Edelweiss
12th June 2002, 16:03
Hollywood Leads Direction in the White House
The USA responded industriously at legend of the "dirty bomb" threat
By Rainer Rupp
For two weeks now a small atom bomb has exploded daily on well over 3000 American movie screens, with which terrorists bury half of Baltimore in debris and ash. The "dirty bomb" detonates several times per day, because so many Americans find the film "The Sum Of All Fears" so entertaining that it has already became number one at the box office.
There, also, the US government did not want to be inferior to this idea: On Monday, with his attendance in Moscow, the Christian fundamentalist John Ashcroft, Minister of Justice of the USA and thus also highest commander of the FBI, left his announcement to the international press that a planned terrorist attack with a so-called "dirty bomb" was recently prevented. By a "dirty bomb" it is meant a conventional bomb with a coat of strongly radioactive material. With the explosion of such a bomb there is no atomic nuclear chain reaction, but the radiating material is dissipated and can cause large health and economic damage, as large areas are contaminated for very long periods of time.
The presumed terrorist in question is the American citizen Jose Padilla, which accepted the Muslim name Abdullah Mujahir. So far, little is known about Mujahir. He was born in New York and has as a former member of a Chicago streetgang and has a criminal past with prison experience. Later he must have turned to the more radical forms of Islam, and have come in connection also with leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he was also trained, according to data by the FBI, as a bomb producer. Muhajir made himself adept over the technicalities and logistics of bomb making, as well as the added skill of spreading radiating material as far as possible with them. With the order of his Al-Qaida bosses to employ one in the United States, Muhajir returned to the USA, where he was arrested by the FBI on May 8 as he was coming from Pakistan to the airport in Chicago.
Many doubts already were voiced one day after the sensational arrest about whether or not Ashcroft had sufficient cause to arrest this suspected American terrorist. Even FBI boss Mueller had to grant in the meantime that any alleged assassination attempt and/or bombing planning was "in an early stage." And the FBI does not have any proof for terror plans, not even declarations of intent by the ones allegedly taking part. According to FBI boss Mueller, the investigation is still in a phase of discussions about "however one moves," and by that, how one acted.
Even agitator Paul Wolfowitz, in whose "custody" Muhajir is at present, said that "he gave still no plan." He added however, "We could stop the man in the planning stage." In other words, even without plans one can be arrested in the USA very quickly as a terrorist. Some wild, mad fantasies of a young man can be sufficient for arrest with the general hysteria stoked intentionally by the Bush administration, and thus to be named public enemy no. 1. Even now without proof it is clear that any American citizen can and will be sent away indefinitely without legal counsel or indictment before a court. Abdullah Mujahir, alias for Jose Padilla, is held as such now. He is an American citizen and as such has the right to appear before a court. But in the meantime, the US government cited a precedent from a decision of the Supreme Court from 1942, with which any accused American citizen can be justified as a "hostile combatant," who stands only in nothing but suspicion of co-operating in the enemies of the USA.
First published by German newspaper Junge Welt (http://www.jungewelt.de).
http://www.jungewelt.de/2002/06-12/001.php
Translated using Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com), revised.
The USA responded industriously at legend of the "dirty bomb" threat
By Rainer Rupp
For two weeks now a small atom bomb has exploded daily on well over 3000 American movie screens, with which terrorists bury half of Baltimore in debris and ash. The "dirty bomb" detonates several times per day, because so many Americans find the film "The Sum Of All Fears" so entertaining that it has already became number one at the box office.
There, also, the US government did not want to be inferior to this idea: On Monday, with his attendance in Moscow, the Christian fundamentalist John Ashcroft, Minister of Justice of the USA and thus also highest commander of the FBI, left his announcement to the international press that a planned terrorist attack with a so-called "dirty bomb" was recently prevented. By a "dirty bomb" it is meant a conventional bomb with a coat of strongly radioactive material. With the explosion of such a bomb there is no atomic nuclear chain reaction, but the radiating material is dissipated and can cause large health and economic damage, as large areas are contaminated for very long periods of time.
The presumed terrorist in question is the American citizen Jose Padilla, which accepted the Muslim name Abdullah Mujahir. So far, little is known about Mujahir. He was born in New York and has as a former member of a Chicago streetgang and has a criminal past with prison experience. Later he must have turned to the more radical forms of Islam, and have come in connection also with leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he was also trained, according to data by the FBI, as a bomb producer. Muhajir made himself adept over the technicalities and logistics of bomb making, as well as the added skill of spreading radiating material as far as possible with them. With the order of his Al-Qaida bosses to employ one in the United States, Muhajir returned to the USA, where he was arrested by the FBI on May 8 as he was coming from Pakistan to the airport in Chicago.
Many doubts already were voiced one day after the sensational arrest about whether or not Ashcroft had sufficient cause to arrest this suspected American terrorist. Even FBI boss Mueller had to grant in the meantime that any alleged assassination attempt and/or bombing planning was "in an early stage." And the FBI does not have any proof for terror plans, not even declarations of intent by the ones allegedly taking part. According to FBI boss Mueller, the investigation is still in a phase of discussions about "however one moves," and by that, how one acted.
Even agitator Paul Wolfowitz, in whose "custody" Muhajir is at present, said that "he gave still no plan." He added however, "We could stop the man in the planning stage." In other words, even without plans one can be arrested in the USA very quickly as a terrorist. Some wild, mad fantasies of a young man can be sufficient for arrest with the general hysteria stoked intentionally by the Bush administration, and thus to be named public enemy no. 1. Even now without proof it is clear that any American citizen can and will be sent away indefinitely without legal counsel or indictment before a court. Abdullah Mujahir, alias for Jose Padilla, is held as such now. He is an American citizen and as such has the right to appear before a court. But in the meantime, the US government cited a precedent from a decision of the Supreme Court from 1942, with which any accused American citizen can be justified as a "hostile combatant," who stands only in nothing but suspicion of co-operating in the enemies of the USA.
First published by German newspaper Junge Welt (http://www.jungewelt.de).
http://www.jungewelt.de/2002/06-12/001.php
Translated using Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com), revised.