

The United States will be paying the price for his hissy fit for years to come.

American diplomacy is in shambles. (Hopefully the Wikileaks revelation that China was willing to see North Korea go under doesn't push them into war, which is where they may be heading now.)

.... that sets up Assange as a relatively sane person within the organization, which is contrary to the spin I've been hearing -- that the other collaborators thought he was unstable or a big ego or some such.

“I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier and all the rest,” ... “If you have a problem with me, piss off.” --- Julian Assange writing to Herbert Snorrason

“

Julian Assange paid two thirds of WikiLeaks salary budget

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8207681/Failed-asylum-seeker-who-left-girl-to-die-allowed-to-remain-in-Britain.html

A large proportion of the cash has been In London, where an estimated £200 million so far has been spent on the cameras. This suggests that each crime has cost £20,000 to detect.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6082530/1000-CCTV-cameras-to-solve-just-one-crime-Met-Police-admits.html (1.5 years ago)

So far he has recieved much better treatment by the Aussie government than David Hicks did.

What? You're saying that the Australian government actually treated an Al Qaeda trainee more harshly in some fashion than Mr. Wikileaks? For shame!

Jihad" diary reveals David Hicks terror training
DAVID Hicks's handwritten "jihad diary" gives new insight into the sophisticated terrorism training he underwent, exploding claims that he was an innocent abroad.
The confessed terrorism supporter used a school exercise book - complete with boy's-own images of fighter aircraft - to write up the detailed instruction he received in weapon use, explosives and military tactics from Islamic extremists in Pakistan.

After describing how "to kill a VIP", Hicks noted that guerilla war involved "sacrifice for Allah". He sketched the mechanism of the telescopic sight of a sniper's rifle and the circuitry of deadly rocket-launched warheads. The exercise book was released yesterday by federal magistrate Warren Donald who, in easing the interim control order covering Hicks since his release from jail last month, found that, on balance, he remained at risk of committing a terrorist act or of undertaking further terrorism training......

The exercise book was filled out by Hicks while he was training with the Lashkar-e-Toiba terror group in northern Pakistan between March and June 2000.

Hmmm.... Lashkar-e-Toiba .... where have we heard of them before?

US blames Lashkar-e-Toiba for Mumbai
About 10 gunmen landed in rubber dinghies in Mumbai on Wednesday and wreaked havoc with automatic weapons and hand grenades, in an assault that killed 188 and injured more than 300. The dead included 22 foreign nationals, among them two Australian men....

Jihad" diary reveals David Hicks terror training
The Adelaide man, now 32, went on to train with al-Qa'ida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, where he was captured and handed over to US forces.

Training with al-Qaeda.... hmm....
Mumbai attacks: al-Qaeda plotter behind Bali bombing linked to terror attacks

I'm sure most Australians remember the horror of the Bali Bombings and the many Australians killed there. Most people probably remember their handiwork on September 11, 2001 as well.

Of course, the Taliban are reaching out as well.

I would say that Mr. Hicks was involved with a rather nasty bunch, and is quite lucky he didn't get himself killed.

The Aussie politicians asked the federal police to see if Assange had broken any laws, they came back with a definite "no".

Well, it's actually a bit more subtle than that.

"The AFP has completed its evaluation of the material available and has not established the existence of any criminal offences where Australia would have jurisdiction," it said in a statement.

"Where additional cables are published and criminal offences are suspected, these matters should be referred to the AFP for evaluation."

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the AFP had noted a number of offences that could be applied depending on the circums

So is he waffling on his long-time insistence that he is not wikileaks, but merely a member?

If he is just a member, he is clearly a member with "benefits".

Julian Assange paid two thirds of WikiLeaks salary budget

That makes for an interesting contrast to the way Assange / Wikileaks has treated the alleged primary source of the classified US government documents they've been so recently leaking:

Is WikiLeaks Reneging on its Financial Promise to Bradley Manning?

As to how he views himself....

Now that shadowy organization Wikileaks has unleashed another wave of military field reports, people want to know more about its founder, Julian Assange. According to a Times profile today, he's running Wikileaks with an iron fist.

Even remotely, his style is imperious. When Herbert Snorrason, a 25-year-old political activist in Iceland, questioned Mr. Assange’s judgment over a number of issues in an online exchange last month, Mr. Assange was uncompromising. “I don’t like your tone,” he said, according to a transcript. “If it continues, you’re out.”

Mr. Assange cast himself as indispensable. “I am the heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier, and all the rest,” he said. “If you have a problem with me,” he told Mr. Snorrason, using an expletive, he should quit.

A reported twelve Wikileaks members have left. Julian Assange: On the Run, Even During CNN Interviews

Pied Piper Julian Assange brooks no dissent in land of WikiLeaks

I guess the above also explains: ‘Chaos’ at WikiLeaks Follows Assange Arrest

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/8151924/Dogs-are-smarter-than-cats.html

Wikileaks is guilty only of receiving the data and publishing the parts they feel are morally justifiable to make public, not stealing, and not espionage, and certainly not treason (they aren't even eligible to commit that one).

Well, thats kind of the problem.

Taliban Study WikiLeaks to Hunt Informants
WikiLeaks Comes Under Fire from Rights Groups
Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review

This could turn into a feedback loop. If enough informants against the Taliban and Al Qaeda are killed as a result of Wikileaks, it could have consequences in the United States or Europe.

The diplomatic consequences have already been considerable.

What motivates Assange?

In December, 2006, WikiLeaks posted its first document: a “secret decision,” signed by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Somali rebel leader for the Islamic Courts Union, that had been culled from traffic passing through the Tor network to China. The document called for the execution of government officials by hiring “criminals” as hit men. Assange and the others were uncertain of its authenticity, but they thought that readers, using Wikipedia-like features of the site, would help analyze it. They published the decision with a lengthy commentary, which asked, “Is it a bold manifesto by a flamboyant Islamic militant with links to Bin Laden? Or is it a clever smear by US intelligence, designed to discredit the Union, fracture Somali alliances and manipulate China?”

The document’s authenticity was never determined, and news about WikiLeaks quickly superseded the leak itself. Several weeks later, Assange flew to Kenya for the World Social Forum, an anti-capitalist convention, to make a presentation about the Web site. “ No Secrets

Assange the Anti-American

Manning supposedly had some encrypted chats with Assange prior to releasing any material. It will be very interesting if those come to light.

Charges may be filed. The DOJ said it is reviewing it's options. As to Apple, who cares? It's their app store, and they are a private company. They can sell what they want.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8208198/WikiLeaks-Julian-Assange-says-he-expects-US-to-charge-him-with-spying.html

I was stating the fact that proselytizers face prosecution in Saudi Arabia all the time. And in fact, if a woman is raped, she can be punished:

The couple was sitting in a car when a group of seven Sunni men kidnapped them and raped them both, lawyers in the case told Arab News. The former boyfriend was also sentenced to 90 lashes for being with her in private.

A review of the sentence was ordered after condemnation from the international community and human rights groups.

However the Saudi Justice Ministry today maintained that the ruling was legal and followed the "the book of God and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad".

The Justice Ministry's account of the incident differed substantially from that given by the woman and her lawyer.

It largely glossed over her rape, focusing instead on her plan to meet her lover in his car "in a dark place where they stayed for a while".

"Then they where spotted by the other defendants as the woman was in an indecent condition as she had tossed away her clothes, then the assault occurred on her and the man," the statement said.

The Royal Mail is for sale, actually, and the Queen is disappearing from their stamps...

But...but... Facebook is worth 33 BILLION DOLLARS!

I wasn't aware that the dollar has already lost that much value. :-)

But...but... Facebook is worth 33 BILLION DOLLARS!
They could sell the company right now and get ~$5 for every human on earth! And you *know* it's true -- it's been reported on the internet .

...and this has *nothing* to do with 1/20th of the military keeping secrets for their own livelihoods from their superiors for 20 years. As long as the Joint Chiefs go along with it, and make openly serving legal, (you know following that whole 14th ammendment thing) Now the only "squirly" people who are "evasive" will be suspected leakers. Bradley Manning, your service to the military was your swan song. Your service to your nation... well that's still up for debate.

Brings to mind this admittedly speculative article.

Also this article in the telegraph.

Oh here's a fresh piece of news you might also find interesting:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8204958/Drone-kills-white-al-Qaeda-pair-in-Pakistan-mountains.html

Is this for real?

Yes.

Bradley Manning, suspected source of Wikileaks documents, raged on his Facebook page

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8202745/WikiLeaks-Swedish-government-hid-anti-terror-operations-with-America-from-Parliament.html

I think this sheds some interesting light on the Assange case in Sweden and its political connotations...

So you're saying that there are no situations in which someone may need to be killed?

No. But with guns it rarely works out that way.

Your strawman about stopping a rape with a gun is matched with my strawman about your toddler shooting you with your own gun, your toddler shooting another toddler with your gun, your toddler shooting herself with your own gun...(man these toddlers are dangerous; good thing we got guns to protect ourselves from them, huh)...you shooting your toddler and yourself with your own gun, you taking the law into your own hands, etc.

Firearms exist because firearms exist. Your rationalization for the massive proliferation of firearms exists because you think it makes you safer, when it doesn't.

They are terrorists! We should “put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something”

How about we just stop killing and otherwise pissing off brown-skinned people?

You don't understand what is actually happening. Read Bin Laden's Letter to America. You will see that the actual demand isn't to be "left alone". Bin Laden's first demand is:

(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

Bin Laden demands that we convert to Islam. He follows that up with demands that we ditch the Constitution, implement Islamic Sharia law, and do away with the separation of church and state. Among other things we would have to start killing homosexuals and adulterers, end the charging of interest on bank loans, put an end to drug use, pornography, and alcohol use, amputating the hands of thieves, and many other things. Dressing "immodestly" could get you whipped, which probably means burkas for women. Men would have to grow their beards out, or face a whipping. Crucifixion may be a required punishment for some crimes. Afghanistan under the Taliban was almost ideal to them. If we do not agree to this we can expect that his minions will continue to try to kill us.

It is not especially significant that Bin Laden issued that demand to the United States, in time every country will have to deal with it. Subduing the United States is just one step along their path, and they understand that it could take 500 years. Many countries have been attacked. Stockholm had a suicide bomber this weekend. (Thankfully it appears that one of the Stockholm terrorist's bombs blew prematurely and he couldn't get about five more planted - otherwise it might have been another Madrid, London 7/7, Bali, or similar bombing.)

What Do the Terrorists Want? [A Caliphate]

In nearly all cases, the jihadi terrorists have a patently self-evident ambition: to establish a world dominated by Muslims, Islam, and Islamic law, the Shari'a. Or, again to cite the Daily Telegraph, their "real project is the extension of the Islamic territory across the globe, and the establishment of a worldwide 'caliphate' founded on Shari'a law."

Terrorists openly declare this goal. The Islamists who assassinated Anwar el-Sadat in 1981 decorated their holding cages with banners proclaiming the "caliphate or death." A biography of one of the most influential Islamist thinkers of recent times and an influence on Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam declares that his life "revolved around a single goal, namely the establishment of Allah's Rule on earth" and restoring the caliphate.

Bin Laden himself spoke of ensuring that "the pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan." His chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also dreamed of re-establishing the caliphate, for then, he wrote, "history would make a new turn, God willing, in the opposite direction against the empire of the United States and the world's Jewish government." Another Al-Qaeda leader, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, publishes a magazine that has declared "Due to the blessings of jihad, America's countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon," to be followed by the creation of a caliphate.

Good background here.

Ignoring them won't make them go away. They have their own goals - nothing we do other than covert to Islam or fight them will dissuade them. Trying to buy them off or deal with them only delays the inevitable. We are in for a long struggle that will be far bloodier for us if we aren't clear about it. Al Qaeda has a f

Parent post is informative, not troll. He was actually the owner, not an officer. He bought the company without being involved in the creation or operation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8027301/Segway-company-owner-dies-riding-two-wheeled-machine-off-cliff.html

Acutally, China is producing 2-4 new nuke subs YEARLY (1-2 attacks and 1-2 boomer). But it is the boomers that are of concern. Since we caught one of their spy walking out with tech secrets on how to quiet their propulsion, I think that it is safe to assume that China is busy modifying their fleet and coming up with a new design.

As to count, America has 14 boomers, 4 missile boats, and a number of attack subs.
CHina acknowledges that they have 5 boomers, but at least 7 different ones were spotted, with more on the way. China does not talk about how many attack subs they have or on the way. As it is, they have secretly created a sub base on an island at which they do all of their production.

Can we wipe their navy? I would say yes. The problem is, that China is hiding a lot so we need to be ready. Otherwise, when they finally do attack esp. on Taiwan or North Korea, we may be in a much hotter war than anybody on this planet wants.

Yes, they will die from hunger, poor sanitation, wars (civil or otherwise) all of which are going to be made worse by climate change. The World Health Organization already attributes 150,000 deaths annually to the effects of climate change.

Climate change is widely expected to hit the poorest people hardest.

I think you need to consider the effect of making all those factors worse.

They are not pointing out specific wrong doings

They are, in fact, pointing out wrong doings.

(1) the U.S. military formally adopted a policy of turning a blind eye to systematic, pervasive torture and other abuses by Iraqi forces;

(2)theState Department threatened Germany not to criminally investigate the CIA's kidnapping of one of its citizens who turned out to be completely innocent;

(3) the StateDepartment under Bush andObama applied continuous pressure on the Spanish Government to suppress investigations of the CIA's torture of its citizens and the 2003 killing of a Spanish photojournalist when the U.S. military fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad (see ThePhiladelphia Inquirer's WillBunch today about this:"The day BarackObama Lied to me");

(4) the British Government privately promised to shield Bush officials from embarrassment as part of its Iraq War "investigation";

(5) there were at least 15,000 people killed in Iraq that were previously uncounted;

(6) "American leaders lied, knowingly, to the American public, to American troops, and to the world" about the Iraq war as it was prosecuted, a conclusion the Post's own former Baghdad Bureau Chief wrote was proven by theWikiLeaks documents;

(7)the U.S.'s own Ambassador concluded that the July, 2009 removal of the Honduran President was illegal -- a coup -- but the StateDepartment did not want to conclude that and thus ignored it until it was too late to matter;

(8) U.S. and British officials colluded to allow theU.S. to keep cluster bombs on British soil even though Britain had signed the treaty banning such weapons, and,

(9)Hillary Clinton's State Department ordered diplomats to collect passwords, emails, and biometric data on U.N. and other foreign officials, almost certainly in violation of the Vienna Treaty of 1961.

(TotH to GG, as usual.) I appreciate why you believe what you wrote. You might want to reconsider your position given your primary source of news is from organizations whose allegiance is to parent corporations that, like Amazon, absolutely cannot afford to get on the wrong side of the government that regulates them.

Former adviser. Media outside of Canada likes to leave that part out...

Except when they don't:

The comments came as a former adviser to Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, suggested a different solution to the international diplomatic crisis – assassinating Mr Assange.

Look, downplay Flanagan's influence all you like (I'm with you there), but please don't make shit up just to feed your favourite narrative.

When the MI6 operatives list was being mirrored by American citizens, MI6 said that it would "endanger the lives of agents", and yet the U.S. government did not take down any web sites, and American citizens were not threatened with prosecution for publishing the list. Now an Australian citizen releases data that the U.S. government would rather didn't see the light of day, and U.S. politicians are calling for censorship, internet kill switches, and executions and assassinations of everybody involved. If China or Russia did the same, these politicians would be crying crocodile tears for the death of freedom. Hypocrites.

"We are also investigating whether the prosecutor's application to have Mr Assange held incommunicado without access to lawyers, visitors or other prisoners - again a unique request - is in any way linked to this matter and the recent, rather bellicose US statements of an intention to prosecute Mr Assange."

Emphasis mine.

anything's possible.

Or murdered by canadian ninja turtles.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/8172920/Julian-Assange-should-be-assassinated-Canadian-official-claims.html

You missed my point entirely, even though you included it in your quote excerpt. I'm not talking about China or Russia having access to the information in the cables.

I'm talking about the ability of the US to conduct its foreign policy being diminished because of the information becoming public, and the firestorm of debate and criticism it will cause. Julian Assange has said he is prolonging and staggering this information release to keep it at the forefront of the news for months, for maximum political impact.

This isn't a case of two wrongs make a right; this is a very real problem, and the public release of this information in the supposed name of "transparency" and the "peoples' right to know" only puts the United States at a disadvantage to nations that are far less free, and have far less honorable intentions.

Ciao was bought by Microsoft in 2008 for nearly $500m (£324m) and is now called Ciao Bing, after Microsoft’s search engine. Foundem is a member of ICOMP, an internet pressure group which receives funding from Microsoft.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7301299/Google-under-investigation-for-alleged-breach-of-EU-competition-rules.html

This is just more of the same from Microsoft when trying to compete.

If you're Number 6, you're already dead

What about UK and polish migrants (ok, they're not native English speakers, but still not brown)?

"Simon Darby, spokesperson for the British National Party, said that the plane was a symbol of the Battle of Britain and represented the economic struggle the country is facing at the moment.

He said: "It's not like the BNP are against Polish people as a nation. We are against Polish people coming over here and undercutting British workers. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/4935429/BNP-uses-Polish-Spitfire-in-anti-immigration-poster.html

Spoken as a true ignorant. Lemme check the website. Nope! I don't see Taliban listed anywhere. I see the League of Arab States, but the Taliban aren't Arabs. It seems the Red Cross are training Taliban. *awkward cough* *tumbleweed*

Your first link is to the site of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, i.e. they are essentially interchangeable. GP was answering your point that it would be awkward for the Taliban to use the Red Cross, but it is no more ignorant to say they use the Red Crescent than the Red Cross.

As for your second statement, the job of the Red Cross is to help save lives, not decide that some are more worthy than others. An injured Taliban fighter has as much right to medical assistance as a US soldier.

It seems the Red Cross are training Taliban. *awkward cough* *tumbleweed*

That's right. The ICRC is an international humanitarian organization, which has a policy of neutrality. Their only goal is to save lives, without regard to political affiliation. They provide medical assistance to both the Afghan government and the Taliban. NATO accepts that.

The ICRC comes in pretty handy when the NATO governments have to deal with the Taliban, for example in prisoner exchanges, locating kidnap victims, or in their eventual peace negotiations.

Spoken as a true ignorant. Lemme check the website. Nope! I don't see Taliban listed anywhere. I see the League of Arab States, but the Taliban aren't Arabs. It seems the Red Cross are training Taliban. *awkward cough* *tumbleweed*

Your bias is showing.

So, it is bias to recognize Soros is a billionaire and a leftist activist? Hmmm. OK, I'll meet you half way.

1.5 million people have died as a result of our attack on Iraq. ... many of them not from bombs but from starvation after the infrastructure needed for their water, food, and medical care was destroyed.

There is nothing within your links that makes the study 'almost certainly' anything.

Your bias and ignorance are showing. You also clearly aren't giving Saddam his due in neglecting and misusing the Iraqi infrastructure which has greatly added to the misery in Iraq.

How much better off would the Iraqi people have been if Saddam had built water, sewage, and power plants instead of a series of palace complexes, and smuggled luxury goods and weapons? The Iraqi people were not helped by the abuse of the Oil for Food program / scandal. We helped lift the yoke from the Iraqi people and are helping them rebuild their country. They are likely to end up far better off than if Saddam had continued in power, and probably with many fewer dead. (What's that? Oil?)

Not only that, but take a bunch of people who the government already considers to be in the "at risk" category, drag them off to a foreign prison with no due process, keep them there for the best part of a decade while you humiliate and torment them, then fly them home and pay them millions to keep quiet (sorry, I mean an "out of court settlement"). Gee, I wonder who will be funding the next generation of terrorists...

I think this already happened a few years ago http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1385585/Cyanide-plot-to-poison-Rome-water.html

I guess you've fallen behind on Taliban press releases and activities.

Late last week, just four days after the documents were published, death threats began arriving at the homes of key tribal elders in southern Afghanistan. And over the weekend one tribal elder, Khalifa Abdullah, who the Taliban believed had been in close contact with the Americans, was taken from his home in Monar village, in Kandahar province's embattled Arghandab district, and executed by insurgent gunmen.

I don't know why anyone would expect anything else given their sensibilities and tendencies toward killing the innocent. And don't forget, the hand of the Taliban is reaching beyond their borders.

Free speech is causing harm!

Just like yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater, or releasing the names and addresses of informants against Mafia hit men, or the names and locations of informants against Al Qaeda & Taliban cut-throats & beheaders like Wikileaks is doing.

Dead informants mean fewer people to pass on information on scum like Shahzad, who tried to bomb Times Square with a bomb like this.

Calling himself a Muslim soldier, Shahzad pleaded guilty in June to 10 terrorism and weapons counts. He said the Pakistan Taliban provided him with more than $15,000 and five days of explosives training late last year and early this year, months after he became a U.S. citizen.

Would even a Wembley stadium type attack convince even most people many on Slashdot that terrorism is a serious problem? I wonder.

Bin Laden's demand to the United States (The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.) is that we all convert to his brand Islam, change our governments to observe Sharia, or he and his minions will continue to try to kill us. Their ultimate goal is to conquer the world for Islam, not simply get the US out of anywhere, destroy Israel, or anything else. Al Qaeda believes it is justified in killing 4,000,000 Americans in pursuit of its goal. As it is, Al Qaeda's world wide body count must be easily in the tens of thousands by now.

Meanwhile, planning continues for the next Al Qaeda assault in Europe, following up on the successful mass attacks in London and Madrid, various assassinations, and the failed attacks in Germany, France, and other places. (Hopefully there is a well placed informant or two that will survive the Wikileaks releases.)

I wonder how many on Slashdot are members of the Internet Jihad, or are otherwise radicalized and trying to influence opinion?

“I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the Muslims will win, God willing, and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!!!” reads another Internet posting from Mr. Abdulmutallab.

This is not the secular, political language of resistance against foreign occupation. It is the language of apocalyptic salvation. It has nothing to do with Iraq, Afghanistan or the Palestinians, although countless young Muslims identify passionately with stories of perceived injustice. Radical Islam claims that martyrdom is the ultimate act of faith – the highest duty of a believer, next to the worship of Allah itself.

“

Just reading up on Wikileaks, I found this stating that their main host is PRQ, a Swedish ISP infamous for hosting The Pirate Bay. So they must be the good guys :-)

They are not hosted by PRQ any more, they are now hosted by another Swedish ISP, Bahnhof, one of the (perhaps The) oldest Swedish commersial ISP (owned by Oscar Swartz, one of the founders of the Swedish Pirate Party).

Just reading up on Wikileaks, I found this stating that their main host is PRQ, a Swedish ISP infamous for hosting The Pirate Bay. So they must be the good guys :-)

You forgot all the talk about the moat cleaning expenses? That is quite well known even outside of England.

If that bit was interesting enough for the huge amount of discussion that came from it, you can bet right this minute there are lots of people and media organizations trying to find something juicy in there.

What I'm very curious about is the claim that "the Chinese government holds a copy of an encryption master key" that a few of these "old media" made:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8142267/China-hijacks-15-per-cent-of-worlds-internet-traffic.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/world/asia/18intel.html