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RESCUE It happened in an instant. I dropped my canoe paddle in the lake and as it started to float away, I instinctively reached over the side of the canoe to grab it. Bad move. In the blink of an eye I was dumped into the middle of Nuttings Lake in December with no life jacket. As I struggled to right my canoe and retrieve fishing rods and tackle boxes, the numbing cold water brought me to a stark reality. The clock was ticking. I had little time. I had to make decisions fast. My first thought was to un-swamp...

Dear All, Sorry if this is not appropriate for everyone, but I just sent this to my entire email list, and I am too tired to pick and choose to whom it should go. I thought you would like to know, I am back home, safe and sound from the wilds of Gulfport, Mississippi, where I did, I am sure, I some of the most important work of my life. Mom even saved a life by sending an epinephrine pen with me (a very expensive item, and the only ones we had...she actually sent 8), which we used on a...

Help! I need to tap the unlimited knowledge of my fellow freepers. Last night I was in a political discussion with the CEO of a company I represent. We were discussing the Viet Nam war. My premise was that we never lost a major battle in Viet Nam and if not for the collapse of support for the war in the media and subsequently by the populace, we were very close to winning the war, and could have done so had in a short amount of time. I believe that the end of the war was closer than the public...

Daniel Pipes has been researching Islam for the past three and a half decades. He directs the Middle East Forum - a Philadelphia think tank. Among his twelve books, four focus on Islam. In 2003, President Bush appointed him to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Years before September 11, 2001, Pipes uttered warnings that militant Islam was a violent threat to American security. In 1998, he wrote in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal that militant Muslims were at war with America, not because of what America did, but because Islamists perceive themselves as being...

Space shuttle test reveals 'smoking gun' in disaster Simulation of Columbia launch mishap puts hole in wing section By Kathy Sawyer THE WASHINGTON POST Tuesday, July 8, 2003 SAN ANTONIO -- With a resounding "thwack," a piece of foam traveling at 500 mph blew a ragged hole the size of a stop sign in a section of a space shuttle wing Monday, effectively shattering any remaining doubts about what destroyed Columbia and its crew Feb. 1. "We have found the smoking gun," said Scott Hubbard, a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board who supervised the test. Austin American Statesman...

HOUSTON - The panel investigating the loss of the space shuttle Columbia said Thursday that a hole developed in its aluminum skin, allowing superheated gas to flow into the left wing, causing the ship's destruction. "Preliminary analysis by a NASA working group this week indicates that the temperature indications seen in Columbia's left wheel well during entry would require the presence of plasma," the superheated gas that surrounds the shuttle as it enters the atmosphere, the board said in a statement released late Thursday. The statement from the board, led by retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., means that engineers...

Here is your complimentary Stratfor Weekly, written by our Chairman and Founder, Dr. George Friedman. Please feel free to email this analysis to a friend. Smoke and Mirrors: The United States, Iraq and Deception Summary In any war, deception is a strategic necessity. However, the "bodyguard of lies" surrounding plans for a U.S. attack on Iraq - - vital to building an international coalition of support -- could be confusing the American public and endangering political support for the war effort. The operational and tactical levels of the war now appear to be clearer than the ultimate goal. That is...

Man admits to helping dump windshield victim, strikes plea deal By Melody McDonald Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH -- A Fort Worth man who helped remove and dump the body of a homeless pedestrian lodged in the windshield of a car entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors this afternoon and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In a short hearing before state district Judge James Wilson, Clete Denel Jackson, 28, pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence and agreed to testify against Chante Jawan Mallard, the woman accused of hitting Greg Biggs then driving home and leaving him...

Stratfor Weekly: Iraq's Strategic Dilemma Here is your complimentary Stratfor Weekly, written by our Chairman and Founder, Dr. George Friedman. Please feel free to email this analysis to a friend. Iraq's Strategic Dilemma Summary Saddam Hussein's future course of action depends upon his perception of his military options and capabilities. U.S. officials view the Iraqi military through the lens of 1991, but Iraqi leaders have had 11 years to rethink their war-fighting doctrine. They know they will be immobilized and that U.S. air power will shatter their communications and intelligence networks. Of necessity, therefore, they have developed a static and...

The War After Iraq Summary For the United States, fighting and winning a war against Iraq has become a strategic imperative. Although it is true that this war could engender greater support for al Qaeda among the Islamic masses, the consequences of not attacking Baghdad -- from Washington's perspective -- could be worse. But even more important, a victory and U.S. occupation of a conquered Iraq would reshape the political dynamic in the Middle East. The United States would be in a position to manipulate the region on an unprecedented scale. Analysis The current struggle over the soul of the...

Who are these "Muslim allies" our State Department keeps talking about? Do we have any, in any fundamental, shared-values sense? Millions of Americans saw the Arab street explode with joy on September 11. Millions more read excerpts from the government-controlled press in allegedly friendly Arab countries, all spitting out the same blame-the-West conspiracy theories...we "had it coming," "the CIA did it," "the Jews did it." Most of us drew the obvious conclusion: that "Arab ally" is, at best, an oxymoron. And beyond the Arab world, what? Leaders of Pakistan and Indonesia seem less Janus-faced than those in Arab lands, but ...

Shedding light on a dark war Congress, others tire of anti-drug operations' secrecy 05/03/2001 By Tod Robberson / The Dallas Morning News PANAMA CITY – A U.S. surveillance plane crashes in a Colombian combat zone, killing all aboard. A private U.S. military contractor sends Americans into combat against rebels who have downed a police helicopter. A civilian aircraft flown by missionaries is shot out of the skies after being tracked by a CIA-contracted aircraft over Peru. These are the types of U.S. operations – all conducted under the cloak of secrecy and all in the name of fighting drug traffickers ...

Pondering a pardon New president may face predicament if Clinton indicted 09/18/2000 By Michelle Mittelstadt / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON – Even before he's fully settled into the White House, the nation's next president may be forced to confront a question rife with political and legal implications: what to do if Bill Clinton is indicted. To pardon or not to pardon? Although the question is speculative and may not come to pass, the debate is not merely academic. Independent counsel Robert Ray is awaiting Mr. Clinton's departure from office Jan. 20 before announcing whether he will seek an indictment ...

IRS found to owe millions to taxpayers 07/06/2000 Associated Press WASHINGTON – Thousands of taxpayers overpaid $25 million in income taxes that should have been credited to their accounts or refunded by the Internal Revenue Service, according to an independent audit that cites computer problems as the main culprit. Thousands more individuals, families and businesses forfeited their rights to refunds or credits, or were at risk of doing so, to the sum of $335 million. These taxpayers failed to file late tax returns in time for legal deadlines to qualify for the money. The IRS says it has returned or ...

Officer's wife shoots suspected burglar San Antonio investigators are looking into the fatal shooting of a burglary suspect by a police officer's wife early this morning. Police officials said an off-duty police officer was working security at around 2 a.m. at a Northside apartment complex in the 8600 block of Starcrest Drive when the shooting occurred. The officer, who has not been identified, lives at the complex and heard some noises in the parking lot. When he went to investigate, he found two men sitting in a car. When the officer confronted the men, one of them ran away. The ...

Sect gives details of ex-FBI official's deposition about assault Ex-official thinks assault violated plan, sect says 02/24/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News A former top FBI official has acknowledged that sending tanks into the Branch Davidian compound was inconsistent with the Washington-approved plan for ending the 51-day siege, the sect's lead lawyer said Wednesday. Former deputy assistant FBI director Danny Coulson also testified in a deposition on Tuesday that he and other senior FBI leaders were stunned when they saw live network TV images of FBI tanks ramming deep into the sect's compound on April 19, 1993, ...

FBI eventually forced to drop claims about Waco test, expert says British experts say data not considered classified in their country 02/18/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News The release of full plans for a potentially pivotal infrared field test in the Branch Davidian case came after FBI officials were forced to abandon their claim that even basic information about the camera used in Waco was classified, an infrared expert said Thursday. Detailed protocols for the test planned for late March at Fort Hood were released Wednesday after a day of private meetings between both sides, their scientific ...

Media protest secrecy of planned Waco tests Davidian lawyers split over study's validity 02/16/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News Media organizations on Tuesday challenged the secrecy of a test to determine whether government agents fired on Branch Davidians in the 1993 siege. And lawyers for the sect publicly acknowledged disagreements about whether secret plans for the test included enough safeguards to ensure its validity. One lawyer for the Branch Davidians said Tuesday that he was so suspicious about the plans for the infrared field test that he was preparing a backup test at the site of the ...

Army's help sought with Davidian tests Special counsel plans scientific re-creation of what may have occurred at 1993 siege 02/10/2000 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News The Waco special counsel has asked the Army to lend a small arsenal of firearms, tanks, camouflage gear and personnel for a March field test aimed at determining whether government agents fired guns at the end of the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff. A Feb. 1 letter to the Pentagon from deputy special counsel Thomas A. Schweich stated that the planned test will require a wide array of military gear and personnel and ...

Ex-agent says device fired at Waco compound Justice Department denies item used 08/24/99 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News ©1999, The Dallas Morning News A former senior FBI official has said that the agency fired two pyrotechnic tear gas grenades on the last day of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, a day on which federal authorities have long insisted they used nothing capable of starting a fire. The former official, Danny O. Coulson, said in an interview that two devices known as M651 CS tear gas grenades were fired from FBI grenade launchers hours before the compound erupted ...