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Student Uncovers US Military Secrets

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the magic-market-don't-cut-it-no-more dept.

karthik_r085 writes "According to The Register, An Irish graduate student has uncovered words blacked-out of declassified US military documents using nothing more than a dictionary and text analysis software. Claire Whelan, a computer science student at Dublin City University was given the problems by her PhD supervisor as a diversion. David Naccache, a cryptographer with Gemplus, challenged her to discover the words missing from two documents: one was a memo to George Bush, and another concerned military modifications to civilian helicopters."

4 of 484 comments (clear)

  1. old news by Swen+Swen · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Monde (famous French newspaper) published an article on the story a few days ago. An English translation can be found here.

  2. Re:This information isn't even blacked out! by zebez · · Score: 5, Informative
    It's from a pdf document, page 51: Document

    from wikipedia.org:

    "Critics, mostly from the far-left and the far-right, frequently quote out of context a line from Rebuilding America's Defenses which refers to the possibility of a "catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" (p. 51), citing this as being suspiciously prescient of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and suggesting that the PNAC or its associates wanted, knew about, or even were involved in the attacks. This quote is considered by some to be part of the evidence of a plot to use the attacks as a pretext for the implementation of their policies. Many even incorrectly claim that the report directly states that this "new Pearl Harbor" is needed to justify war on Iraq. However, a full reading of the text shows it says nothing of the sort. The line is in the middle of a discussion about the military's employment of emerging information technologies, and the report guesses that full transformation to new technologies is likely to be a slow process, absent some "catalyzing" event which would presumably cause the military to upgrade much more quickly."

  3. Re:This information isn't even blacked out! by Diplo · · Score: 5, Informative
    Check the signatories of the PNAC Statement Of Principles and note the signatures include Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush and Lewis Libby.

    Now read this letter published on their website in May 1998 :

    " We should establish and maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the region, and be prepared to use that force to protect our vital interests in the Gulf - and, if necessary, to help remove Saddam from power."

    From the PNAC document 'Rebuilding Americas Defenses' dated September 2000 :

    " The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

    The document also :

    • Refers to key allies such as the UK as 'the most effective and efficient means of exercising American global leadership';
    • Describes peace-keeping missions as 'demanding American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations';
    • Reveals worries in the administration that Europe could rival the USA;
    • Says 'even should Saddam pass from the scene' bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain permanently -- despite domestic opposition in the Gulf regimes to the stationing of US troops -- as 'Iran may well prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq has';
    • Pinpoints North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes and says their existence justifies the creation of a 'world-wide command-and-control system'.

    For those that are interested (and that should be every free-thinking person) I've collected a lot more associated evidence which I published in an article on my website.

  4. Irish != IRA by Pfhor · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also, considering the political state of Northern Ireland (which is part of Great Britain, etc.) last year, most of these terrorist groups have just become glorified drug gangs, since a major way they go their money was through the drug cartel, now with a cease fire, there is more infighting and killing between the protestant militant groups over drug issues, than between the catholic and protestant groups.