Eclipsed from the headlines by the ongoing carnage, there is an active
civil resistance in Iraq that opposes the occupation, the torture regime
it protects, and the jihadi and Ba'athist 'resistance' alike.
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 23:40.
Plans for a "virtual fence" are already in the works along some stretches of the border, with the contract going to Boeing Co. under the government's $2.5 billion Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet). The project envisions a necklace of 1,800 towers equipped with cameras and sensors along the borders with both Mexico and Canada. Boeing has suggested flying a camera-equipped, truck-mounted, 10-pound drone called the Skylark that Israeli forces have already used to track suspects. The company also proposes a variety of ground-based sensors, including underground seismic sensors and tower-mounted motion and heat detectors that have been used against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. (WP, Sept. 21)
But some federal lawmakers are skeptical, arguing that before the Homeland Security Department pays for a the program, it needs to assure that it works. They've particularly raised questions about SBINet's flagship "Project 28"—meant to secure a 28-mile section of the border near Sasabe, AZ. But Project 28 has been hampered by delays.
At an Oct. 24 hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee's Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee, testimony from Homeland Security indicated that the hyper-sensitive sensors were being activated by rain drops.
Wrote Committe chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie Thompson (D-MS) in a Dec. 6 letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff: "Around the time of the aforementioned October hearing, we began to hear suggestions that Project 28 was just a 'demonstration project' or a 'test bed' for future technologies. If, as it appears now, the technological problems encountered are such that Project 28 has become more of a technology 'test bed' than a new operational tool for the Border Patrol, the department needs to direct this directly." (Federal Computer Week, Dec. 6)
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The inconvenient facts and unanswered questions surrounding the attacks are legion, but the endemic sloppiness of the self-styled "researchers" is delegitimizing the entire project of critiquing the "official version." The ostentatiously named "Truth movement" is not clearing the air, but muddying the water.
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WAR AT THE CROSSROADS
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The Balkan region is intensely multicultural - a point of crossroads and clash for some of the world's major religions, cultural spheres, and economic systems. While there have been vicious wars in Balkan history, these have taken place in the context of manipulation by imperial powers and the self-serving local leaders who cater to them.
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"Virtual" border fence questioned
Plans for a "virtual fence" are already in the works along some stretches of the border, with the contract going to Boeing Co. under the government's $2.5 billion Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet). The project envisions a necklace of 1,800 towers equipped with cameras and sensors along the borders with both Mexico and Canada. Boeing has suggested flying a camera-equipped, truck-mounted, 10-pound drone called the Skylark that Israeli forces have already used to track suspects. The company also proposes a variety of ground-based sensors, including underground seismic sensors and tower-mounted motion and heat detectors that have been used against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. (WP, Sept. 21)
But some federal lawmakers are skeptical, arguing that before the Homeland Security Department pays for a the program, it needs to assure that it works. They've particularly raised questions about SBINet's flagship "Project 28"—meant to secure a 28-mile section of the border near Sasabe, AZ. But Project 28 has been hampered by delays.
At an Oct. 24 hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee's Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee, testimony from Homeland Security indicated that the hyper-sensitive sensors were being activated by rain drops.
Wrote Committe chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie Thompson (D-MS) in a Dec. 6 letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff: "Around the time of the aforementioned October hearing, we began to hear suggestions that Project 28 was just a 'demonstration project' or a 'test bed' for future technologies. If, as it appears now, the technological problems encountered are such that Project 28 has become more of a technology 'test bed' than a new operational tool for the Border Patrol, the department needs to direct this directly." (Federal Computer Week, Dec. 6)