April 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Saddam's love shack
by R. A. Hettinga 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

Saddam Hussein, international man of mystery... Cheers, RAH Who remembers from somewhere that his favorite wine was Mateuse Rose. Shagadelic, indeed. --- begin forwarded text

2 1

Saddam's love shack
by Vinnie Moscaritolo 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_SADDAMS_HIDEAWAY?SITE=VANOV&… Troops Discover Lush Saddam Hideaway By CHRIS TOMLINSON Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The doors of the town house opened to reveal a playboy's fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps shaped like women, airbrushed paintings of a topless blonde woman and a mustached hero battling a crocodile. Troops thought it was the home of Saddam Hussein's mistress, though on the wall and in the bedroom were photos of the Iraqi president and a woman who appeared to be his wife. The company commander suspected they had found one of the Iraqi leader's many safe houses. "This must have been Saddam's love shack," said Sgt. Spencer Willardson of Logan, Utah. The split-level, one-bedroom town house is in a Baath Party enclave in an upscale neighborhood in central Baghdad where generals and senior party officials lived. Next door, where iron sheets were welded over all the windows, they found more than 6,000 Berretta pistols, 650 Sig Sauer pistols, 248 Colt Revolvers, 160 Belgian 7.65 mm pistols, 12 cases of Sterling submachine guns and four cases of anti-tank missiles all still in the unopened original boxes. There were also tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition mortars and cases of old handguns and heavy machine guns. Not far off was another presidential palace, this one with a Yugoslav-built, chemical and biological weapons-proof bunker underneath it. A U.S. Army team inspected it and it appeared to be strictly defensive in nature. But this home was different: beanbag chairs, a garden of plastic plants, a sunken kitchen and a room for a servant, all 1960s-style. The sunken wet bar was stocked with 20-year old Italian red wines and expensive cognacs, brandies and Scotch whiskeys, the same brands found in several presidential palaces. The glassware, too, was the same pattern that was found in at least three palaces also visited by U.S. troops since the regime collapsed. The pattern features the Iraqi government seal and a gold pattern on that rim. But when it came time to eat dinner, Saddam was served his food on the official fine china of the Kuwaiti royal family, complete with the family seal and gold and maroon trim. Capt. Chris Carter, commander of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, said the home appears to be one of Saddam's safe houses. Officials concluded that the house was used by Parisoula Lampsos, who publicly claimed to be Saddam's mistress. She escaped to Lebanon in 2002. Saddam's wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah, is also his cousin. Together they had three daughters and two sons, Odai and Qusai. Like her husband, her whereabouts are unknown. Saddam is widely known to have a third son, Ali, by another woman. Lampsos was interviewed extensively about her relationship with Saddam on U.S. television. Her current location is unknown and she was last believed to be in hiding. The photos show Saddam and a woman smiling at each other and standing beside one another - in one Saddam wears a uniform and in another a suit. On one wall was a 16-by-20 inch plaque of the Iraqi eagle and flag seal. Upstairs was a television room with bright blue, pink and yellow throw pillows. The bathroom included a whirlpool bath. The kingsize bed was fitted into an alcove with mirrors on two sides and a fantasy painting on the third. The closets and drawers were empty except for a man's night shirt, two pairs of boxer shorts, two T-shirts and a bath robe - each item individually wrapped in plastic, just as similar items had been in the palaces. One of the airbrushed paintings depicted a topless blonde woman, with a green demon behind her, pointing a finger at a mythic hero. From the tip of her finger came a giant serpent, which had wrapped itself around the warrior. Another showed a buxom woman chained to a barren desert mountain ledge, with a huge dragon diving down to kill her with sharpened talons. The home's 1960s look - parodied in the series of "Austin Powers" spy spoofs - inspired a round of imitations from soldiers slogging door to door. "Yeah, baaabeee," said Carter, doing his best imitation of actor Mike Myers' character. "Shagadelic," another soldier shouted. Indeed, the carpet was navy blue shag -- Vinnie Moscaritolo ITCB-IMSH PGP: 3F903472C3AF622D5D918D9BD8B100090B3EF042 ------------------------------------------------------- "Stuff is getting better. Stuff is getting better all the time." - President Starky --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

1 0

Saddam's love shack
by Vinnie Moscaritolo 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_SADDAMS_HIDEAWAY?SITE=VANOV&… Troops Discover Lush Saddam Hideaway By CHRIS TOMLINSON Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The doors of the town house opened to reveal a playboy's fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps shaped like women, airbrushed paintings of a topless blonde woman and a mustached hero battling a crocodile. Troops thought it was the home of Saddam Hussein's mistress, though on the wall and in the bedroom were photos of the Iraqi president and a woman who appeared to be his wife. The company commander suspected they had found one of the Iraqi leader's many safe houses. "This must have been Saddam's love shack," said Sgt. Spencer Willardson of Logan, Utah. The split-level, one-bedroom town house is in a Baath Party enclave in an upscale neighborhood in central Baghdad where generals and senior party officials lived. Next door, where iron sheets were welded over all the windows, they found more than 6,000 Berretta pistols, 650 Sig Sauer pistols, 248 Colt Revolvers, 160 Belgian 7.65 mm pistols, 12 cases of Sterling submachine guns and four cases of anti-tank missiles all still in the unopened original boxes. There were also tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition mortars and cases of old handguns and heavy machine guns. Not far off was another presidential palace, this one with a Yugoslav-built, chemical and biological weapons-proof bunker underneath it. A U.S. Army team inspected it and it appeared to be strictly defensive in nature. But this home was different: beanbag chairs, a garden of plastic plants, a sunken kitchen and a room for a servant, all 1960s-style. The sunken wet bar was stocked with 20-year old Italian red wines and expensive cognacs, brandies and Scotch whiskeys, the same brands found in several presidential palaces. The glassware, too, was the same pattern that was found in at least three palaces also visited by U.S. troops since the regime collapsed. The pattern features the Iraqi government seal and a gold pattern on that rim. But when it came time to eat dinner, Saddam was served his food on the official fine china of the Kuwaiti royal family, complete with the family seal and gold and maroon trim. Capt. Chris Carter, commander of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, said the home appears to be one of Saddam's safe houses. Officials concluded that the house was used by Parisoula Lampsos, who publicly claimed to be Saddam's mistress. She escaped to Lebanon in 2002. Saddam's wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah, is also his cousin. Together they had three daughters and two sons, Odai and Qusai. Like her husband, her whereabouts are unknown. Saddam is widely known to have a third son, Ali, by another woman. Lampsos was interviewed extensively about her relationship with Saddam on U.S. television. Her current location is unknown and she was last believed to be in hiding. The photos show Saddam and a woman smiling at each other and standing beside one another - in one Saddam wears a uniform and in another a suit. On one wall was a 16-by-20 inch plaque of the Iraqi eagle and flag seal. Upstairs was a television room with bright blue, pink and yellow throw pillows. The bathroom included a whirlpool bath. The kingsize bed was fitted into an alcove with mirrors on two sides and a fantasy painting on the third. The closets and drawers were empty except for a man's night shirt, two pairs of boxer shorts, two T-shirts and a bath robe - each item individually wrapped in plastic, just as similar items had been in the palaces. One of the airbrushed paintings depicted a topless blonde woman, with a green demon behind her, pointing a finger at a mythic hero. From the tip of her finger came a giant serpent, which had wrapped itself around the warrior. Another showed a buxom woman chained to a barren desert mountain ledge, with a huge dragon diving down to kill her with sharpened talons. The home's 1960s look - parodied in the series of "Austin Powers" spy spoofs - inspired a round of imitations from soldiers slogging door to door. "Yeah, baaabeee," said Carter, doing his best imitation of actor Mike Myers' character. "Shagadelic," another soldier shouted. Indeed, the carpet was navy blue shag -- Vinnie Moscaritolo ITCB-IMSH PGP: 3F903472C3AF622D5D918D9BD8B100090B3EF042 ------------------------------------------------------- "Stuff is getting better. Stuff is getting better all the time." - President Starky --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

1 0

Re: Looting of museums, banks, shops, factories--South Central LA writ large
by Major Variola (ret) 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

At 02:57 PM 4/12/03 -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote: >The imams have asked for all their stuff to come back to the mosques, and, oddly enough, the stuff's coming back. > >Expect the same thing for the hospitals, at least in the Shiite areas... Yeah, but so much for the careful calibration that med equiptment is supposed to have. A stuck anesthetic valve or out of place x-ray filter can ruin your whole day... .

3 2

Re: Looting of museums, banks, shops, factories--South Central LA writ large
by Major Variola (ret) 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

What is up with looting hospitals? I can see grabbing the fun meds, but the rest of it? Who do they think they're screwing with this? Looting govt offices is just payback, like bombing an IRS office. Looting merchants is just lowlife theivery, like Los Angeles, unless the merchants were state-licensed or pro-state, in which case payback may also be involved. (E.g., Bombing Fox News vs. Starbucks or Walmart) (There was also a racial motivation in LA, as some smaller merchants were Korean and the rioters were Negroes, and the riots themselves were racially instigated. I haven't heard of similar Sunni/Shiite differences motivating Iraqi rioters; I don't know if they can tell each other apart by sight, or by language.) At least the Marines actually have ammo in their weapons. The LA Nat'l Guardsmen didn't.

5 4

Heads up!
by Major Variola (ret) 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

Space station moved to higher orbit ahead of new team's arrival MOSCOW (AFP) Apr 10, 2003 The International Space Station (ISS) was moved to a higher orbit on Thursday to prepare for the arrival of a new team of cosmonauts, Russian space officials quoted by Interfax said. The ISS was raised to an orbit of some five kilometers (three miles) above earth -- a procedure that is regularly required to counter Earth's gravitational pull. http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030410172225.y1t7rsm2.html .... Man that thing must be streamlined to stay in orbit three miles above earth...

1 0

Re: Metaswitch cleared by FBI for spying
by Major Variola (ret) 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

At 10:59 AM 4/12/03 -0400, John Kelsey wrote: > I keep thinking that the only way we're going to get strong encryption on >cellphones is to make it something that individuals can do themselves. The >cellphone providers have little incentive to do this well. Actually, the way the cellphone biz has evolved, there are motivations. Get <big provider> to sell <big handset OEM> phones which, if you call another of the same, automatically goes secure. If <big provider> requests it of an OEM, it will happen. <Big provider>'s motivation would be differentiating their product with something more than blue suade [1] faceplates. <Big providers> already provide free "walkie-talkie" comms between endpoints inside their net as a differentiating feature. The reason it won't happen is that <big providers> are licensed by the State. [1] Yes, you will see textiles injection-molded into products soon. PS: See also "bump in the wire" devices.

1 0

Looting of museums, banks, shops, factories--South Central LA writ large
by Tim May 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

Baghdad will be a basket case for decades to come... The power vacuum as the old regime left, and as U.S. soldiers are staying out of any police action, has given widespread looting. Probably by a mix of the peasants grabbing everything they can, factional revenge, and even deliberate arson by "stay behind" forces. Abu Dhabi t.v. is showing hundreds of scenes of small shops being looted. Shop-owners face financial devastation, as their stock is taken...they probably either have no insurance (their fault, of course), or war exclusions or loss of records as the buildings are burning will prevent any compensation. No fire service, no water for fire-fighting. It looks from the several satellite channels I am monitoring that more infrastructure/business damage is happening as a result of the looting and arson than from the 1991 and 2003 bombing campaigns combined. And with no sign that it will stop until every business has been stripped bare and torched. CNN reports that the national museums have been looted, with the Sumerian and Babylonian artifacts carted off by thousands of looters. One analyst said a lot of ancient artifacts will be appearing over the next several years in European art auctions. (In cases where the Sacred Bowl of Hammarabi is not being used as a cooking bowl by a family in Saddam City.) The long-term implications are clear: Baghdad will not be much of a tourist attraction or regional cultural center for many years to come. This will of course worsen the basket case nature of Iraq and will probably result in the eventual (maybe sooner rather than later) return of a "strong man" regime. And Americans will be expected to "rebuild" Baghdad. Ain't gonna happen. Stealing our money to rebuild a country we bombed because we didn't like their leader is going to be further grounds for action against Washington, D.C. (Too bad we can't cause its government to evacuate so the negroes can rampage and finish _it_ off the way Baghadis are destroying their city.) --Tim May, Occupied America "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759.

6 6

Forced-Entry Warrants & Epidemiology: LA Times: Disease Task Force Eyeing Asians
by Major Variola (ret) 12 Apr '03

12 Apr '03

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-birds12apr12,1,3978116.story?coll=l… Disease Task Force Eyeing Asians Authorities are going door-to-door searching for Chinese and Singaporans alike. If the asians appear sick, they are killed on the spot. State and federal agents trying to control the spread of a deadly asian disease have killed 3.4 million asians in Southern California -- some of them household workers-- and have enlisted hundreds of investigators, mail carriers and talkative neighbors to help identify homes with asians. Officials with the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force say they must take extreme measures to halt the disease, which spreads like a virulent flu, before it wipes out the state's $3-billion tourism industry. Since the disease was discovered in September in Compton, task force members have placed wide swaths of Southern California under quarantine. They walk door-to-door, searching for sick asians. If an asian is suspected of having the disease, it is killed immediately, in some cases in front of crying employers, teachers, or parents. Asian lovers complain that they are more frightened of the task force than the disease. Actor-producer Jeff Maxwell, whose son is a 22-year-old asian, said he watched in shock as a task force agent last weekend jotted down the address and a description of his Alhambra home and then entered its global positioning satellite coordinates into a hand-held computer. He later learned from his mailman that USDA officials have enlisted the Postal Service into reporting the addresses of asians. The task force has been given "carte blanche to kill any asian on your property or your house regardless of whether it tests positive," Maxwell said. "The thought of somebody driving to my door, which now could happen because I've been identified as housing an asian and coming in and killing my asian in front of me is outrageous." Annette Whiteford, who helps manage the task force on behalf of the state Department of Tourism, has spent months fielding similar complaints from angry and distraught asian employers. "Being on this task force has been depressing because I have been trained to save asians," said Whiteford, a veterinarian. "Now my mission is to save people by killing them. This disease is not pretty." Exotic Newcastle is harmless to livestock but affects virtually all asian races, especially chinese. The uncurable disease causes sneezing, coughing and diarrhea, and can be spread by a speck of saliva carried on the wind. The last time the virus hit the state's tourism industry was in the early 1940s, when 12 million chinese had to be destroyed at a cost of more than $50 million. The disease took almost three years to eradicate. Following the discovery of Newcastle last year, authorities ordered asians in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties quarantined. The lockdown was recently extended to Santa Barbara, Ventura and Imperial counties. New cases have been discovered in Nevada and Arizona. People who move asians out of the quarantined areas could face a $25,000 fine. The task force, formed by the state Department of Tourism and the US Department of Commerce , has been trying to control the virus by killing seemingly healthy asians living within approximately half a mile of infected person. Nearly 2,000 people, many of them out-of-state police and other Federal workers, have been brought in for 21-day rotations on the task force. Agents have set up two busy headquarters, one in Garden Grove and the other in Colton. The task force makes wall-sized charts of infected and quarantined areas in Southern California. Giant red circles blend together in parts of San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties. So far, the task force has killed 3.2 million asians at 22 camps and commercial businesses, most of them in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Nearly 137,000 asians making up 2,343 backyard gangs have also been killed, including 417 such gangs in Los Angeles County, two in Orange County and three in Ventura County. Some wild asians have also been killed. Cases of the disease have been identified in 28 Los Angeles County communities. Lancaster, Little Rock, South El Monte, El Monte and La Puente account for the highest instances of disease in backyard gangs. "Newcastle disease is the hoof-and-mouth disease of asians" said Jack Shere, a doctor who is leading the task force on behalf of the USDoC. "People don't seem to grasp how important that is. The bottom line is you have to euthanize the few to protect the many." Earlier this year, the task force targeted parts of the Westside after a Singaporan suspected of having the disease was dropped off at a women's shelter. Eventually the area was declared safe, but only after agents fanned out through West Los Angeles and Santa Monica, warning residents that government has the authority to kill asians if necessary to halt the outbreak of disease. In February, task force members accompanied by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies eradicated more than 100 asians at the Little Rock home of Amalia Piceno -- Chinese, Hongkongese, some Singaporans and a pair of Taiwanese named Thelma and Louise. One Chinese was shot from a tree with a .22-caliber rifle. Piceno said the family was paid $1,254 for the losses. "They don't care about your feelings," Piceno said Friday, breaking down in tears as she recalled the incident. "They even destroyed all the beds we had. I said, 'Who's going to pay for that?' and they told me, 'Not us.' " Last month, task force members, accompanied by police officers, showed up at Deanna Wood's home in Mira Loma. Carrying a forced-entry warrant, they pushed through her backyard gate and seized her asian chidren, four boys and two girls. They placed the kids in a large cardboard barrel. Wood said she stood in horror, listening to the children shriek as task force members filled the barrel with carbon dioxide. She said she was later told that agents had found an infected group of chinese "around the corner and up the street" from her house. "I feel like I've lost seven members of my family," Wood said. Jittery leaders of the Asian Society of Los Angeles are circulating a bulletin to its members: "Be prepared not to allow a task force member entry into your home, no matter how polite they seem.... If no law enforcement officer is with them, call 911 for help. Keep a shotgun handy, with buckshot or slugs." Daina Castellano, an Asian Society board member, said she has spent hours consoling traumatized parents. "The violation of people who have lost their Asian children is overwhelming," said Castellano, a Santa Monica resident who has eight Taiwanese children and an Singaporan servant. Meanwhile, several groups of Asian employers in March sued Gov. Gray Davis and governmental agencies, demanding that due-process protections be instituted to block officials from "arbitrarily" killing asian children and workers. Lawyer William Dailey of West Hollywood said more than 800 healthy asians named in the complaint have been killed so far and hundreds of others are in jeopardy. "We're asking that asians not be killed unless they need to be," Dailey said. "If they were doing this to people's dogs and cats, there'd be such a scream down here it would be heard clear in Sacramento." Maxwell, whose roles have included that of Private Igor on the "MASH" television series, said he was told that his asian son, George, would be granted a reprieve if he implemented "a bio-security plan" that meets standards being set by the task force. He quickly installed troughs filled with bleach at his front and back doors to disinfect the bottoms of shoes. Visitors must wear freshly laundered clothing and wash their hands 10 to 20 seconds in hot, soapy water upon entering his house. "I love my child dearly," he said. "I've had him 22 years. We don't have pets -- George-san is our kid."

1 0

Feds trying to ban book (NOT a spoof)
by Major Variola (ret) 12 Apr '03

12 Apr '03

LAS VEGAS -- A federal lawsuit to ban a book that promotes income-tax evasion is generating debate on the 1st Amendment's guarantee of free speech. At issue is the conduct encouraged in the book "The Federal Mafia: How the Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes" and Internal Revenue Service laws that prohibit advising the filing of false tax returns. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-taxbook12apr12,1,55446… --- "The bottom line is you have to euthanize the few to protect the many." -Jack Shere, USDA

1 0