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US Food Aid Propaganda
by Matthew Gaylor 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

Earlier I had sent notice of an article to my mailing list (Freematt's Alerts) titled "One object of information warfare -- or "infowar"..." the original located at <http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/story1c100301.html>. Then as a watched the news tonight I heard again what I've been hearing on various American media ad infinitum that the US Military had dropped 37,500 food packages along with the first wave of attacks on Afghanistan, on Sunday. Realizing that there are several million refugees in the northern areas of Afghanistan, such a small number of food packages doesn't seem really that adequate. But if you realize why the US Military would bother dropping such minuscule numbers of aid packages it only makes sense with a backdrop of PSYOPS. "We call psychological operations (PSYOPS) the ultimate weapon," said retired Col. Jim Noll, who commanded the 13th Psychological Operations Battalion in the Persian Gulf War and helped develop tactics that led to the surrender of large numbers of Iraqi troops. For example, U.S. food distribution to Afghan refugees has "far-reaching psychological impact," Noll said." My theory is that if you hear that the US is dropping food packages along with bombs it reinforces the propaganda that the US is doing this to "help" the Afghan people. It doesn't matter from a psychological operations perspective if the aid is effective but rather it only matters if the target group thinks you're helping. In this case the target audience being the Afghan refugees and the unwitting American media consumer. I'm rather disappointed but certainly not surprised that the establishment media doesn't pick up on any of this. Regards, Matt- ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt(a)coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************

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circular webs: bert & osama in undoctored photo
by Dynamite Bob 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,36218,00.html NEW YORK Do the global terror links reach even as far as Sesame Street? Is Bert the Muppet a henchman of terrorist mastermind Usama bin Laden? The answer is clearly no, but puzzled newspaper readers are still wondering how the Sesame Street icon ended up in a news service photograph of a pro-bin Laden protest in Bangladesh. The pictures clearly showed demonstrators holding up a large poster in which bin Laden and Bert are standing next to each other. The picture quickly began making the e-mail rounds Wednesday morning, astonishing and provoking laughter from Los Angeles to Switzerland to South Korea. The poster is a collage of pictures of bin Laden in white robes, camouflage fatigues and lecturing with a microphone in his hand, all ringing a large portrait of the bearded Saudi exile. Along the bottom is printed "Usama." On the right side of the picture, just past the right shoulder of the large portrait, is irascible Bert, bosom buddy of Ernie. The photographs do not appear to have been doctored. They were taken by news photographers covering at least two different demonstrations from different angles on at least two separate days. The first known Bert-bin Laden posters appeared on Oct. 5 in Dhaka, and photographs of them were printed by the Dutch news service Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau and the Associated Press and Reuters news services. At least one other photograph including the posters was taken by Reuters photographer Rafiqur Rahman in Jakarta on Oct. 9. Reuters spokeswoman Felicia Cosby said the photos were authentic. "We've just noticed it ourselves, since you queried, that there is Bert on that poster," she said. "I don't know if they're mass-producing these posters, but what I can say is that it is definitely our policy not to doctor photographs." Associated Press spokesman Jack Stokes said the AP photographs were also untouched. "We haven't changed the photo at all," he said. "We have very strict editing guidelines." The AP photographs were taken by Pavel Rahman. Stokes said he did not know if Rahman was another name for, or related to, Rafiqur Rahman. Cosby said Rafiqur Rahman, a native Bangladeshi, did not know that he was photographing a Muppet when he covered a prayer demonstration for bin Laden's health Oct. 9. "The photographer is as bemused as we are," she said. "He didn't know what that furry creature was." Rahman is going to a local marketplace to hunt down more Bert-bin Laden posters Wednesday, Cosby said. The creator of a parody Web site dedicated to "Evil Bert" said he had a theory about how an associate of Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and Snuffleupagus had been recruited into the Al Qaeda cause. For several years, Dino Ignacio, 27, a San Francisco 3-D animator, had been maintaining a humor Web site that purported to "prove" that the bad-tempered, banana-shaped Jim Henson creation was connected to evil causes from Hitler and the JFK assassination to the stolen Pamela Anderson sex tapes and Kevin Costner movies. But he stopped maintaining the site when he lost interest in 1998. A week after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, someone e-mailed him an altered picture of bin Laden standing next to Bert wearing a trenchcoat and looking very angry. Ignacio didn't post the picture on his site out of respect for victims of the terror attack, but the picture began showing up on Bert fan sites and in other odd corners of the Internet. "What I'm thinking is that [someone there] has access to the Internet, got this picture to pop up off of Alta Vista or Google and put together this collage," he said. Of course, the other explanation might be that Bert has finally ditched Ernie, canceled his account at Mr. Hooper's shop and taken his Kalashnikov to the other side of the war. Sesame Workshop issued a statement saying it was very unhappy with the sudden connection between a lovable character with a penchant for penguins and bottlecaps and the most wanted man in the world. "Sesame Street has always stood for mutual respect and understanding," a spokeswoman said. "Were outraged that our characters would be used in this unfortunate and distasteful manner. This is not at all humorous.The people responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves. We are exploring all legal options to stop this abuse and any similar abuses in the future." When asked about Bert's current whereabouts, however, the spokeswoman replied: "No comment." Regardless of the explanation, Ignacio said he doesn't find his "Evil Bert" idea very funny right now. "It's weirding me out," he said. "It's like reality imitating the Web, but it's taking something that I did so much further. I don't want to get into this one because it's too real." ------- Got Osama?

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Re: Talking to the Press Considered Harmful
by sonofgomez709 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

On Tue, Oct 09, 2001 at 10:09:25AM -0700, Tim May wrote: > I've had a couple of reporters try to reach me for "quotes." When I > turned them down, they replied along the lines of "But it'll only take a > minute of your time." All the worse, but they miss this point. There is a tiny bit of room for negotiations. You could agree to do the interview on condition that they read you back the quotes (or email you back the quotes) that they're going to use in the article. Note I'm not saying you should give interviews to the press -- none of my business, really -- but there is a way to do it and avoid being misquoted. -Declan Or people could contact me for tcmay "quotes" and I could respond with a digitially signed tmcay(a)got.net 'quote'... John Gilmore <sonofgomez709(a)yahoo.com> "I Don't Make It Up...I Just Make It Better..." http://profiles.yahoo.com/sonofgomez709 http://www.technopagan.org/politics/xenix/ http://members.w-link.net/~sog/INDEX.HTM

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who wants to be a millionaire
by mattd 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

Ill stay off the list when all the spam and govt agents stay off it S a n d y P.S. Mattd's dishonesty is very interesting. He added the "streetsweeper" after my name within the supposedly quoted area. As John Wayne said in THE COWBOYS, "I don't hold prison against a man, but I can't stand a liar." mattd is a liar Sandys sure nailed me there the old pedophile animal torturer,As hes obviously a wide walking genius maybe he can help me out...Im wondering if the reward for binny binny bang bang is encrypted and wouldnt that make it easier for someone(one of the 4 wives?)to collect anonymously.Sandy? You dont have to stand me...just squeal like a pig .

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CNN sucking Powell's dick
by Dynamite Bob 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

Wednesday October 10 10:48 AM ET Terror Statement May Hold Secret Msg. WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell cautioned on Wednesday that the statements made by Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization and broadcast on televisions around the world may contain ``some kind of message.'' Powell said analysts were looking at the statements, including the one made Tuesday by al-Qaida spokesman Abu Ghaith praising the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States and warning there would be more. The secretary of state, appearing on CNN, also thanked the network for limiting its broadcast of the statements. ``I think it's responsible on the part of CNN to shade that a little bit so that we don`t have it coming full force at us and with the potential of perhaps conveying some kind of message,'' he said. CNN did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment about what exactly they will air in the future. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20011010/us/attacks_cnn_1.html

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CIA capturing Al-Zawahiri's women as instigation?
by Dynamite Bob 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

This important arrest shows how much the anti Osama Bin Laden device built by US is getting more and more efficient and almost near the final capture of the terrorist responsible for attacks of two years ago against the USA embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al-Zawahiri has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates, which is one of few Arabic countries recognize and support openly the afghan Talebani, the major supporters of the terrorist sheik. Moreover, the American line to hit the Islamic terrorism seems very dense and before to be captured in Dubai Al-Zawahiri had tried to erase his traces between Pakistan, Yemen (where the CIA had captured his women last December), and the United Arab Emirates, instead, they have been revealed fatal for his capture. http://www.analisidifesa.it/numero6/eng/ciaosamaeng.htm

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H A L L O W E E N CELLO OFFER
by Cellodepot.com 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

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Fwd: Dutch Government wants to regulate strong cryptography
by Steve Schear 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

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Tracking Anthrax Source
by Mark Talbot 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/10/09/MN203701.DTL&type=printable "Like all living things, anthrax bacteria evolve with subtle characteristics unique to each geographic area. Forensic biologists can trace those changes in bacterial DNA. If old stockpiles of Soviet-era anthrax were sold by rogue scientists to terrorists, genes could identify those as well. "

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Register: RIAA secret meeting a hoax.
by Elyn Wollensky 10 Oct '01

10 Oct '01

looks like the RIAA thing was a hoax ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/31/22138.html The trouble with the Internet is that it's just too darn fast. Publish a story and it's all around the world before you've caught your breath. Or had a chance to change what you'd incautiously posted prematurely. Which is certainly the case with Monday's 'Music biz wants tougher DMCA, CPRM 2 to protect copyright' story. <snip>

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