Antiwar.com Blog

Cryptome.org, the indispensable website for those who want to penetrate the U.S. government’s veil of secrecy, has gotten its hot little hands on a series of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) daily morning briefs, a weird mixture of the comical …

“8. (FOUO) WASHINGTON: Suspicious Individual. According to a concerned citizen, on 19 December, in Seattle, a possible Middle Eastern male approached the reporting individual, who was holding a yard sale. The individual asked about laptop computers with high speed capabilities and walkie talkies, stating he wished to purchase them for his friends overseas. The reporting citizen also noted that the individual had difficulty with driving; and understanding denominations of U.S. currency. (Concerned Citizen; HSOC 4824-04)”

… And the ominous:

“1. (FOUO) FLORIDA: ICE Agents Arrest Weapons Trafficker with Possible Ties to Terrorist Groups. According to ICE reporting, on 28 September, in Miami, ICE agents arrested a named individual for violations of the Arms Export Control Act. The named individual has been under investigation for his involvement with a South Florida-based weapons trafficking organization with alleged ties to several terrorist groups. Reportedly, the named individual was a primary supplier of ammunition and weapons to those terrorist organizations. (ICE Daily Summary Report, 28 Sep 04; HSOC 3628-04)”

As Cryptome points out, a good many of these briefs were available on the internet, via Google caches.

This is mind-boggling: is it really possible that the U.S. government still doesn’t get the internet?

Tip o’the hat to NPR.

Chris Matthews just called Andrew Sullivan “a cock-eyed optimist” for insisting that the Shi’ite-dominated Iraqi election is going to be a resounding success. He’s got the first syllable right….

I never thought I’d miss party-lining neocon Kate O’Beirne‘s absence from “Capital Gang,” but all i can say to Ramesh Ponnuru is: You got that right .

Remember the scary Chinese terrorists that were going to blow up Boston?

The FBI said a Chinese woman wanted in connection with an alleged terrorist plot against Boston has been in a U.S. Customs detention facility since November and doesn’t appear to have terrorist links.

No wonder they couldn’t find her! Now, maybe next time they’ll look in the dungeons first.

Here’s an interesting survey by the APME on the use of graphic photos, courtesy of Ryan at Dead Parrots Society. Here’s Ryan’s accompanying article: Readers, journalists struggle with same issues in publishing graphic photos.

Another APME survey to talk about, about the use of graphic photos in the news. This one was especially interesting, I think, because we asked readers and working journalists to take the same survey, giving us numbers and comments to compare. A copy of the original survey is still online, and my report on the findings is online. It probably goes without saying, but the survey contains graphic images, each of which was published by some outlets, and left unpublished by others.

To summarize the report: Both groups were presented with five photos — on subjects including tsunami devastation, American soldiers, and violence in Iraq — and then were asked to describe where (or if) they’d run the photo and why.

The survey is closed and the results available, but try taking the survey yourself and see how your choices stack up against the ones recorded.

News judgment and photographs

Why do they hate us?