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Air
Safety Moves
Measures
announced by President Bush today to improve airline safety:
- $3
billion to make flying safer
- Federal
air marshals flying as armed undercover security agents on
random flights
- Passenger
and baggage screening under supervision of federal workers
over private workers
- Federal
standards, training, and testing for private security workers
- Video
monitoring so pilots can see possible trouble in passenger
cabin
- Transponders
that cannot be turned off
- Ability
for ground controllers to takeover and land a distressed aircraft
by remote control
- Authorization
to shoot down an aircraft as a last gap measure if destined
for a high risk target (like a skyscraper) only if other measures
have failed
Source:
Winning
Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan
Along
with the drums of war, another response to terrorism is underway.
The goal? To help the Afghanistan people suffering at the hands
of the Taleban and due to drought and fear over upcoming American
and international efforts against terrorism.
Possible
approaches:
-
Massive air drop of food and other humanitarian aid into Afghanistan.
- Regional
military bases used as staging areas for humanitarian relief.
Source:
- Sydney
Morning Herald [link inactive]
Unhatched
Dinos Found in Argentina
Over
80 million years ago, clutches of baby dinosaurs, nesting near
a river, drowned in a flood and were preserved. Hundreds of
nests have been found. Six intact pre-hatched babies were recently
discovered.
The
type of dinosaurs? Long-necked Sauropods called Titanosaurs.
Had the babies grown to adulthood, they would have been about
50 feet long.
The
discovered dinos are related to the largest Sauropod to have
ever lived, Argentinosaurus, a creature 120 feet long, weighing
80 tons.
Sources:
- World
Scientist / AP [inactive]
- BBC
- CNN
[link inactive]
Swiss
Gunman Kills 14 In Vendetta
In
Zug, Switzerland, near Zurich, a man entered a regional parliament
building, shot and killed 14, shot and injured 10, set off an
explosive, and then shot and killed himself. All of this was
due to a dispute with transport officials that had been brewing
for two years.
His
main weapon in the shootings was a Swiss-made 5.6 mm SIG "Sturmgewehr
90," the assault rifle commonly used by the nation's militia
army. In Switzerland, men who serve in the nation's militia
army keep their weapons at home.
The
shooter, who grew up in Zug, left a letter behind in which he
spoke of a "day of rage against the Zug Mafia."
Source:
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Last
Words / Writings of Suicider / Mass Murderer for God
Excerpts
from an artcle regarding documents left behind by one of the
terrorists who committed suicide / mass murder in the 9-11-01
attack on America:
In
Hijacker's Bags, a Call to Planning, Prayer and Death
"Mohamed
Atta, one of the key organizers among the 19 hijackers who carried
out the Sept. 11 attacks, left behind a five-page handwritten
document in Arabic that includes Islamic prayers, instructions
for a last night of life and practical reminders to bring "knives,
your will, IDs, your passport" and, finally, "to make
sure that nobody is following you." ...
The
document is a cross between a chilling spiritual exhortation
aimed at the hijackers and an operational mission checklist.
...
The
haunting writings urge the hijackers to crave death and "be
optimistic." At the same time, the document starkly addresses
fear on the eve of their suicide mission.
"Everybody
hates death, fears death ... But only those, the believers who
know the life after death and the reward after death, would
be the ones who will be seeking death. ...
Remind yourself that in this night you will face many challenges.
But you have to face them and understand it 100 percent. ...
Obey
God, his messenger, and don't fight among yourself where you
become weak, and stand fast, God will stand with those who stood
fast."
The
translated version of the document instructs the hijackers to
steel their will with prayer before embarking on their mission.
"You
should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance,
you should ask God for help. ...
Continue
to pray throughout this night. Continue to recite the Koran."
It
continues: "Purify your heart and clean it from all earthly
matters. The time of fun and waste has gone. The time of judgment
has arrived.
Hence
we need to utilize those few hours to ask God for forgiveness.
You have to be convinced that those few hours that are left
you in your life are very few. From there you will begin to
live the happy life, the infinite
paradise. Be optimistic. The prophet was always optimistic."
...
A
recurring theme is the promise of eternal life. "Keep a
very open mind, keep a very open heart of what you are to face,"
the document says. "You will be entering paradise. You
will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life."
...
Yesterday,
the Dallas Morning News quoted federal officials as saying that
a copy of an Arabic-language prayer guide had been found in
the wreckage of Flight 93.
The
first four pages of the document are handwritten on large paper
and recite some basic Islamic history about the prophet fighting
infidels with 100 men against 1,000. They also include prayers
such as, "I pray to you God to forgive me from all my sins,
to allow me to glorify you in every possible way."
The
fifth and last page is on standard stenographer paper that apparently
had been ripped from a pad and is headed, "When you enter
the plane":
It
includes a series of prayers or exhortations. "Oh, God,
open all doors for me. Oh God who answers prayers and answers
those who ask you, I am asking you for your help. I am asking
you for forgiveness. I am asking you to lighten my way. I am
asking you to lift the burden I feel.
"Oh
God, you who open all doors, please open all doors for me, open
all venues for me, open all avenues for me."
The
author doodled on the paper, drawing a small, arrowhead-like
sword. Two circles entwine the shaft, which also has serpentine
swirls drawn onto it. The doodle also resembles a key. ...
The
document continues: "God, I trust in you. God, I lay myself
in your hands."
It
closes, "There is no God but God, I being a sinner. We
are of God, and to God we return." ...
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- - end excerpts - - -
Related
Reference:
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