Earl Evleth

I hope that the American authorities come
across a little better than indicated below.

The French are looking for mountains, not molehills.

Earl

****






Thursday Â*»Â* December 25 Â*»Â* 2003


Flights between Paris and L.A. cancelled for security concerns

Â*

The Associated Press

Thursday, December 25, 2003

PARIS -- French justice and law enforcement officials on Thursday said they
found little evidence that terrorists were planning to use U.S.-bound
aircraft to launch attacks against American targets over Christmas, despite
warnings from the U.S. government that prompted the cancellation of six
flights.

No arrests were made, and French authorities released seven men, one French,
one American and several Algerians, after briefly questioning them late
Wednesday, said an Interior Ministry spokesman. He said the investigation
was all but on hold.

A French judicial official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that
none of the passengers on the cancelled flights, including those who were
questioned at the airport, were known to intelligence authorities or had
known links with Islamic extremist groups.

The people held for interrogation were chosen because their names appeared
on a list provided by American authorities, the ministry spokesman said on
condition of anonymity.

The judicial official said that there was not enough evidence of a possible
terrorist attack and that, as a result, a formal investigation had not been
launched.

The official also said the name of a Tunisian national with a pilot's
license had appeared on the American list of suspicious people who may
attempt to board a flight. But French intelligence officials determined that
the man was in Tunisia and had no plans to leave the North African country.

The official added that the Tunisian had no criminal record and did not
belong to any Islamic radical groups.

Intelligence warnings of possible terrorist plots to use aircraft against
American targets prompted the cancellation of six Air France flights between
Los Angeles and Paris on Wednesday and triggered intense security talks
between U.S. officials and their foreign counterparts.

Three of the cancelled flights were headed to Los Angeles and three more
were returning to Paris.

Casey

    > The French are looking for mountains, not molehills.

The Bushites will continue to do this until the world get tired of
the "cry wolf" game, and then everyone will ignore the Bushites.


Casey

Lil

"Casey" <> wrote in message news:<z4DGb.19449
    >
    > The Bushites will continue to do this until the world get tired of
    > the "cry wolf" game, and then everyone will ignore the Bushites.
    >
    >
Well, they have to do something to escalate American fears. They've
cried wolf too many times and inconvenienced Americans too many times.
People are probably more concerned with the single incidence of
suspected BSE in Washington.

Merry Christmas from SHRUB and Co.!

Charles Hawtrey

Earl Evleth <> staggered to the nearest keyboard and
wrote:

    >I hope that the American authorities come
    >across a little better than indicated below.
    >The French are looking for mountains, not molehills.

If the "intelligence" agencies have any sense (of which I have always
been unsure) the true story will not be told to reporters, so that
sources and methods of information will not be compromised. Better to
leak a spurious explanation that will keep Al Quaida off track.

I doubt we'll ever know what the situation really was.

Poldy

In article <>,
(Charles Hawtrey) wrote:

    > Earl Evleth <> staggered to the nearest keyboard and
    > wrote:
    >
    > >I hope that the American authorities come
    > >across a little better than indicated below.
    > >
    > >The French are looking for mountains, not molehills.
    >
    > If the "intelligence" agencies have any sense (of which I have always
    > been unsure) the true story will not be told to reporters, so that
    > sources and methods of information will not be compromised. Better to
    > leak a spurious explanation that will keep Al Quaida off track.
    >
    > I doubt we'll ever know what the situation really was.
    >

Now I can see the French criticized for releasing these suspects.
Because under Ashcroft's rule, they'd be detained indefinitely,
especially the Algerians.

Nancy Kay

In article <poldy->,
poldy <> wrote:

    > > I doubt we'll ever know what the situation really was.
    > >
    >
    > Now I can see the French criticized for releasing these suspects.
    > Because under Ashcroft's rule, they'd be detained indefinitely,
    > especially the Algerians.

I heard on the news tonight that several on the list they were looking
for did not show up for the flight. Must have heard of the cancellation??

Earl Evleth

On 25/12/03 22:47, in article poldy-,
"poldy" <> wrote:

    > In article <>,
    > (Charles Hawtrey) wrote:
    >
    >> Earl Evleth <> staggered to the nearest keyboard and
    >> wrote:
    >>
    >>> I hope that the American authorities come
    >>> across a little better than indicated below.
    >>>
    >>> The French are looking for mountains, not molehills.
    >>
    >> If the "intelligence" agencies have any sense (of which I have always
    >> been unsure) the true story will not be told to reporters, so that
    >> sources and methods of information will not be compromised. Better to
    >> leak a spurious explanation that will keep Al Quaida off track.
    >>
    >> I doubt we'll ever know what the situation really was.
    >>
    >
    > Now I can see the French criticized for releasing these suspects.
    > Because under Ashcroft's rule, they'd be detained indefinitely,
    > especially the Algerians.


One French TV interview as of a Frenchman with Algerian background
who was traveling to LA with his French wife or girlfriend. He sais he
was questioned a long tile, his bags and personal papers gone through.

He sounded "pretty French" to me, no banlieue accent. So these kind of
people get profiled on the American computers and cause some of the
problem. Traveling with a woman is not standard suicide terrorist
behavior, etc etc.

What we don`t know is who cancelled their flight. If the DST or others
are not opening a special investigation this means they don't
take this whole situation "au sérieux". Which is about the greatest
procedural insult the French can make. They won`t accuse the Americans
authorities of being "full of it" but unless something turns up
credibility will sink to even lower levesl, if possible.

If something does turn up the French will be happy, since it will
allow them to unravel another terrorist organization, something
they love doing.

Earl

Mxsmanic

poldy writes:

    > Now I can see the French criticized for releasing these suspects.
    > Because under Ashcroft's rule, they'd be detained indefinitely,
    > especially the Algerians.

A large part of the French population is Arab in ancestry or by birth;
it would not be practical to through them all in jail in the U.S.
fashion.

Earl Evleth

On 26/12/03 5:53, in article
nonacks37310-, "Nancy Kay"
<> wrote:

    > In article <poldy->,
    > poldy <> wrote:
    >
    >>> I doubt we'll ever know what the situation really was.
    >>>
    >>
    >> Now I can see the French criticized for releasing these suspects.
    >> Because under Ashcroft's rule, they'd be detained indefinitely,
    >> especially the Algerians.
    >
    > I heard on the news tonight that several on the list they were looking
    > for did not show up for the flight. Must have heard of the cancellation??

The cancellations will be examined if they haven`t been yet.

The one information of a Tunisian with pilot experience is that he
is in Tunisia and was not on the passenger list. I think this
information is what got distorted into there being Air France
flight personnel involved. I suspect this is not true and
was probably one of the many false rumors innocently created
by journalists eager for a scoop.

However, the forces of disinformation in the Pentagon have targeted
the French since the beginning of the year. So what is of interest
is tracing down the sources of this disinformation.

To date all, Al Qaeda terrorists have have had profiles of having prior
connections with radical Islamic groups. So the DST looks into this kind of
thing very deeply. When they get one person, they are able to unzip
the whole group since they will have interacted.

Ben Laden's people have not so far had the experience in clandestinity that
cold war Soviet spies did. Generally these were not members of the
communist party. One of the most damaging agents for the US
was the FBI agent Robert P. Hanssen who hid well. He appeared conservative,
good family man, etc. No profile. He did it for money and most American
spies working for the Soviets did. Ben Landen is not going to be able
to "hire" westerners to commit suicide. But he might be able to hire
somebody on the ground crew to plant a bomb in an airplane, however.
That kind of act will have no forewarning.

It is also in the interest of Al Qaeda to plant false leads to get the
system all worked up over. If you trip a burglar alarm 10 times
nobody pays attention at the 11th sounding off, and you burgle in
peace and quiet. It is also amusing to Al Qaeda to see the authorities
dance around in panic and get progressively discredited. Eventually
Al Qaeda will commit an act unanticipated and add to the discrediting
of the authorities.

Earl

Earl Evleth

On 26/12/03 8:30, in article ,
"Mxsmanic" <> wrote:

    > A large part of the French population is Arab in ancestry or by birth;
    > it would not be practical to through them all in jail in the U.S.
    > fashion.


Sarko is working on this.

Earl