The new policy is a compromise aimed at resolving a dispute between the Departments of Justice and State.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attack on New York and the Pentagon, the Justice Department wanted to stop granting visas altogether to all males ages 16 to 45 from Muslim countries, according to State Department sources.

With more than 300 members of al-Qaeda already corralled by the U.S. and its allies, and a beleaguered Attorney General John Ashcroft due on Capitol Hill next week, the debate on the extraordinary wartime tribunals that provide no trial by jury and can result in the death penalty has ramped up with lawsuits looming.

It was explained to Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that the Military Tribunals is a DoD decision, not a DoJ decision.  --Duh

Kareem Irfan, chairman of Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, said: "I know some Christian families would prefer their children to take some time out and do Bible study during lunch time. Some Hindu groups have groups that study religion or read prayers. This accommodation will make it easier for students to turn to their own forms of prayer without affecting their fellow students.''

The Montgomery County town of Kensington has banned the jolly old man from its annual tree lighting ceremony this Sunday. "Because two families in our town felt that they would be uncomfortable with Santa Claus being a part of our event," Mayor Lynn Raufaste said. 

The Kensington Town Council banned Santa after the complaints. 

In years past, Santa would arrive on a fire truck and light the tree with the mayor. But on Sunday, the mayor will do the honors by herself. 

Smokers that fail to properly ventilate buildings, would face fines of up to $750 per violation if they failed to take steps to mitigate the problem.

One observer remarked, "today secondhand smoke, tomorrow flatulence."

The September 11th Fund has received donor pledges totaling $334 million, with $250 million already collected and $47 million distributed. The fund is a project of United Way and New York Community Trust. 

Groups receiving charitable contributions from the fund have little or nothing to do with helping victims of the attacks; monies are used for, amoung other things, 'ethnic media,' office equipment and massage therapy.

In return for all this help, MESA members not only failed to alert Americans to the dangers posed by Islamic extremists, they also went out of their way to find fault with U.S. actions in the Middle East, such as warning that if America expelled Iraq from Kuwait in the Gulf War the results would prove to be disastrous.

WASHINGTON – Authorities have found documents on nuclear weapons in an al-Qaeda safehouse in Afghanistan. The material's significance is in question, much of it could have been taken off the Internet. 

The student terrorists practice making declarations in english: 
"We are going to take over the plane!"
"Nobody move." "Don't move." "Don't make any moves!"

There are also reports that, as a 'backup,' some students have been heard practicing, "Do you want fries with that."

What the HELL do you think 'al Qaeda' means? 

It means "Dumb Shits!" 

You guys really are al Qaeda !

Police said airport security found a .22-caliber gun hidden inside a package wrapped like a Christmas gift in his luggage. They also said they found a switchblade knife in a shaving kit and an 18-inch sword in a cane he was using -- as he tried to board a flight at Birmingham International Airport last month. 

Price contends he tried to bring the weapons on the plane because he was worried that Delta Air Lines wasn't providing enough security for passengers. 

Speaking from Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control, Bush talked about the anthrax attacks that have plagued the country for the last month, killing four Americans and exposing dozens to the deadly bacteria -- including employees of ABC, NBC and CBS.

"Here in the United States, we were founded as a nation that practiced slavery, and slaves quite frequently were killed even though they were innocent," said Mr. Clinton in a speech to nearly 1,000 students at Georgetown University's ornate Gaston Hall.

"This country once looked the other way when a significant number of native Americans were dispossessed and killed to get their land or their mineral rights or because they were thought of as less than fully human.

"And we are still paying a price today," said Mr. Clinton, who was invited to address the students by the university's School of Foreign Service.

Dershowitz said he always favored letting criminals go free rather than unjustly detaining innocent people, but now "civil rights activists" need to readjust their thinking, 

Unmarked on maps but known to locals like the palms of their hands, these "karez," as they're called in Afghanistan, are legendary for bedeviling outside armies.

They likely would pose a potential problem for any U.S. ground troops dispatched to battle the ruling Taliban army and terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda followers - all well acquainted with the ancient network.
 

"Around $300 million was estimated as needed for the immediate response to the September 11 attacks, including cash gifts to families," she said.
   "The remaining $200 million likely would be needed for such things as investments in volunteer mobilization, chapter development for response to weapons of mass destruction, expanded blood security and continuity of operations efforts."

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said it was an "anathema" that money Americans gave for the victims' families was ending up "sequestered" into long-term Red Cross plans.
   "When the American people wrote checks for $100, they had the expectation that it would go to the families, not for 'continuity' or 'reprograms,' Mr. Spitzer said. 

 Rep. Billy Tauzin, Louisiana Republican and chairman of the committee, asked Dr. Healy why the Red Cross recently said it would accept no more donations to the Liberty Fund, when families were still in need and the Red Cross had announced it would use funds for other needs. "Don't you find that awfully strange?" he asked.

"I use to have a warm spot in my Heart for the Red Cross; til I discovered it was just Heart Burn."

According to a retired agent, "they slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up," he said, adding, "The tail was used as an antenna. They made a monstrosity. They tested him and tested him. They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that."

The project came to a screeching halt during one of their first live trials. They took it out to a park and put him out of the van, and a taxi comes and runs him over. There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead.

This includes deployment of specialists from the Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST). 

The primary task of NEST is constantly to be on the lookout for potential nuclear or radiological weapons that might be smuggled onto the U.S. mainland.

After the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, NEST was put on a state of high alert and operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the nation's capital and New York City monitoring for nuclear-related weapons. 

A UNIQUE manual for Islamic terrorists, detailing every aspect of how to fight a guerrilla war, from biochemical attacks to finding the fatal pressure point during hand-to-hand combat, has been obtained by western intelligence agencies. 

The 7 Vol., 7,000-page guide - entitled Encyclopaedia of Jihad - provides an insight into how terrorists from Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network operate in both urban environments and on the battlefield. 

The Arkansas Supreme Court, in a 6-0 decision on Thursday, eliminated the last legal roadblock to construction of the Clinton Presidential Library by upholding Little Rock's method of seizing land for it.

It ruled Eugene Pfeifer III, a paraplegic, who owned three acres of the proposed 28-acre library site, failed to prove that the $200 million complex on the south bank of the Arkansas River did not meet the state's definition of a park. 

Judge Dewey I. Cheetham, speaking for the court, said, "Republican Pfeifer doesn't have a leg to stand on." 
 

Rosie O'Donnell: 'I Love Bush'... 

November 2, 2001 -- Bill Clinton has reportedly said he is better trained to handle America's terrorism crisis than President Bush. 

Heather Mills, the blond fiancée of Paul McCartney, said the former president made the revelation to her recently when she asked if he still wanted to be in the White House. 

"I said to Clinton, ‘Do you wish you were president now?' and he said, ‘I feel I would be better trained for it, more prepared,' " Mills said, according to Ananova news service. 

"It must be frustrating for him." 

Sudan's former defense minister, major general Elfatih Erwa, agreed, saying that he tried to warn the Clinton administration that letting bin Laden escape from the Sudan to Afghanistan was a major blunder."We knew that if he went to Afghanistan no one could control him (but) the U.S. didn't care," Erwa said. "They forgot about human intelligence after the Cold War. The feeling of supremacy led them astray. Many think that. Now they're harvesting the thorns." 

Our national borders are the front lines of America's war against terrorism. It should come as no surprise to anyone that our borders are being overrun. They are open doors to the easy entry – legal and illegal – of those who would do us harm. 

The facts are beyond refutation. At this moment, there are more than 31 million people living in the United States who were born in a foreign country. This is an increase of 11.3 million, or 57 percent, since 1990. 

At this moment, between nine million and 10 million immigrants are illegally living in the United States. The illegal population in America has increased by an average of 500,000 per year for the last 10 years. None of them were checked for criminal records, diseases, ability to support themselves or connections with terrorist groups. 

Surely it must be clear, even to those who consider it an act of bigotry to restrict any kind of immigration, that if a poor Mexican laborer can successfully sneak into the country, so can terrorists whose primary purpose is to kill as many Americans as possible.

They believe that the anthrax attacks on Washington, New York and Florida are likely the work of one or more extremists in the United States who are probably not connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist organization, government officials said yesterday.

None of the 60 to 80 threat reports gathered daily by U.S. intelligence agencies has connected the envelopes containing anthrax spores to al Qaeda or other known organized terrorist groups, and the evidence gleaned from the spore samples so far provides no solid link to a foreign government or laboratory, several officials said.

WASHINGTON (AP) The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, complained about the anti-gay slur as the bomb's   message. Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, in a letter to the group Wednesday, said the Navy does not tolerate discrimination and the bomb's message was "inappropriate.'' 

"We sincerely apologize to the queers in the Taliban, it wont happen again."