Thanks drasto at Metapop for posting this link today. I followed the popdex link over to his blog and voila. "Another intelligence analyst who saw the writing on the wall [more inside]" This story, in conjuntion with our present 911 hearings and stories by Clark, well really now, don't you think that there is rather mounting and credible evidence that the US administration has been ingnoring vital information? Since Condi is not testifying, and I did watch the C-Span hearings thus far, Rumsfeld appeared incompetent, Clark appeared truthful, and the Bushies again try spin and character assassination to discredit. All part of a day's work, n'est ce pas?

http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8758
Ex-Spook Sirrs: Early Osama Call Got Her Ejected
by Gail Sheehy

"President George W. Bush has a bold plan: to gradually shift American intelligence operatives—now free from hunting down Saddam Hussein—to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden.

To Julie Sirrs, it’s a case of too little, too late. A former military analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ms. Sirrs was the first intelligence officer to report on the significance of Osama bin Laden moving his terrorist operation from the Sudan into Afghanistan. She wasn’t listened to five years ago, and though she’d like to speak before the Congressional 9/11 commission, it is unlikely that she will be listened to now. Her story is a tableau of tangled politics and internal wrangling that got in the way of vital intelligence-gathering leading up to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

To find Mr. bin Laden now, Ms. Sirrs said, "would be a huge symbolic victory for the U.S.

"But the fact he has been able to elude us for so long would allow any followers to spin his story as a martyr," she said. "Those roles have shifted to other people, so Al Qaeda could still go on very well without bin Laden."

Five years ago, Ms. Sirrs warned of an equally diabolical jihadi terrorist leader who also remains at large—Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Egyptian doctor, the chief military-operations planner for the Al Qaeda network, has become the movement’s mouthpiece while Osama is on the run. His most recent taped message, broadcast on Al-Jazeera last week and said to be authentic by the C.I.A., warned: "Bush, strengthen your defenses and your security measures, for the Islamic nation which sent you the legion of New York and Washington brigades has determined to send you legion after legion seeking death and paradise."

Ruling Another Step Toward Police State
Dan Gilmor's blog today

This tech author is also one of the best commentors on politics in America today. I've followed him for several years now. This story in his blog today I found through going to the technorati site (see link in the righthand column of this blog). Check the Current Events feature, also Cosmos.
http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/

AP: Court Opens Door To Searches Without Warrants.

"A federal appeals court has opened the door for police in Texas and two other states to search residences and buildings for evidence without a warrant -- a ruling strongly criticized by two dissenting justices. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled police do not need an arrest or search warrant to conduct a swift sweep of private property to ensure their safety.

The abuses this will encourage are just mind-boggling. The Bill of Rights? Liberty? Going, going..."

Just a quick peek at an image circulating the blog cosmos right now - and a reminder that the Democrats put on one great, rousing show tonight, carried live on C-Span, the Democrat Unity Convention. The speech by Jimmy Carter was the most passionate and blunt I've ever heard from him. Having met him in Plains, Georgia, it really thrilled me to see him speech his mind and his heart. Bill Clinton (not one of my favorite pols) gave another deeply-moving speech. It was remarkable to see the whole crowd and mood catch fire and burn with such a strong blaze. Closest thing I've seen in years to a group of assembled Democrats be a solid force and "immoveable object". The music - the music! What can I say? Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" was the song of the night and an able replacement for the Fleetwood Mac of Clinton years.

Would anyone like to compare the language use and body language too of the Democrat's celebration with that of the GOP the night before? I noticed right off that all the Democrats spoke as real people speak. And not those smirking platitudes and redundant one-liners of the Bushies. Celebration in order to for the possible stepping down of Tom DeLay. One blogger wrote today that he almost likes Bush when you set ole Tom against GW. Since DeLay is now outed on his campaign fundraising crimes, I wonder if the Bushies will tamp down their trumpeting of MoveOn.org's supposed violations of fundraising for issues ads? Glass houses, doncha know.