The number of laser beams directed into cockpits of flying airplanes is now at seven since Christmas. The airports affected so far: Teeterboro (N.J.); Houston, Medford, Ore., Washington, D.C.; Cleveland and Colorado Springs;

On the same day at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the FBI says, a green laser light beam was directed into the cockpit of a Continental 737 that was 15 miles from the runway. "This plane was targeted," said FBI special agent Bob Hawk. "It just didn't flash for a moment inside the cockpit. The plane was traveling at about 300 miles an hour, at about 8,500 to 10,000 feet. It followed the plane inside the cockpit for two to four seconds."

Despite the issuance of a homeland security alert last month warning that terrorist groups had shown an interest in the laser devices, the FBI says not to worry:

Last month the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, warning "terrorist groups overseas have expressed an interest in using these devices." But, they added, there is "no specific or credible intelligence indicating that terrorists intend to use lasers as weapons against civilian targets in the homeland."

The Air Line Pilots Association isn't so sure:

Time Magazine in Canada shows its enlightenment over its stateside counterpart. Instead of President Bush, it has named Maher Arar "newsmaker of the year." [link via Buzzflash.]

Who is Maher Arar? We all know the basic contours of his story. In 2002, U.S. officials detained the Canadian software engineer at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. They alleged that he was linked to al-Qaeda and secretly deported him to Syria, where he says he was tortured. When Arar was freed more than a year later and the public got a glimpse of him, he seemed to be a likable, hard-working family man caught up in a monstrous international screwup.

He receives the newsmaker award because he is illustrative of "how one man’s quest for justice is quietly reshaping a nation’s values and law." Maher Arar did not fade from sight after returning home. He fought back.

Sara Olson of California was married to an al Qaeda member before 9/11. She tried to tell the FBI and they ignored her.

Saraah Olson says she watched as her then-husband, Hisham Diab, and his group transformed local teen Adam Gadahn into an America-hating fanatic who she says is the masked man who promised in an al Qaeda video message released in Pakistan late October that the "streets of America will run red with blood."

Olson says blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and other bin Laden deputies stayed at her home.

Olson said she repeatedly tried to notify the FBI of her husband's suspicious activities, but that she was never taken seriously. "I'm in hell," Olson remembers thinking after she recognized Abdel-Rahman in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. "I have entered the bowels of hell and I'm going to be here forever. And I've only been married seven months. I've got a terrorist in my house."

by TChris

In a detailed report, The New York Times explains why military investigators and prosecutors came to accuse Capt. James Yee and Airman Ahmad Al Halabi of aiding detainees and spying while performing their duties at Guantanamo. The "prosecute first and ask questions later" approach was fueled in part by animosity toward American Muslims.

Officials familiar with the inquiries said they also fed on petty personal conflicts: antipathy between some Muslim and non-Muslim troops at Guantánamo, rivalries between Christian and Muslim translators, even the complaint of an old boss who saw Airman Al Halabi as a shirker.

TalkLeft coverage of Yee's case is collected here. Halabi coverage is here.

by TChris

The Bush administration has deprived you of your ability to watch Al-Manar, "the television station of Lebanon's Hezbollah militants that has glorified suicide bombers." Declaring the television station a "terror organization," the administation pulled the plug on its satellite feed to the United States.

[Hassan Fadlallah, Al-Manar's news director,] told The Associated Press, "This is a blatant attack on press freedoms and an exercise in intellectual terrorism against the voices that are opposed to U.S. and Israeli policies."

The State Department contends that Al-Manar should not be allowed to spread hatred (a job the administration apparently intends to reserve for the extreme right). While Al-Manar's message is often deplorable, our country is founded on the belief that we, as individuals, are best able to decide whether offensive opinions deserve our audience. Our government's decision to censor the flow of information dishonors the values embodied in the First Amendment.

by TChris

The highest court in Great Britain, echoing (and perhaps amplifying) a decision of the United States Supreme Court (covered here by TalkLeft), "ruled today that the British government cannot indefinitely detain foreigners suspected of terrorism without charging or trying them, and called the process a violation of European human rights laws." The decision revolves around the detention of nine Muslim men in Belmarsh Prison in London, some of whom have been held without trial for three years.

In its powerfully worded decision, the court said that the government's "draconian" measures unjustly discriminate against foreigners since they do not apply to British citizens and constitute a lopsided response to the threat of a terrorist attack.

Lord Leonard Hoffman wrote that the case "calls into question the very existence of an ancient liberty of which this country has until now been very proud: freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention."

He went on to say that the government's actions posed a greater threat to the nation than terrorism. "The real threat to the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living in accordance with its traditional laws and political values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these," Lord Hoffman wrote.

The detention law, which appears to be aimed only at Muslims, was due to expire in 2006.

Afghan President Karzai says Osama is nearby and will be caught. The U.S. and Pakistan say the trail is cold. How can both be true?

Four special ops soldiers have been disciplined for using taser stun guns on Iraqi Prisoners. This information is coming to light as a result of the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act requests. Background is here. The ACLU press release is here.

by TChris

Someone has been spraying chemicals over poppy fields in Afghanistan, and the government of Afghanistan isn't happy about it.

"The government of Afghanistan has not authorized any foreign entity, any foreign government, any foreign company, or anyone else to carry out aerial spraying," [Jawed Ludin] said [on behalf of President Hamid Karzai].

The United States denies involvement and claims to have no knowledge of the poppy eradication effort. Are those denials credible when the United States controls the airspace over Afghanistan?

Some small bombs went off at gas stations in Spain today, following warnings called in by the Basque Separatists ETA. No one was hurt. Six people were hurt.

Six people were slightly injured at two locations, including two police officers whose eardrums were hurt, said Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso.

by TChris

A policy adopted by TSA on September 22 requires more frequent and thorough searches of airline passengers for explosive materials. The implementation of the policy has angered many women, including Rhonda Gaynier, who was asked to step aside for additional screening.

Using an open hand, a security agent touched her shoulders, under her arms, around her waist, across her bra strap, and between her breasts, Gaynier said - all in front of other passengers.

Sommer Gentry stopped flying as a result of the screening policy.

Gentry said she has had several upsetting encounters with the screeners, and calls the way she was touched "humiliating and deeply offensive." "I will go to great lengths to avoid flying now, because patdowns make me feel dirty and ashamed," she said. "It just gets worse every time. Now I'm afraid."

The policy gives screeners license to touch women on a whim.

The new TSA rules say screeners can select passengers for patdowns based on "visual observations," even if they do not set off metal detectors. Amy Von Walter, a TSA spokeswoman, said screeners are looking for "irregularities in a person's natural shape or contour."

TSA has received 250 complaints since the policy took effect.

by TChris

The Republican government's failure to produce intelligence reform that enjoyed bipartisan support (reported here) is spawning richly deserved criticism. Sen. Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, explains why the effort failed.

"Some of it is turf, you know, quite frankly," the Kansas Republican said on "Fox News Sunday." "Some of it is from the Pentagon. Some of it, quite frankly, is from the White House, despite what the president has said."