Monday, January 04, 2010

Taliban Bomber of CIA was Jordanian Doctor and a Double Agent

It is being reported that a Jordanian doctor was the suicide bomber double agent for the Taliban. The implications for US security on the war on terror are profound. This should be a wake up call to amateur hour at the White House.

__________________________________

Taliban bomber wrecks CIA’s shadowy war
Christina Lamb in Washington
Times on Line

A middle-aged mother of three and a warm-hearted man called Harold are a long way from the image most Americans have of their top spies in one of the wildest regions of Afghanistan.

But they will be among the seven stars added this week to the 90 on the Memorial Wall at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, after a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven agents and wounded six at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan. The attack has thrown the CIA’s whole strategy into disarray.

The clandestine nature of the agents’ work means the stars carry no names. The few details that have emerged since Wednesday’s attack have, however, lifted the veil on the most shadowy aspect of the war in Afghanistan.

The bombing took place at Forward Operating Base Chapman in the volatile province of Khost, which borders Pakistan. The area is dominated by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin, perhaps Afghanistan’s most deadly warlords.

Although Chapman was officially a camp for civilians involved in reconstruction, it was well-known locally as a CIA base. Over the past couple of years, it focused on gathering information on so-called high-value targets for drone attacks, the unmanned missile planes that have played a growing role in taking out suspected terrorists since President Barack Obama took office. The Haqqanis were their principal target.

“That far forward they were almost certainly from the CIA’s paramilitary rather than analysts,” said one agent.

The head of this intelligence-gathering operation was a mother of three. Although the Chapman base chief has not been named, she was described as a loving mother and an inspiration by a fellow CIA mum.

“She was a dear friend and a touchstone to all of the mums in CTC [counter-terrorism],” she said.

Another CIA official said the base chief had worked on Afghanistan and counter-terrorism for years, dating back to the agency’s so-called Alec Station. That unit was created to monitor Osama Bin Laden five years before the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Wednesday’s bomb wiped away decades of experience. Eight years into the war, the agency is still desperately short of personnel who speak the language or are knowledgeable about the region.

“It’s a devastating blow,” said Michael Scheuer, a former agent and head of Alec Station. “We lost an agent with 14 years’ experience in Afghanistan.”

A CIA investigation is under way into how the bomber was able to circumvent security at the base, apparently passing unchecked through an outer perimeter manned by Afghan contractors to enter the gym and detonate his explosive vest. He was said to be wearing Afghan army uniform, but the Afghan Ministry of Defence has denied he was a member of the security forces.

What is clear, given the number of CIA agents at the meeting, is that he was considered an important informant. One agent had flown in specially from Kabul.

The only victim to have been publicly identified was Harold Brown, a 37-year-old father of three, whose mother Barbara thought he worked for the State Department.

“He wanted to make the world a better place,” she said, recounting how he would take clothes outgrown by his two-year-old and give them to Afghan children. She added that he often told her: “My most important things in life are God, my family and my country.”

The attack has left the agency in a quandary, according to Gary Berntsen, a CIA officer for 23 years who led a team to Tora Bora to try to capture Bin Laden.

“The job is gathering human intelligence and for that you have to meet people whether it’s on or off a facility,” he said.

“In the old days when we were running Russian operations, if you had a double agent the worst that happened was he feeds you false information. These days if you have a double agent he detonates in your face.”

The attack raises fresh doubts about coalition plans to turn over security to Afghans to enable western troops to leave.

“This calls into question the whole strategy of using Afghans to guard the perimeter of camps,” said Scheuer.

Both the Afghan and Pakistan Taliban have claimed credit for the attack. The Afghan Taliban said one of their men had infiltrated the Afghan army; the Pakistani group said the bomber was a CIA informer who had switched sides.

One military official said the bombing may have been retaliation for a US push against the Haqqani network. American officials have been putting pressure on Pakistan to send troops to take on the Haqqanis, but the Pakistani military has refused to comply.

The Haqqani network is also thought to have been behind Friday’s bombing at a volleyball match at Shah Hassan Khel in Pakistan in which 96 villagers were killed. The attack is believed to be in revenge for the formation of an anti-Taliban militia. More than 600 people have died in bombings in Pakistan since last October.

_____________________________


Jordan spy among 8 killed at CIA Afghan base: report
WASHINGTON : Monday, 04 January 2010 11:58
Malaysian Mirror

WASHINGTON - The eighth man killed in a suicide bomb attack on a secret CIA base in Afghanistan last week was a captain in the Jordanian spy service known as the General Intelligence Department (GID), The Washington Post reported.


The official Jordanian news agency Petra identified the man as Ali bin Zeid, saying that he was killed "on Wednesday evening as a martyr while performing the sacred duty of the Jordanian forces in Afghanistan."

The agency provided no further details about his death in the bombing that also claimed the lives of seven US intelligence operatives. But the US newspaper said it provided a "rare window into a partnership" between the US and Jordanian intelligence service, in which Jordan is playing an increasingly vital role in the fight against Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Jordanians are particularly prized for their skill in both interrogating captives and cultivating informants, owing to an unrivaled "expertise with radicalized militant groups and Shia/Sunni culture," Jamie Smith, a former CIA officer who worked in the border region in the years immediately after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, is quoted by The Post as saying.

"They know the bad guy's ... culture, his associates, and more about the network to which he belongs," he said.


Current and former US intelligence officials said the special relationship with Jordan dates back at least three decades and has recently progressed to the point that the CIA liaison officer in Amman enjoys full, unescorted access to GID headquarters, according to the report.

The close ties helped disrupt several known terrorist plots, including the thwarted 2000 "millennium" conspiracy to attack tourists at hotels and other sites, the paper pointed out.

Jordanians also provided US officials with communications intercepts in summer 2001 that warned of terrorist plans to carry out a major attack on the United States, The Post said.

After the September 11, 2001, attacks, Jordan agreed to create a bilateral operations center with the CIA and helped in interrogations of non-Jordanian suspects captured by the US Central Intelligence Agency and transferred to Jordan in now-famous "rendition" flights, the paper noted.

--AFP






175 comments:

  1. MSNBC is reporting that the taliban bomber was a Jordanian doctor used by the CIA to infiltrate al Qaeda. He had notifed the CIA station chief that he had urgent news and needed an immediate meeting with the CIA station.

    The CIA outpost thought it was news about the wearabouts of OBL.

    The Taliban has infiltrated the CIA and killed key CIA employees and assets on the war on terror.

    The suicide bomber was not someone mired in poverty. He was a doctor from what is thought to be a modern Arab country.

    How are things going on the war on terror?

    It is worse, far far worse than many have thought. The war between Islam and the west has nothing to do with poverty.

    The days of denial should be coming to and end. Islam is the problem.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. They need to bring the CIA back inside the Military Bases. Where grownups can keep an eye on them, and protect them.

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  4. We need to be honest about who and what is the enemy...

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  5. It still stuns me that POTUS six days ago found it relevant to talk about grinding poverty and its relationship to the crotch bomber.

    At the same time a Jordanian doctor is a suicide bomber that infiltrates the CIA as a double agent.

    That is the level of understanding of the man who is our master and leader. He believes poverty is the source and see the world through marxist eyes.

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  6. Take away the "grinding poverty" meme, and you, real quick-like, end up on a road the libs don't want to travel.

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  7. Jeeze,
    I agree w/Rufus on
    Mon Jan 04, 07:39:00 AM EST
    and
    Mon Jan 04, 08:39:00 AM EST

    WTF is the World coming to?

    ...oh, that's right, we're not talking economics and the

    Freedom of Capitalism vis
    The Mirage of Socialist Utopia.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Doug, it suddenly occurred to me while reading your little sideswipe that I haven't drawn a "paycheck" since Dec, 1968. I probably have a nodding acquaintance with "the freedom" of Capitalism.

    ReplyDelete
  9. accompanied by a belief in the fantasy ponzi schemes of Govt delivered goods and services.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I agree w/the guy,
    and he picks nits!

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. He wuz "sideswipped"
    Soon he'll be joinin the
    al-Bobal Whining and Crying Team.

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  13. Your Times online piece seems to portray the good doctor as a victim, not a bomber.

    Who ya gonna trust,
    times online,
    or MessNBC?

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  14. (coulda hada link to said mess)
    :-)

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  15. The Sloth is almost unbarable sometimes.
    Elephant Bar, that is.

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. "The days of denial should be coming to and (sic) end.
    Islam is the problem.
    "
    ---
    ROP, Baby!
    We're stickin to it!
    PBUH!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Inside Obama’s War on Terrorism

    Recent threats have put more focus on the battles President Obama, pictured with his adviser John Brennan, faces fighting a far-flung terror network.

    On the White House: After Balmy Hawaii, Chilly Washington

    Americans Detained in Pakistan Deny Terror Plans

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  19. "A group of Somali extremists was reported to be coming across the border from Canada to detonate explosives as the new president took the oath of office.

    With more than a million onlookers viewing the ceremony from the National Mall and hundreds of millions more watching on television around the world, what could be a more devastating target?"

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  20. "COLUMBUS, Ohio - A former Navy Seal and an ex-police officer whose wife is expecting the couple's first child were among seven people killed in a suicide bombing attack targeting a CIA base in southeastern Afghanistan last week.

    Scott Michael Roberson, 39, was working as a security officer for the CIA when the blast on Dec. 30 rocked the remote outpost in Khost province, said his sister, Amy Messner of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

    The government notified his wife Wednesday of his death, Messner said, and the CIA has allowed them to make his death public."

    Found while trying to find Deuce's
    "link."

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  21. My little Colombian doggy - street mutt extraordinaire - is at the vet this morning getting her check-up for the flight to the US.

    My husband volunteered, as he usually does, to take her because the veterinary assistant, a lovely young lady, boasts "huge tracts of land."

    "What? They're just a...curiosity."

    We know, Esteven. We know.

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  22. Half a bottle of Bushmills. That's quite an endeavor, Linear.

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  23. Station Chief is the CIA head for the country and thus located in the capitol, most often but not always at the embassy in the Political Section (2). Sometimes declared, sometimes not.

    Then there are the little Chiefs of Base at the Agency outposts.

    FYI.

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  24. Deuce,

    Indeed, Islam is the problem, as some of us have tried pointing out for years.

    What is the solution? Certainly not more girls' schools.

    History offers glimpses, e.g. the Mongol capture of Baghdad. Rest assured, we will not go nearly that far...until a city is vaporized...that is just a matter of time.

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  25. President Obama Names Transgender Appointee to Commerce Department
    January 04, 2010 8:52 AM
    President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the
    Commerce Department.
    In a statement, Simpson, a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality's
    board of directors, said that "as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the
    federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens
    future opportunities for many others."
    A 2004 YWCA "Woman on the Move," Simpson recently served as Deputy Director in
    Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona.
    At Raytheon, Simpson -- a former test pilot who had worked for the company for more than a
    generation -- transitioned from male to female and was instrumental in convincing the military
    contractor to add gender identity and expression to its equal employment opportunity policy.
    She later ran unsuccessfully for Congress and was a delegate for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton,
    D-NY, to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.


    So if it's really all about the qualifications who cares that this "person" had his willy and nuts chopped off....

    Unless having your willy and nuts chopped shows your a looney?

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  26. The Jordanian was an intel officer.

    “This calls into question the whole strategy of using Afghans to guard the perimeter of camps,” said Scheuer.

    Bullshit. That's the one thing it doesn't call into question this time around, Michael.

    They didn't want him searched before entry into the base proper, he didn't get searched before entry into the base proper. ('We don't want to lose his trust.') And it must've been, like, his third or fourth searchless entry among his many visits.

    That's how he knew he could pull it off.

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  27. How about you never trust a Palestinian and search them no matter how many times you meet with them...

    This is why there is screening at most schools & governmental places, it's not an option...

    Metal detectors?

    Oh but that's not PC to search a trusted Palestinian...

    Will you ever learn you stupid stupid people?

    Palestinians are on earth for one purpose...

    MURDER OTHERS....

    I know I sound like a bigot, but what if i am right?

    and if I am wrong? you searched someone...

    who cares

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  28. If we accept the assertion that "Islam is the problem" so? What does that mean for our future behavior? Should we institute Islamic Internment Cmaps like we did for Japanese Americans?

    Really what, practically speaking, would it mean to accept the asserion that Islam is the problem?

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  29. He was spoon-feeding them good shit; the resulting strikes were successful.
    They thought they had surpassed the need to even pat him down and/or that he would as a trusted, hard-working source risking his life and the lives of his family members for you people (with a little added income) not take kindly to it and become reticent.

    And there again, depending on your location and your source, you can actually do that. Doing it in an active theater?

    That's just plain madness.

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  30. You can't do that, no matter the location. Not when you're up against Jihadists. And, not when you're dealing with Muslims. Ever.

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  31. If you're too PC to profile Muslims, then you have to "screen" everyone. Everyone. Team members, included. (you're eventually going to end up with a "Major Hasan" on your "team.")

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  32. We, XXXX, have been trying to work with these folk since the end of the 19th C.

    What have we learned? You can NEVER have a deal with them.

    As soon as possible, they change the rules. How do you know the rules have been changed? You're dead.

    Here's a thought: Rather than constantly worrying about proportionality and rationality, just go ballistic. What would that mean in this instance? The towns and villages of the offending clan should now be smoldering. They will GET it, then. As it is, as this is written, they are having a hoedown.

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  33. Ash said...
    If we accept the assertion that "Islam is the problem" so? What does that mean for our future behavior? Should we institute Islamic Internment Cmaps like we did for Japanese Americans?


    I could ONLY DREAM!!!

    No Ash, sadly we will not do to the moslems as they have done to others..

    after all in the arab - islamic world they have practically driven out all others...

    maybe that will be the plan, but not as now...

    no, moslems should be interviewed and screened when boarding public transportation (along with any others that fit profiles)

    as for the problem with Islam? the solution is simple, nuke the keba...

    Islam needs to be forced to reform...

    destroy one of the 5 pillars of islam and require it to change or die...

    Islam is not compatible with gays, jews, christians, pagans, wicans, atheists, porn stars, hippies, bisexuals, whores, dog breeders, pork eaters and more...

    ANd that's not even mentioning beer and scotch lovers...

    no islam is the problem, maybe we need to recruit islamic gals for a new hooters calender?

    Personally I vote for forcing the islamic world to allow porn, pork and booze emporiums or they should not be allowed in the west...

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  34. I see the board of directors has been taken down is that an error or just punishment for being naughty?

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  35. allen said...
    We, XXXX, have been trying to work with these folk since the end of the 19th C.

    What have we learned? You can NEVER have a deal with them.



    Allen, Allen, Allen.... Where have I gone wrong... we xxx's have been dealing with these folks since our great great great grand daddy knocked up the maid...

    come on... pull your head out....

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  36. Seems I am do for a promotion...

    maybe Silver Oak Clusters, 2 stars?

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  37. When the board comes back up I don't want to see my name on it. I don't want to post to the EB or the BC anymore.

    Nothing against anyone here.

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  38. Okay, who had Jan 4 in the "Teresita Quits" Pool?

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  39. PC had nothing to do with it at Chapman. Disregard for or a cavalier attitude toward physical security, and the desire not to dampen a fruitful relationship, did.

    In another location, in another time, individuals wanted to bring a promising so-and-so from this or that NGO onto the compound. "Are you out of your fucking mind?" was the gist of the reply. "Take him someplace else."

    And you may have been working with the Font of All Knowledge for five years. If Font of All Knowledge enters your working abode, Font of All Knowledge gets a thorough pat down. By you, buddy.



    "The towns and villages of the offending clan should now be smoldering."

    We usually go on the warpath after an incident like this.

    I'll say it again: They're not impressed anymore. It has utterly lost its shock value. And AQ and Co. has long since learned how to play it.

    Executing the combatants on our own patches of combat zone territory - not handing this job over to the host nation like we do - that'd make a fresh impression.

    Up close and coldly personal.

    I maintain that's the way to go.

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  40. trish said...

    "I'll say it again: They're not impressed anymore."

    Trish, with all due respect, aQ and the Tally have NEVER seen this side of us because we have refused to admit we have such a side.

    If we have ever retaliated with full vigor during the past eight years, I am unaware.

    No, trish, these guys know they will get away with it. The average aboriginal knows they will get away with it. The strong horse wins.

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  41. "Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.

    snip

    In 1962, as part of the Model Penal Code, the institute created the modern framework for the death penalty, one the Supreme Court largely adopted when it reinstituted capital punishment in Gregg v. Georgia in 1976. Several justices cited the standards the institute had developed as a model to be emulated by the states.

    The institute’s recent decision to abandon the field was a compromise. Some members had asked the institute to take a stand against the death penalty as such. That effort failed.

    Instead, the institute voted in October to disavow the structure it had created “in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment.” "

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/us/05bar.html?hp

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  42. Okay, let me put it a different way.

    Within our own political parameters, which will no longer, it is true, allow for the *mass* bombing of civilian populations, our air ops have ceased to have a desirable psychological effect. They do their indispensible job covering us and sometimes our friends - and deliver small doses of catharsis for the people on the ground - but that's about it.

    Given what is an extreme reluctance on the part of ANY US political leadership to broaden, at the hazard of our most cherished Good Guy status, the scope of retaliation, we are going to have to look to other activities.

    And my suggestion is that we look, not at larger populations in this case, but at the individual - who is cooling his heels at Toon Town in Afghanistan.

    Start with him and run down that list. Make an issue of the whole LLW thing.

    Execute those who badly need it, publicize it, and watch the other side digest it.

    I don't think there is anyplace else where we have dicked ourselves more badly than on the candy-ass detainee issue. Those guys are piling up, paying (they are well aware) fuck-all for their role as unlawful combatants, as terrorists, as (What Is put it colorfully) goat-fucking scum.

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  43. bob said...
    It's all my fault.


    naw it's the xxxx's

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  44. "Yemen's patronage system has held the country together for several decades but oil production in Yemen is falling now, which means there's less and less money to go round, and that's creating an economic crisis with multiple political implications."

    And this has what to do with a Nigerian national attempting to destroy an American plane over Detroit?

    Could it be.......Satan!?

    Yemen kills rebels it says behind threat to U.S. embassy

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  45. trish,

    A couple bad boys were killed in Yemen this morning. It will change nothing because a COUPLE bad boys were killed in Yemen this morning.

    As to the US ever executing or allowing the execution of bad boys under our control or the control of our "allies", there's is not a snowball's chance of that happening.

    Consequently, until we are well and royally had (major casualty incident surpassing by orders of magnitude 9/11) nothing is going to change.

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  46. so, if nothing is to change, why keep at it? Isn't that a definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting a different result? Maybe it's time to change course, a lot?

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  47. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  48. Allen, it's not that a couple were killed and that it's only a couple among tens of thousands. And it probably wasn't even the Yemenis that did it. It's the samo-samo in the manner of it.

    My dad had for years under the glass on his desk an old black and white photo of a middle-aged man in a business suit being blindfolded by a US soldier prior to execution.

    Imagine seeing a similar photo now, on jihadi websites.

    "...there's is not a snowball's chance of that happening."

    Slightly better odds than digging up the rotting corpse of Curtis LeMay and giving him a seat at the big table.

    Slightly.

    I have my own problems with the attitude of "dreary, dreary, the US has to bite the big one before the obvious and effective is undertaken."

    That's an old BC-ism and I'm glad as hell we left the potted plants and cocktail tables behind.

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  49. …with friends like these,

    “According to Yemeni media, it comes after six trucks full of weapons and explosives entered the capital, and the security forces lost track of the vehicles.”

    As I was saying, the current method of dealing with these people is mortally flawed.

    Embassies shut after 'Yemen lost track of arms trucks'

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  50. And, yes, bob. It's all your fault.

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  51. A man
    Must learn to
    Move like the wind


    They are all gone now
    The old ones I loved so well
    A man must move like the wind

    Where are they now
    Those ones I loved so well
    And those I don't even know
    They are gone

    A man must learn to move like the wind

    So I rise and move
    That's what a man must do

    The Hindu word for world
    I have read
    Translates as
    It moves, it moves

    O it moves

    That's the meaning of it
    In Hindu
    Yet, they also know
    A center remains
    Of the moving wind

    A man must learn to move like the moving wind

    ----

    The wife and I are heading south next week, through Vegas. Our southern route, to Ohio. Our winter route.

    We've been putting this off for a long long time.

    I've noticed something here. While she used to piss and moan, bout me and the Casino, now she kinda likes it, her and her fifty dollars.

    I must keep an eye on this, as she does me. Lest it get out of control.

    Daughter can manaage things here, for awhile.

    She's a wonderful person to travel with, my wife. She loves the landscape flowing past, as do I.

    o melody

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  52. My grandmother loves casinos, loves late nights, loves Vegas. My grandfather never did but a group of them, all old, old friends went to Vegas together some years ago.

    My grandmother learned to have a good time without my grandfather.

    My grandfather continued to fish.

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  53. trish said...

    "I have my own problems with the attitude of 'dreary, dreary, the US has to bite the big one before the obvious and effective is undertaken.'"

    Given the performance of international security apparati and the US administration's subsequent resolve following the Nigerian youth's incendiary caper over Detroit, without doubt you are correct. :)

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  54. Which is not to say they didn't like traveling together.

    THAT, they liked.

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  55. "Coincidences all? Perhaps, but maybe someone should be connecting the dots."

    Connecting the terror dots

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  56. ''We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism...''

    "...authorities say the men had a map of Chashma Barrage -- a complex located near nuclear power facilities that includes a water reservoir and other structures..."

    US Suspect in Pakistan Defends 'Jihad' Plans

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  57. Sorry, What Is.

    That was "dog-humping scum."

    Which, in the spirit of the Mad Tea Party, gave me a huge laugh that day.

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  58. My grandfather continued to fish.

    Smart grandfather. It's what I like best.

    Though I've fished in the pond of despond on occasion, the Wenaha always gets me up.

    I know that river. It is so beautiful, up there a ways.

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  59. My grandfather would, with his fishing buddies, endure the most miserable conditions, days of profitlessness, any number of unforeseen things, to fish.

    Just to fish.

    He was also the most delightfully patient and blessedly forgiving person that ever walked the earth.

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  60. Am I wrong
    Fishing this pool of despond
    At the Bar
    Some told me
    Fish the current
    The cool cold dark current
    Where the river runs fast
    Fast it runs
    Moving
    Try there
    Behind a rock
    Hard to get to
    Sweat, arms and muscles
    Balanced, o so balanced, trying to fight
    The current
    Getting there is half the task
    But o that river is beautiful
    Out in the current there

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  61. Nigeria has criticised new security measures for passengers flying to and from the United States as unfair and said they amounted to discrimination against 150 million people.

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  62. I'm trying to play catch-up. What happened to Ms. T?

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  63. She had a bad day here and at the BC yesterday.

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  64. Miss T, I think she may have gotten pissed at me, but I ain't certain.

    Maybe all my poems and crap, fianlly ticked her off.

    While I can't blame her, I do hope she comes back.

    No one would want to put up with me, for an extended period of time.

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  65. Deuce said...

    "they amounted to discrimination against 150 million people."

    Mon Jan 04, 03:34:00 PM EST

    Among which at least 75 million are Muslim, with the northern 12 provinces practicing Islamic law.

    The new policy is an overreaction and of little practical value, given the recent complete breakdown of the system. All this will accomplish is a great deal more paper shuffling at a time when resources could be better used to monitor real threats.

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  66. Yemen gets real money for real threats.

    Inconvenienced travelers? A whole lotta noise.

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  67. I read the whole thread, yesterday; and I didn't see anything that I thought should be "upsetting."

    What did I miss?

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  68. What if she had Doug chewing on her ass all day long, like I do?

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  69. That may have done it, Rufus.

    I can almost understand that.

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  70. she's, um fickle. I was guessing, even before she quit, that emails were flying privately to her 'co-proprietors' about her posts getting stepped on or something like that.

    maybe the blow-up stuff got deleted...






    Anyway, Deuce, are you happy with the admins move to apply more scrutiny to folk from those targeted countries? Isn't that what you were advocating the other day or is the net not cast wide enough?

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  71. Everybody has Doug chewing on their ass all day long. I'm surprised he hasn't been hired for something.

    No, I think it was that she feels unable to make a contribution in the way that she would like.

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  72. Re: T

    Was it some sort of esoteric "girl" thing? Did string theory play any role?

    ReplyDelete
  73. :)

    Maybe.

    :)

    But I want T back.

    I miss her.

    But not as much as Melody, if she were to go.

    Then, I'd blow my brains out, and that's a real threat.

    And, you can clean it up.

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  74. Thankfully none of us are going to have to clean it up, bob.

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  75. bob,

    I thought T was doing a fine job.

    If she is gone, it is all your fault!

    :)

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  76. bob,

    Re: "blow my brains out"

    bob, were I to do such a thing, a shotgun would be necessary to hit the target.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I need to lurk more frequently. What in the Hell happened? T's gone, Bob is threatening suicide and telling everyone to F off.

    Next think I know, Ash will be agreeing with me.....

    ReplyDelete
  78. Hold on to that thought, Gag.

    ReplyDelete
  79. If they shot an "intelligence-seeking" missile into the EB the poor thing would fizzle out, and die.

    ReplyDelete
  80. bob,

    Re: correction

    A Browning Auto-5 would be necessary to hit the target.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Gag Reflex said...

    "Ash will be agreeing with me"

    Only on Fridays having a blue moon.

    ReplyDelete
  82. I watch the Discovery channel. They have these contracted teams for clean-up...

    ReplyDelete
  83. I say this about Hemingway.

    He was a truly great guy.

    A great guy.

    But when the time comes, and the flow of writing is no longer there, and that's your life, you should do as he did.

    No rest home for Ernest Hemingway.

    Which is right, just and true.

    YOU BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT IN THE YARD, NOT IN THE HOUSE, FOR MARY TO CLEAN UP

    Christ, all over the wall, he made a mistake there.

    But, I forgive him.

    We have a Hemingway Society in my home town here, which I didn't know about, till my daughter clued me in.

    They publish a quarterly, all filled with Hem stuff.

    I didn't know that, till now.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I had nothing to do with whoever left!!!
    Ass chewing?
    Guilty as charged!

    ReplyDelete
  85. Trish, Don't worry I don't scare that easy. But I know a good clean up crew if needed. Real cheap, too.

    ReplyDelete
  86. It's always been all your fault, al-Doug!

    ReplyDelete
  87. So has it been confirmed that the Doc was the bomber?

    ReplyDelete
  88. O my, have I fallen for a Vixen, in the good sense, or a witch, to wash me away with a hose?

    ReplyDelete
  89. MLD,
    Tell em I have not harmed you!
    It's true!
    Bob's threatening thoughts OTOH!...

    ReplyDelete
  90. So has it been confirmed that the Doc was the bomber?

    ReplyDelete
  91. bob,

    Ummmmmmm...You just might get hosed.

    ReplyDelete
  92. You didn't mention it was a woman driving, MLD.
    Just sayin.

    ReplyDelete
  93. So has it been confirmed that the Doc was the bomber?

    ReplyDelete
  94. I'll WEAR your asses down today!

    ReplyDelete
  95. Carborundum and all that jazz.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Ok, Messnbc is still sayin it's the doc.
    Probly true.
    Thanks anyway!

    ReplyDelete
  97. I'm going back to bed.

    I can't stand it no longer.

    Thinking is a bitch.

    ReplyDelete
  98. doug,

    Re: CIA bomber and chaos theory

    If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, a Palestinian will detonate himself (neuter gender) in Afghanistan.

    Nothing can be done; it's simply improbable probability, something like flipping 20 consecutive heads.

    ReplyDelete
  99. bob, if your going to whack yourself can I have your single malt scotch and any legos you may own?

    ReplyDelete
  100. A 3rd uninvited guest got into White House dinner

    Amazing!

    Perhaps that intelligence seeking missile can make a pass through the White House when finished probing the EB.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Nothing was deleted, no one had a problem with T. We enjoyed her wit and intelligence and appreciated her efforts to keep the threads going.

    And if she is seeking a barkeep job at another blog joint, a letter of reference is hers for the asking.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Anyone with a hydraulic piano...well you know...is okay in my book and will overlook any misconception of any said wrong doing.

    ReplyDelete
  103. I guess we are all prone to dreaming up all sorts of behind the scenes reality for the characters at this here bar...must be the spirits.

    ReplyDelete
  104. bob, the poetry is good. Very good.

    ReplyDelete
  105. I'm referring to the fishing poem.

    ReplyDelete
  106. What is "Occupation" said...

    bob, if your going to whack yourself can I have your single malt scotch and any legos you may own?

    LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  107. Bob sure climbs into bed @ odd hours.
    Might be causin those suicidal bouts of depression.
    Or vice-versa.
    ...or maybe it just happens as English majors experience senility.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Can't we all just get along?

    Yes Ash, Obama pays close attention to what goes on at the EB and particularly all my posts and comments.

    As to stepping on posts. The posts have to be either comment driven or news driven. There are many posts that Whit and I have written , hundreds, that never get posted. Events happen and if they are more interesting than what is up there, they get stepped on.

    Sometimes the order of post gets changed. That is show business.

    T got some very good threads and I welcomed her participation. Whatever her reasons for leaving. I doubt they had anything to do with anyone's comments.

    Bob, if you need to talk to me, send an email to whit and he will email you my number. I encourage you to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Bob, if you need to talk to me, send an email to whit and he will email you my number. I encourage you to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Bob, if you need to talk to me, send an email to whit and he will email you my number. I encourage you to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Speaking of neuter gender, Allen, wouldn't a compassionate society manage to come up with a new pair for that unfortunate traveler from Kenya?

    ReplyDelete
  112. You're the one that thinks they have to repeat things for the old man, Deuce!

    ReplyDelete
  113. Steve Martin wrote a play long ago about a meeting of Eienstein and Picasso.
    He says it's still being performed.

    ReplyDelete
  114. 2 Dead in Las Vegas Courthouse Shooting
    A gunman killed a security officer and wounded a deputy U.S. marshal in the lobby of the Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas, and was then fatally shot.

    Apparently, no Palis were involved, but several sympathetic detonations were felt on that other strip.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Doug said...

    "Speaking of neuter gender, Allen, wouldn't a compassionate society manage to come up with a new pair for that unfortunate traveler from Kenya?"

    Mon Jan 04, 05:59:00 PM EST



    As a compassionate conservative (as opposed to conservatives generally) I am in favor of doing whatever it takes to pare for a pair for our unfortunate Nigerian visitor.

    As a compassionate conservative, I know that you will be the first to queue up for tissue compatibility testing.

    As Deuce has said, "Can't we all just get along?"

    Being judgmental is mean.

    ReplyDelete
  116. Are you effing kidding me. The police officer from that accident just said it's still under investigation as to who is at fault the principal or the pedestrian.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Okay PMS is over.

    Doug: Steve Martin wrote a play long ago about a meeting of Eienstein and Picasso.
    He says it's still being performed.


    I heard that too a few days ago, on the radio. Glenn Beck?

    ReplyDelete
  118. Okay, who had the bet she would come back the same day?

    And, I need the secret of how you get rid of that PMS so fast.

    ReplyDelete
  119. Cherry Juice, MLD.
    Well named, I might add.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Nah, I heard him on Miller, T.
    Glen Beck's insanity is too close to mine for comfort.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Is it just me or does this place bizarrely get under your skin.

    Welcome back.

    ReplyDelete
  122. "At this point, we believe it was a lone gunman, a criminal act, not a terrorist act,” Mr. Dickey said.

    Terrorism didn't occur until I read that.

    ReplyDelete
  123. "The United States hiked its counterterrorism aid to Saleh's government, from none in 2008 to $67 million last year — an amount Washington says will double in 2010."

    US takes risk on Yemen president to fight al-Qaida

    Yes, I can see this working out for the best...

    ReplyDelete
  124. Oh! I heard the other day that one of the biggest problems facing our elders is gambling addiction. I believe the number is that one out of ten seniors develops a gambling problem.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Bob,

    Be sure and let the missus know my email address. I'll make her a good offer on your old Ford and your fly rods.

    LT

    ReplyDelete
  126. Need money? Broke? Restive natives? We can help you get access to millions or billions of US dollars. Call us @ 1-800-rag-head to learn more about the generous grants and aid now available from Uncle Obama.

    ReplyDelete
  127. I'll make her a good offer on your old Ford and your fly rods.

    LT


    LOL
    again

    ReplyDelete
  128. I believe the number is that one out of ten seniors develops a gambling problem.

    So true. My problem is what to do with all my winnings.

    To say nothing of the women...once they sense a winner, you never get any peace.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  129. Gambling addiction played an additional role in the old man's "problems."

    ReplyDelete
  130. ...also reduced the amount of odds and ends the missus had to get rid of for the deceased.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Gotta get to bed. It was a long night and a busy day.

    Needing buttermilk.

    Later, y'all.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  132. whit,

    Two backwater terrorist havens should have been getting a great deal of attention over these past eight years, Somalia and Yemen.

    The US provided no funding to Yemen in 2008...ZERO...ZIP...NADA...

    Is the president (gross misnomer) of Yemen an all-round cowboy? No. But then how about the Saudis, Afghanis, Iraqis, etc, etc, etc.

    Here is a novel idea: Why don't we just kill bad guys on our own account?

    ReplyDelete
  133. Bob's, just fine. He's taking a road trip with his wife...to Ohio. Maybe he thinks it's warmer there.

    ReplyDelete
  134. Female Marines Reach Out to Afghan Women

    I bet they don't carry Bibles or wear religious insignia either...as the matter of respect mind you...

    ReplyDelete
  135. "The Marines wear headscarves as a sign of respect."

    Yep, respect is important. Wonder where the US can buy some?

    ReplyDelete
  136. Least I have a reason to get into a snit.

    When I do.

    It's always about Melody.

    Melody, I want you to know, Linear was the guy brought me back.

    He sent me an e-mail, come back bob, Melody is moaning, etc., so I did. Where's bob where's bob etc.

    And, I'm damned glad I did.

    Linear is a great guy, even if I was little pissed lately.

    Linear is great, actually.

    Like you, Melody, though I'm not supposed to ssy that here, any longer.

    ReplyDelete
  137. So I came back, like
    Achilles on the beach, don't fuck with my honey.

    EVER.

    :)

    Never never ever ever ever, you know better than that

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  138. "The number believed to have “returned to the fight” in the May 2009 estimate was double that of a US estimate from June 2008. US officials acknowledged that more detainees were known to have reoffended since, but the number has been classified."

    Freed Guantánamo inmates are heading for Yemen to join al-Qaeda fight

    CLASSIFIED

    To protect whom?

    ReplyDelete
  139. I'm gonna try to not get in a snit this whole year long.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Except for the muzzies, of course, who dis women.

    ReplyDelete
  141. Ha'aretz - Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff - ‎1 hour ago‎

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed cautious optimism yesterday that talks with the Palestinians will soon resume.

    "In recent weeks, I've had the impression there is a certain change in atmosphere, and I hope that a maturation that would enable the negotiating process to move forward has occurred"

    ReplyDelete
  142. Miller, that's what it was. We heard the same show Doug.

    Allen: The US provided no funding to Yemen in 2008...ZERO...ZIP...NADA...

    I own a skycraper in Dubai I can let you have cheap.

    The FY09 request for assistance to Yemen nearly doubles the total amount granted in FY08, from $17.6 million to $33.8 million, surpassing the highest previous amount of funding granted to Yemen, $29.1 million in FY 2005.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Re:

    "In recent weeks, I've had the impression there is a certain change in atmosphere, and I hope that a maturation that would enable the negotiating process to move forward has occurred"

    Mon Jan 04, 08:28:00 PM EST


    And next year I hope Santa brings me this:

    12ft goodie

    ReplyDelete
  144. heh, when I was up in Coeur d'Alene recently, with the daughter to see the lights, she gave me an Elephant cigarette dispenser.

    You load it up from the top, where raja would sit, then, when you want a smoke, you press the tusks down, and out comes a cigarette from the elephants ass.

    Just what I needed for
    Christmas, the true satisfaction of my heart's desire.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  145. T,

    Opinions vary on Yemen, dear T.

    US takes risk on Yemen president to fight al-Qaida

    "The United States hiked its counterterrorism aid to Saleh's government, from none in 2008 to $67 million last year — an amount Washington says will double in 2010."

    I'm sure you can find a place for your skyscrapper.

    ReplyDelete
  146. To the Congress of the United States:

    Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which a court of law may very well determine will live in infamy - the United States of America was allegedly attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

    The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

    Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons allegedly had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

    It will be recorded that owing to the distance of Hawaii from Japan it will be alleged in a court of law that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government allegedly sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

    The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Four of the eight battleships in Pearl Harbor were sunk at the pier, allegedly by Japanese torpedo-bombers. But our three fleet carriers in the Pacific escaped harm. The system worked.

    Although I believe this alleged attack was an isolated incident, yesterday, the Japanese government also allegedly launched an attack against Malaya.

    Last night, Japanese forces allegedly attacked Hong Kong.

    Last night, Japanese forces allegedly attacked Guam.

    Last night, Japanese forces allegedly attacked the Philippine Islands.

    Last night, the Japanese allegedly attacked Wake Island.

    This morning, the Japanese allegedly attacked Midway Island.

    Japan has, therefore, allegedly undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. But America is not blameless in this matter. Our oil embargo against the Japanese, undertaken to punish them for violating a treaty governing the number of ships in the Pacific, may have caused Japanese militants to allegedly engage in this allegedly violent activism.

    We must remember that Shinto is a peaceful religion. Americans have no quarrel with the Japanese people, nor with their military, nor with the government allegedly under their control. Blame for this alleged attack rests solely with His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan. Therefore, as commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have appointed a special prosecutor who will try Emperor Hirohito in absentia.

    Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. For the alleged attack would have been prevented if our signals intelligence personnel had been able to glean information about the alleged movement of the Japanese fleet. But the Imperial fleet, under direction from the Emperor, allegedly resorted to the shameful expedient of obscuring their attack in code.

    No matter how long it may take us to overcome this allegedly premeditated invasion , the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory over wartime codes.

    Hostilities exist. Mistakes were made on our side, and allegedly on the Japanese side too. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph over enemy cryptology - so help us God.

    I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the tactic of encrypting information about ship's movements.

    ReplyDelete
  147. According to the 2010 Statistical Abstract From 2000 through 2008, Yemen received $644 million in grants and credits from the United States.

    ReplyDelete
  148. US push feeds Yemen's gun culture

    ...from Asia Times on military aid to Yemen...

    "Between 2002 and 2008, Yemen received some US$69 million in US military aid..."

    ReplyDelete
  149. Correction, Yemen received only $188 million in that time frame.

    ReplyDelete
  150. whit,

    The report I first linked speaks to COUNTER-TERRORISM funding.

    USAid provides funding to "democracy building", for example. Yemeni coffee also gets a boost from Uncle Sam, I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
  151. Wikipedia - Economy of Yemen

    I don't think a lack of money is the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  152. Song I'd been looking for earlier:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmNTAvnSais&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
  153. That is excellent, T. Allegedly.

    ReplyDelete
  154. Is Esteven your little doggie, Trish?

    ReplyDelete
  155. A man was driving when he saw the flash of a traffic camera.
    He figured that his picture had been taken for exceeding the limit,
    even though he knew that he was not speeding ...
    Just to be sure, he went around the block and passed the same spot,
    driving even more slowly, but again the camera flashed.

    Now he began to think that this was quite funny,
    so he drove even slower as he passed the area again,
    but the traffic camera again flashed.

    He tried a fourth time with the same result.

    He did this a fifth time and was now laughing when the camera flashed as he rolled past, this time at a snail's pace...

    Two weeks later, he got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt..

    You can't fix stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  156. whit said...

    "I don't think a lack of money is the problem."

    That certainly is an opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  157. LOL!

    Senor Esteven is my dear husband.

    ReplyDelete
  158. Today at work, I asked a young lady how her holidays went and if she had seen her father who I know is retired Marine living in San Diego.

    She said no, she doesn't speak to her father.

    I said, well, you need to do something about that.

    "Not in this life time," she said.

    Okaaaaaaaay! :0

    ReplyDelete
  159. A U.S. intelligence official said the CIA constantly tries to guard against double agents. "Preventing the double cross is something that is as old as the agency itself," the official said.

    A former senior intelligence official said that al Qaeda had attempted to run double agents against the CIA prior to 9/11, but such efforts appeared to trail off after the 2001 offensive in Afghanistan that drove them into the tribal regions of Pakistan.

    "When you're on the run, you don't have time to sit back and run a double agent."


    Double Agent

    ReplyDelete