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Serpo
25th December 2010, 07:15 AM
One year later: Who was the sharp-dressed man who helped Abdulmutallab board?



Aaron Dykes
Infowars.com
December 25, 2010


Attorney Kurt Haskell and his wife, who witnessed the “sharp-dressed man” help Abdulmutallab board Flight 253 bound for Detroit last Christmas. The vital questions they raised have never been answered.


One year after the “failed” Christmas Day bombing attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, we are more vulnerable than ever. Not from foreign ‘jihadist’ terrorists, or unscanned Thermos containers, but from our own government. If would-be terrorists like Abdulmutallab are our enemy, why have Homeland Security resources been used to threaten and intimidate The People instead of following up on how Abdulmutallab got as far as he did?

What is the real threat we are fighting?

Little did anyone notice, the TSA had already been phasing in body scanners at major airports prior to December 25, 2009 with plans to mainstream them. Before last Christmas, airports like the one I traveled through in Phoenix in October 2009 displayed signs foretelling their imminent arrival. “Why do I have to take off my shoes?” a sign teased, before explaining the need to detect potential explosives. The sign then explained that full-body scanners could soon do away with the need to take off shoes, as the whole body would be examined. That was in the era of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.

Then Abdulmutallab, a controlled patsy with links to foreign intelligence and supposed-al Qaeda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki (who in reality is an asset who met secretly at the Pentagon after 9/11), went live with his ‘dud’ underwear bomb. Although it was a complete scare tactic, the ‘failed plot’ sufficiently played up the terror threat that had been waning in the Homeland ever since 9/11.

It was the biggest scare for terrorism in some time, and it has reinvigorated the security theater agenda since, while giving the perfect pretext to implement the body scanners. But it was all a lie (again). The stories of eyewitnesses Kurt Haskell and his wife proved true, as the FBI and other entities had to rework their account again and again to incorporate the known truth. Yet Haskell’s story was never truly followed up on, and we are less safe for it.

*

Big Sis did draw lessons from the event, acknowledging that Abdulmutallab would change things for US airport security. “There’s been a very significant process of reviewing the lessons learned from the Christmas Day bomber. And in fact, we have adjusted our operating procedures, our interaction both with the NCTC, the terrorist screening center, and other elements of the intelligence community.”

But Janet Napolitano did not ask the right questions, and we are all suffering for it.

Now, a year later, a full on revolt has taken place against the TSA. The agency responded to the anger of The People with the same ineffective, scattershot method it has used to respond to potential threats of terror– by ramping up the intimidation and invasion factor.

• When websites like WeWontFly.com started protesting the body scanners as well as the invasive ‘enhanced’ pat down procedures by declaring an ‘OptOut’ protest during the Thanksgiving Holiday, Homeland Security and the TSA responded by standing down, abandoning the supposedly necessary body scanners for days on end to avoid bad publicity. Weeks later, it emerged that DHS had targeted the website, posting derogatory comments at WeWontFly.com, childishly chiding ‘you won’t change anything.’

• When would-be San Diego passenger John Tyner refused a pat down, telling his TSA agent ‘Don’t touch my junk or I’ll have you arrested,’ the TSA responded by intimidating Tyner. Not only was he not allowed to board, but he was seemingly not allowed to leave the airport. A shadowy TSA bureaucrat then threatened to sue him for $11,000. Why? Because he objected to the Constitution-shredding, unwarranted & invasive pat down and wanted to simply leave?

• When a 56-year old woman with a pacemaker, who happens to have been a rape victim, refused to have her breasts groped by TSA, they responded by having her dragged away 25-feet and arrested by police. All because she objected to the violation of the Constitution and of her body.

• When one of the many pilots who have objected to the radiating body scanners and invasive pat downs asks “Why?” and demonstrated the open-security risk and double-standard that airport employees working on the ground with planes only have to swipe an ID and do not go through checks, Homeland Security responded to his video posting with a stasi home raid. The full extent of his “punishment” is now under review.

• When Homeland Security and the TSA had nothing else to go on this Christmas, they manifested a new paranoid warning about the potential terrorist usage of Thermos-type containers, just so there’s one more random item to molest passengers about (liquids are already supposedly banned).

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All these incidents and more make one think the TSA and Homeland Security have gotten a little touchy about criticism, conscience and non-compliance on the part of the ordinary passengers, airline pilots, flight attendants and so forth that they are supposedly in place to protect. But it all still misses the point– the point of what is really going on behind the scenes to cause such panic. But, of course, answering that question is against the interests of the powers-that-be.

The TSA’s 2010 Reign of Terror was initiated by Abdulmutallab, and the imperative that every individual be screened down to the skin. Yet it still has not been satisfactorily investigated as to how he was able to board the plane he allegedly intended to bring down. Doesn’t this seem like the most outrageous lack of security imaginable?

Other failed plots have been just as dubious. Even figures like Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera have spoken out against the absurdity and the horror of so many “bogus” failed-terror plots that inevitably turn out to be FBI run “stings” where, in many cases, the agency provided the bomb, showed radical individuals how to use it, then provoked them into taking action. Luckily, most of these smaller-scale incidents were destined to be ‘duds’– scary enough to make headlines and urge vigilance, but were in the end no real incident. But that was not the case in 1993 when the FBI facilitated the bombing of the World Trade Center (on record).

Nevertheless, our government has propagandized the “unknowability” of the terror being waged against us since 9/11, while repeatedly failing to inform the public that many of these incidents were brought to fruition at the behests of the FBI or other protective agency. What are the real implications of such deceptions, and how can we ever be secure if this reality is ignored?

Eyewitness Kurt Haskell detailed his account of the “sharp-dressed man,” who he witnessed helping Abdulmutallab, who had no passport, board the plane. Despite Haskell’s being proven right, there has been no known follow-up whatsoever into the identity or whereabouts of this accomplice.

FLASHBACK: KURT HASKELL ON THE ALEX JONES SHOW – DECEMBER 29, 2009 – WHO IS THE SHARP-DRESSED MAN?

If Abdulmutallab’s attempt to strike terror in the heart of the United States was a legitimate terror attempt, than surely the brightest anti-terror minds at Homeland Security have already ascertained that a maximum level of scanning, patting down, and breast-groping could not stop a terrorist with connections that override the system. This was a factor with many of the alleged 9/11 hijackers, who were given visas and allowed into the country despite popping up on the terror watch lists. It is a critical factor again in the case of Abdulmutallab, who by all accounts, did not have to pass through security or present proper identification at all, but was rather allowed on to the plane via the connections and explanations provided by the yet-unidentified “sharp dressed man.”

As the Online Journal encapsulates, “Not amused, Kurt Haskell wanted to know who this Indian-looking man was. When the F.B.I. visited him four days after the incident, Haskell asked if they had brought the Amsterdam security video so he could help to identify this enabler of terrorism, “but they acted as though my request was ridiculous.” There was no follow up investigation. Someone did bother to phone Haskell, however, to warn him, rather menacingly, that it was “in [his] best interest to stop talking publicly” about this episode.”

• When Kurt Haskell warned about other relevant factors he’d witnessed, he was not only ignored but told menacingly to keep quiet.

The F.B.I. visited Haskell, and “acted as though his request was ridiculous” when he hoped to check the security cameras in Amsterdam for evidence of the man’s identity or other clues that could point to the truth. One year later, we’re all still waiting for news of the Sharp Dressed Man before the bullying tactics of the TSA help stop practical travel altogether.

• And when the Christmas season approaches again, the Department of Homeland Security, the F.B.I. and TSA do not try to understand the truth about how past terror incidents were able to happen in order to prevent them; instead, they issue unspecific and unintelligible general terror warnings to incite holiday fear. Stay vigilant, they whisper, but never ask why.

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” -Benjamin Franklin

http://www.infowars.com/one-year-later-who-was-the-sharp-dressed-man-who-helped-abdulmutallab/

Hatha Sunahara
25th December 2010, 09:13 AM
There is no shortage of information on the Internet about how the War on Terror is a fraud. What there is a shortage of are ideas about what to do about it. How do we get the government to stop terrorizing the public in this charade that they are attempting to protect us.

The only good advice I have heard so far on what to do about it is to avoid flying. But the TSA seems to have plans to put all forms of transportation under surveillance. It won't be long before we get a pat down and a grope as we leave hour homes. The only valid conclusion I can draw from what I see here is that our government has been taken over by insane people who cannot be stopped without causing a lot of damage to the entire body politic.

This is why I would welcome TSHTF. A complete collapse of the money system will get people to wake up to the insanity of the government and to put a stop to it. It might be disorderly, but it might also cure our government's insanity and put an end to all the phony wars they want to wage including this horrific lunatic war on terror. What I forsee is that citizens will wage a war against Government Terrorism. I don't think Americans are going to march into a totalitarian dictatorship voluntarily. The government is really pushing people to the limits of their tolerance for insane authoritarian behavior. The resistance will likely be passive. Like Gandhi's non-cooperation with tyranny. Just don't go along with it. Opt out every chance you get. Don't fly. Ignore warnings. Bring thermos bottles when they say they are checking for them. Turn off the MSM news. This is what I call HOPE for resistance.

Hatha

Serpo
25th December 2010, 09:47 AM
How Do We Shift Power to the People
and Away from Concentrated Corporate Power?

Education, Organization and a Culture of Resistance Will Build an Independent Movement for Real Change

By Kevin Zeese

December 24, 2010 "Information Clearing House" --- The power of concentrated corporate capital was on display in Washington last week, as it has been all year. The incoming Chair of the Congressional committee responsible for banking regulation, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) says “my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.” And President Obama sat down with the CEOs of 20 large corporations to talk about how he could help Big Business increase their already record profits. And, in the Supreme Court, 13 of 16 business cases were ruled in favor of business interests.

These actions echo a year where Sen. Durbin complained the banks “own” the Congress and where President Obama worked with the health insurance industry to keep them in control of health care while claiming it was “reform,” and where the Supreme Court in Citizens United vastly increased corporate power in elections by allowing unlimited spending.

Corporate capital dominates the government and prevents the changes urgently needed in so many crisis issues for the nation and the world.

In the last year, through Prosperity Agenda I worked on many of these critical issues including the impact of corporate power on elections, providing health care to all Americans, restructuring finance regulation to prevent another economic collapse and reigning in spending on weapons and war. In all of these areas we had some impact, but in 2011 and beyond, much more will be needed.

Shifting power from concentrated corporate interests to the people is no easy task. It has taken years of work by those interests to gain the power that they have. It will take years of work to weaken the corporate stranglehold. The growing crises remind us of the urgency of our work and the need for a commitment to sustain and increase our efforts.

In preparing this article I looked back at a memo written by Lewis Powell two months before he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Nixon. The memo was written in 1971 at a time when the business community felt it was rapidly losing power and that the capitalist system was under severe attack. Powell, a lawyer for the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, described as “the fundamental premise” of his paper that “business and the enterprise system are in deep trouble, and the hour is late.” They saw attacks coming in the colleges, in the media, on the streets, in bookstores and from politicians. Everywhere they looked they were under attack and on the verge of total defeat – the end of free markets and crony capitalism.

The purpose of the Powell memo, written to the head of the Chamber of Commerce, was to lay out a plan to restore and build corporate power. Powell laid out a plan that is instructive for those of us who want to shift power from concentrated capital to the people, who want to see a democratized economy in which people have greater control of their economic lives and are more represented in both the economy and government.

Powell’s plan was a long-term one built primarily on education and organization. In response to a “broadly based and consistently pursued” attack on corporate power, Powell wrote “independent and uncoordinated activity by individual corporations, as important as this is, will not be sufficient. Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.” He urged action in universities, with speaker’s bureaus, in publishing, influencing the media and working in the courts, as well as in electoral politics.

We also have a long term plan to educate, organize and unite our efforts:

* We’ve used education in writing, media and video. We strive for but do not rely on the corporate media, which is also part of the problem, to cover our work. We also recognize that too often they are part of the problem. We make our own media and work with the independent media.
* We’ve reached out to allied organizations and allied movements in order to help develop consistent and coordinated actions. And we’ve asked our thousands of members to take actions in unison so our voices are multiplied.
* We’ve used the courts and instruments of government to challenge the illegal actions of the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads seeking investigation and prosecution of their abuses in the 2010 elections. See more here, and here. We’ve done the same when we seek corporate responsibility for companies like Massey Energy and their CEO Don Blankenship when 29 miners were killed in West Virginia (more here) and were pleased when he resigned.

While education and organization are critical ingredients to bringing change, this is a slow process and many of the issues the nation faces are urgent. This is why we also pursue acts of protest and resistance. We did this in the health care debate and most recently in the anti-war movement. Resistance has always been an ingredient for bringing change whether it was people sitting in at segregated lunch counters, or blacks sitting in the white section of the bus, or Cindy Sheehan camping outside of George Bush’s ranch. In the next year we will see a growing culture of resistance in the United States.

Other acts of resistance are seen around the release of documents by WikiLeaks. The reaction demonstrated corporations and the government working together to block the American people from knowing what is being done in our name. VISA, Mastercard, Bank of America, PayPal, Amazon and various financial institutions stopped processing funds for WikiLeaks at the request of the government. But the truth is getting out and we now know what the government is doing in our name and must take action to stop it. Knowing the truth and not acting is complicity. More and more Americans are acting. We see resistance in the more than 1,000 mirror sites of WikiLeaks, in the more than 100,000 people who downloaded the WikiLeaks “insurance policy” and were prepared to release documents if Julian Assange were harmed. It is seen in Americans organizing for their right to know, and to reaffirm Freedom of the Press. We are organizing under the banner WikiLeaksIsDemocracy.org, with a petition signed by notables and now by thousands. Join us and urge others to as well.

It is going to take education, organization and resistance as part of a persistent independent movement for political change. Those who want real change achieve it by voting for parties dominated by the donations of corporate executives. Voting for corporate parties re-enforces corporate power. We need independent electoral activity along with an independent movement and independent media to shift the power to the people.

There is a growing movement for real paradigm shifting change. It is a slow process that is accelerating and 2011 promises to be a milestone year. Please join us in our efforts at www.ProsperityAgenda.US. We need all Americans who want a democratized economy where power is shifted to the people joining us.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27126.htm

Hatha Sunahara
25th December 2010, 11:42 AM
I'm not so optimistic to think much time is left to engage in a major power struggle with oppressive forces. The crises that keep arising will precipitate a collapse, which is is nothing but an unmanageable crisis. It's when the oppressive forces lose control of the situation. When that happens, there will be a power vacuum, which means that people will be looking for new leadership. And new RULES--ones they can live with. This is where the plans for the NWO are introduced. People look at the disorder around them, and believe this NWO could restore order, so they support it.

How many people you see on the street are prepared for this? Is there enough time to change peoples' perceptions and organize them into an effective anti-oppression force? Most people I know thumb their noses at freedom. It's more important to earn or borrow enough money to cater to your fantasies. The only thing that will get the masses out of their dream state would be massive widespread suffering-- a rendezvous with reality. I don't see how 'the people' can be motivated to resist in any other way. We will have to suffer the NWO for people to wake up. It might be too late by then. Notwithstanding this, miracles have been known to happen.

Hatha

FunnyMoney
25th December 2010, 01:54 PM
... The only thing that will get the masses out of their dream state would be massive widespread suffering-- a rendezvous with reality....

Sorry Hatha, but wrong on all counts. Since when has that actually worked in history? Did that work in the 1970s in England? Did that work in the 1990s in Argentina? How's that working in Ireland or in Greece today?

Look at Germany's hyperinflationary depression after WWI, the "rendezvous with reality" was to believe the new leaders of the govt that a right to violence was what the workers needed.

When the "massive widespread suffering" comes, as you have called it, the vast majority of the people will embrace whatever authority and leadership emerges. They will cling to the govt tit like a crying baby. Every single example of crisis in history, from the small time events like Katrina, to the big economic and political shifts like the collapse of the USSR, every time, every crisis, it's been the same - what emerges, what the people fall for is just as bad and often worse. Have your own Plan B ready. Plan A has never worked.

gunDriller
25th December 2010, 02:40 PM
it wasn't me !

but i believe that couple, the Haskells.

woodman
26th December 2010, 01:14 AM
There is no shortage of information on the Internet about how the War on Terror is a fraud. What there is a shortage of are ideas about what to do about it. How do we get the government to stop terrorizing the public in this charade that they are attempting to protect us.

The only good advice I have heard so far on what to do about it is to avoid flying. But the TSA seems to have plans to put all forms of transportation under surveillance. It won't be long before we get a pat down and a grope as we leave hour homes. The only valid conclusion I can draw from what I see here is that our government has been taken over by insane people who cannot be stopped without causing a lot of damage to the entire body politic.

This is why I would welcome TSHTF. A complete collapse of the money system will get people to wake up to the insanity of the government and to put a stop to it. It might be disorderly, but it might also cure our government's insanity and put an end to all the phony wars they want to wage including this horrific lunatic war on terror. What I forsee is that citizens will wage a war against Government Terrorism. I don't think Americans are going to march into a totalitarian dictatorship voluntarily. The government is really pushing people to the limits of their tolerance for insane authoritarian behavior. The resistance will likely be passive. Like Gandhi's non-cooperation with tyranny. Just don't go along with it. Opt out every chance you get. Don't fly. Ignore warnings. Bring thermos bottles when they say they are checking for them. Turn off the MSM news. This is what I call HOPE for resistance.

Hatha


Government is organized crime. I think all of us here realize it, but saying it again and again is the best way to mainstream the fact. They are running a protection racket; the oldest of all the tricks in the book. The best we can do is educate those around us and throw a monkey wrench into their machine every chance we get.