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A German opera house is to unveil a provocative new production staged in the ruins of New York's World Trade Centre. It features naked pensioners and Mickey Mouse masks, Hitler salutes and Elvis impersonators. The self-consciously outrageous September 11th staging of Verdi's 'A Masked Ball' has been dreamed up by Austrian director Johann Kresnik. He has described the concoction as a populist critique of modern American society, aimed at showing up the disparities between rich and poor, which attracting a large audience. It will be a different, a provocative masked ball on the ruins of the World Trade Centre," he...

NEW YORK - As the city agency overseeing the removal of the World Trade Center rubble was wrapping up its work in 2002, several officials handling the painstaking recovery of human remains warned that things were moving too fast. They believed that more pieces of the 2,749 dead could be found, and that the city shouldn't be rushing such an important task. But they were overruled, two of those officials told The Associated Press this week. Over the past few days, dozens of bones have been discovered in underground passages at ground zero, more than five years after the tragedy....

An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters raged across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified. The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross"...

Just in. I am looking at a picture of the WTC with smoke pouring out of the western tower. Looks like a huge amount of damage. Debris raining down on people in the street.

Here are some links from the FR archives in observance of the fifth anniversary of 9/11/2001 - Threads list of several breaking news items - Latest Articles The first post reporting the attacks by OldEconomyBuyer - World Trade Center Posted on the first anniversary - Associated Press newswire - September 11, 2001 - Chronology of news alerts, bulletins and flashes

At dawn on September 11, 2001 in Mount Vernon, New York, a man wakes, dresses, pulls black high-top trainers onto his feet, kisses his sleeping wife and heads to work in the north tower of the World Trade Center. Meanwhile in Queens another man — a pastry chef at Windows on the World, the twin towers’ top-floor restaurant — puts on jeans, a blue checked shirt and a Casio watch handed to him by his wife. She drives him to the station, where he waves goodbye, disappearing down the subway steps. In New York City and its suburbs more than...

This picture of Islamic extremists at Ground Zero was taken by UAC members of protesters who showed up to protest against the National Rally Against Islamofascism Day. This image is free to publish everywhere, let's get it out to as many Americans as possible. Publish this everywhere you can and send it to everyone you can. Anti-UAC Protesters at Ground Zero protesting the United American Committee's Rally Against Islamofascism on February 1. Keep in mind this is at GROUND ZERO where 3,000 Americans were murdered by Islamic extremists. You have permission and we ask that you please publish this picture...

Subscription required thus no excerpt Canadian special forces soldiers in southern Afghanistan have killed Taliban and Al-Qa'ida rebels over dozens of operations in recent months as they work secretly in small units, military sources say. The modest contingent of troops from Joint Task Force 2 is an integral part of coalition efforts to stem the tide of insurgency that has risen since campaigning began for tomorrow's elections. JTF2 commandos have joined counterparts from the United States and some British Commonwealth countries, such as Australia, in fighting that has claimed more than 1,200 lives in six months, defence sources say. Authorities...

It was reported in the Washington Post on Monday that the civil liberties board, whose main goal is to make sure individual rights are not trampled upon during our so-called "War on Terror," has yet to meet and is under-funded by the Bush administration. Created by Congress last year, the board consists of five members nominated by the president to act as an independent watchdog against potential abuses of the Patriot Act. President Bush took six months to appoint five members to the panel as reported in the Washington Post. In his proposed budget for fiscal year 2006, he allocated...

Today I propose we the American people (Freepers) start voting with our remotes. Allow me to explain. We are at war with an enemy that seeks our total destruction. In order to defeat this enemy, we the American people must reach a common bond with a common purpose and that being total Victory. While this war may last decades, we cannot loose unless we do not stay united. However, if we are divided from internal struggles, there is a chance our civilization will be destroyed and replaced with a Muslim culture. The most dangerous internal struggle I see today is...

To day judge R. Paris ruled in the court case against Ayaan Hirsi Ali that she did not acted unlawfully when she talked about the Islam and Mohammed. A group of Muslims had started the trial to forbid her of speaking about the Islam, Mohammed and to forbid the sequel of submission. The judge said he has no indication that Hirsi Ali did grieve the Islamic people on purpose: "[Hirsi Ali] chooses in her struggle against women suppression an maltreatment consciously for a method that stimulates debate about Islam reform" But amazingly the judge also warned Hirsi Ali to be...

On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, America became a true police state. Your U.S. senators voted -- unanimously, with no discussion, and without even reading the bill -- to create a national ID card. The Real ID Act blackmails state governments into turning their drivers licenses into a draconian tool of the federal homeland security apparatus. If states refuse, their citizens lose such "privileges" as being allowed to board an airplane, enter a federal building, or apply for social security. President Bush is expected to sign the bill eagerly on Thursday. In three years -- by May 2008 -- this Stalin-style...

SEATTLE – While most Parent Teacher Student Association meetings might center on finding funding for better math books or the best way to chaperon a school dance, a recent meeting here at Garfield High School grappled with something much larger - the war in Iraq. The school is perhaps one of the first in the nation to debate and vote against military recruiting on high school campuses - a topic already simmering at the college level. In fact, the Supreme Court recently agreed to decide whether the federal government can withhold funds from colleges that bar military recruiters. High schools...

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a mobile phone call with his mother, a soldier serving in Iraq, school officials said. The 10-day suspension was issued because Kevin Francois was "defiant and disorderly" and was imposed in lieu of an arrest, Spencer High School assistant principal Alfred Parham said. The confrontation Wednesday began after the 17-year-old junior got a call at lunchtime from his mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, who left in January for a one-year tour with the 203rd Forward Support Battalion. Mobile phones are allowed on campus...

A memo leaked to Narco News by some brave soul within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers a revealing insight into the so-called war on terrorism. In short, the memo seems to show that for at least one federal law-enforcement agency, investigating terrorism is not unlike the childhood game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” The memo, issued on March 28 by a high-ranking official with DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), essentially orders supervisors in the field to sanitize terrorism-related case files maintained in a major law-enforcement computer system called TECS. All told, TECS contains about 12,000 terrorism-related...

<p>I forgot to duck. By the time most of us read this I will be on my way to Germany for treatment. The doctors have decided that I'm too severely injured to continue my job. I don't know when I be back stateside but I will let you know.</p>

<p>For years, a citizen who wanted to know the name and phone number of a Pentagon official could buy a copy of the Defense Department directory at a government printing office. But since 2001, the directory has been stamped ''For Official Use Only," meaning the public may not have access to such basic information about the vast military bureaucracy.</p>

In the fight against terrorism, few stones are left unturned. Every day, patient data from a handful of emergency rooms is sent to the Indiana State Department of Health to be crunched and analyzed. An epidemiologist watches intently for upward trends in rashes, fevers and unexplained deaths. Or a sudden surge in over-the-counter drug sales. The practice -- called syndromic surveillance -- broke onto the public health scene immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and later anthrax deaths. The surveillance method is widely viewed as a tool to detect a possible bioterrorism attack. Computers allow the instant sharing...

Please take the time to watch this video, we must remember those on September 11, 2001. We can never forget, and we can not let those who wish us to forget to let us forget. Please, take 15 minutes from freeping, this is bookmarked on my home page, Thank you FReepers. Indy.Never Forget. If you let it run past the video, there are many good quotes after.

A former security prisoner released in January 2004 in the deal struck with Hizbullah to secure the return of the bodies of three soldiers and businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum was one of two gunmen shot and killed by soldiers last Tuesday night while attempting an attack at Har Bracha, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Atsem Mansour, 29, a Fatah Tanzim member from the Balata refugee camp was imprisoned in Israel between October 2001 and January 2004 for his involvement in terrorism. He was one of 462 security prisoners released in exchange for Tannenbaum and the bodies of Staff-Sgts. Benny Avraham, Adi...

Federal Appeals Court Judge Michael Chertoff’s ties to the financiers of the Sept. 11 attacks may prevent his confirmation as Homeland Security Chief. According to a June 20, 2000 article in the The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey, Chertoff defended accused terrorist financier Dr. Magdy Elamir. Elamir’s HMO was sued by the State of New Jersey to recoup $16.7 million in losses. At least $5.7 million went “to unknown parties... by means of wire transfers to bank accounts where the beneficial owner of the account is unknown,” according to the article. Foreign intelligence reports given to then chairman of...

A high-profile Australian charity headed by a Catholic priest has backed away from plans to set up an orphanage in tsunami-shattered Aceh after the plan enraged hardline Muslim groups. Youth Off The Streets founder Father Chris Riley arrived in the provincial capital Banda Aceh with plans to set up a tent orphanage to house some of the estimated 35,000 Acehnese children with dead or missing parents. The plan was backed with a $100,000 donation from NSW clubs and media mogul Kerry Packer's Nine Network funded Riley's trip. But after the chief of the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Hilmy Bakar...

Carloads of Muslim New Yorkers, all U.S. citizens, were detained for hours by federal agents after they returned from an Islamic convention held in Toronto over the weekend. A Pace University student said she was asked by a border patrol officer at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge crossing whether the wire in her bra was a weapon. A white Flushing resident said U.S. officials refused to tell her why she was being held for eight hours. "It's just appalling," said Jean Tassi, 53. "If I didn't have on a head covering, I would have never been stopped." A U.S. Customs and Border...

Giovanni Di Stefano, in an interview with FHM (UK) magazine says the following: Q: "Didn't you once meet Bin Laden?" A: "Yes, In Baghdad in 1998. He was a nobody back then and I didn't take much notice. He was educated, had very soft skin and shook my hand like a woman. He inspired a lot of the Mujahideen in Kosovo to do some pretty horrific things to the Serbs. My friend Arkan [the late Serbian warlord] said to me once, "Why didn't you kill him?" I probably would have done if I'd known who he was."

FORT CARSON, Colo. - The Army dismissed a cowardice charge and filed a lesser count against an Army interrogator who sought counseling after he saw the body of an Iraqi man cut in half by American fire. Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany was charged with dereliction of duty, according to a statement released Thursday afternoon by Fort Carson officials. A military court hearing set Friday for Pogany was canceled. The new charge was filed by the company commander after military judges dismissed the cowardice charge, officials said. "He believes that this charge is most appropriate to address the alleged misconduct based...

December 29, 2004 -- Animal lovers are worried that the Freedom Tower will turn out to be a giant death trap for birds. At 1,776 feet, the Freedom Tower is expected to be the world's tallest building when it opens at the World Trade Center site in 2009. But scientists and bird enthusiasts say more than a billion birds are killed every year in the United States after slamming into windows or circling lights atop skyscrapers until they are so dazed and confused that they crash.

Six Navy SEALs filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press and one of its reporters yesterday, saying the news organization revealed their identities, compromised their security and invaded their privacy by publishing personal photographs in a Dec. 4 story.     The complaint says AP reporter Seth Hettena used about 40 images from the personal photo-storage Web site of a Navy SEAL wife. [snip] The images were picked up by the Arab press, including Al Jazeera, and have made their way onto a billboard outside U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees from the war on terror are being kept. The...

MIAMI - Small toys showing an airplane flying into the World Trade Center were packed inside more than 14,000 bags of candy and sent to small groceries around the country before being recalled. AP Photo   Lisy Corp., the wholesaler that distributed the candy, said Friday that the toys were purchased in bulk from a Miami-based import company. The toys came in an assortment purchased sight unseen from L&M Import in Miami and included the toys depicting the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the twin towers, whistles and other small toys, said Luis Pedron, Lisy's national sales manager. The...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

Quiet since 9/11, subway to WTC resumes Sunday By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY The PATH subway line that runs under the Hudson River to Manhattan reopens Sunday after it was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks more than two years ago. The subway terminal will be the first space on the Trade Center site open to the public. The train line and temporary station were built in 16 months at a cost of $429 million, mostly in federal relief money. The rebuilt Port Authority Trans-Hudsonline, or PATH, will eliminate a transit headache for thousands of commuters from New...

<p>The American Muslim leader charged with smuggling $340,000 out of Libya was suspected of funneling cash from Osama bin Laden to blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in the failed 1993 attempt to blow up New York City landmarks, The Post has learned.</p>

In his last dispatch as Washington Bureau Chief, Toby Harnden examines the state of the unionDriving across America last month, an exhilarating and enthralling three-week trip covering 26 states and 7,896 miles to California and back, I was struck by how a country can be so misunderstood when so much about it is known.Before setting off, I re-read the diary of my last coast-to-coast trip, on Greyhound buses, as a student in 1989. Another president called Bush had just taken office, though my attitudes had been shaped by endless chatter in Britain about an ignorant, cowboy president - sound familiar?...

WASHINGTON—A Montreal man has emerged as the key figure in a controversy that has dogged Democratic presidential aspirant Wesley Clark during the summer months. Questions have swirled since June when the former NATO commander alleged on national television that he was pressured to link the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a mystery phone call he received. Clark first implied the call, not long after the attacks, might have come from White House, then later said it came from a Middle Eastern think tank in Canada. He has never identified the caller. As Clark kicked...

The cover story in National Review's October 28th issue (out Friday) details how at least 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers should have been denied visas — an assessment based on expert analyses of 15 of the terrorists' visa-application forms, obtained exclusively by NR. In the year after 9/11, the hand-wringing mostly centered on the FBI and CIA's failure to "connect the dots." But that would not have been a fatal blow if the "dots" had not been here in the first place. If the U.S. State Department had followed the law, at least 15 of the 19 "dots"...

Link to Goodspeedupdate.com Link to Sohoblues.com

It has been reported to me that the lettuce crews of Tanimura & Antle are flying large mexican flags over their harvesting machines. They have insultingly placed smaller American flags, upside down on the machines, as a sign, I believe of disrepect. These crews are working in Salinas, at Blanco and Davis Rds. Generous America gives them jobs housing drivers licenses health care education and soon in state tutition for college to these foreign nationals. They in turn do this. If you live near any Ag areas, I'll bet this isn't a isolated case and you will find this kind...

      September 2003, Volume 140, Issue 3         The Falling Man By Tom Junod Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow. Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were...

POLL ANALYSESSeptember 11, 2003 Country's Wounds Still Open After 9/11 Almost universal view that things are not completely "back to normal"By Lydia SaadGALLUP NEWS SERVICEPRINCETON, NJ -- Two years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought down the World Trade Center towers, damaged the Pentagon and killed an estimated 3,026 people, Americans are reluctant to say the United States is back to normal. According to a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, a majority believes things are "somewhat" back to normal but only 3% say things are "completely" normal. Just one in five Americans (21%) told Gallup in the Aug. 25-26 survey that...

How can Americans best remember the events of 9-11-01 on it's anniversary? What did Americans do right after those catastrophic events in communities across the U.S.? Strangers gathered in public places, including many highway overpasses and bridges waving flags and banners of unity and pride. No government agency sanctioned those events and no one was told to be patriotic. What better wayt to pay tribute to those who died than to capture that same spirit of 9/11, what some have called grassroots patriotism. In that tradition the LAFAYETTE FLAG BRIGADE of Lafayette, CA. will be remembering 9/11 with an OVERPASS...

Dear Freeper prayer warriors, please keep Ernest_at_the_Beach and his wife in your prayers. From Ernest_at_the_Beach | 08/28/2003: Just to let you know that my wife (Kathy ) is now in her final days. Her pain in the last few months from the cancer was constant and unrelenting . The last several months had been very difficult as she was unable to eat well and not able to eat at all for the last several weeks. God will be merciful soon and relieve her of the misery of the dreaded disease! Prayers would be appreciated!

NEW YORK, Aug 28, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- After a plane struck the first of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, callers from the top floors of neighboring tower were told by Port Authority police to remain where they were. According to transcripts made public Thursday, a male caller from the 92nd floor of the second tower told a Port Authority police officer, "We need to know if we need to get out of here, because we know there's an explosion." The officer asked if there was smoke on the floor, and the caller replied...

VIEWS OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTRE SITE IN NEW YORK This is a composite of seven photos assembled to show a wide view of the site of the World Trade Centre, in New York on Tuesday, as construction continues prior to the second anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001. Pleas of "mayday" made by officers just moments before their deaths in the tower complex appear on heart-wrenching transcripts to be released on Thursday. REUTERS/Chip East September 11 transcripts recall horror of attack NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pleas of "mayday" made by officers just moments before their deaths in...

Some Fear Media Will Seek Graphic Details; Others Say Public Should Hear NEWARK, N.J. -- Depending on whom you talk to, there is dread and support for the Thursday's release of transcripts of emergency calls made from the World Trade Center towers during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A state judge in New Jersey ruled Friday that the transcripts of emergency transmissions must be released by 5 p.m. EDT Thursday. The Port Authority, which owned the trade center, argued it was trying to protect the privacy of victims' families by preventing the release of the transcripts. They cover radio transmissions...

Freepers, I've seen a couple of 9/11 sites. Some are pretty good. I want a site that a) comes up pretty quickly; b) doesn't have a long drawn-out intro; c) includes the horrible pictures. This is for students in college. I want them to remember, but I do have limited time, and can't have a 10-minute intro. Also, I'd prefer it not to be too preachy, but to let the images/music do all the talking. Suggestions? Thanks.

This is a small collection of links, organized into four consecutive categories:1- A look back from now. 2- The 9-11 attack "as it went down, live..."3- The aftermath.4- Remembrance.As with all such posts, there are links within links within links, and to fully remember and inform yourself, you need to follow them all- but be warned! Some will take you to gruesome pictures and disturbing stories, so tread carefully.I honestly believe that most Americans need to view these things, and never forget, or forgive, what was visited on defenseless and innocent people on that black day.Use your own judgement, but...

I thought this was very interesting...A piece of our history, frozen in time. http://web.archive.org/web/20010914224114/freerepublic.com/perl/latest

BreakingNo names released yet...Pentagon is briefing reporters now..

Photos Prove Connection Between Iraq and Al-Qaeda Terrorists March 14, 2003 About 20 minutes before show time, we posted satellite imagery of Salman Pak - home of the terrorist training center in Iraq we've been telling you about. I want to thank Gary Napier and his whole staff from Space Imaging, Inc. for these images from their IKONOS satellite. It's not in geo synchronous orbit, so they can move it to map, measure and monitor anywhere on earth. The third of the three shots zeros in on what looks like a Boeing 727 fuselage to me. Everyone says it's...

The Iraqi-Bin Laden Connection News Reports on Iraqi-Bin Laden Connection Iraq’s State Sponsorship of Osama bin-Laden and the al-Qaeda Terror Network 1999 Article: Iraq tempts bin Laden to attack West Al-Qaeda Big Confirms Terror Ties to Iraq White House Says it Has Evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties The Iraq Connection: Was Saddam involved in Oklahoma City and the first WTC bombing?World Trade Center Attack Complaint (Iraq named as plaintiff)Complaint (PDF) Lawsuit claiming a 9/11 link between Iraq and al Qaeda. Sept. 3, 2002Who did it? Foreign Report presents an alternative view (Iraq believed to be behind 9/11)Iraq and al...

History expands. Terribly. In 1914, two bullets fired at an automobile driving through the streets of Sarajevo killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophia, his wife. Their deaths led to World War One.In 2001, two massive jet aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center in New York killed ... the numbers are so far unknown, but it's likely that thousands are dead. Another hijacked jet, aimed at the Pentagon, killed untold others. Yet another jet, also under the command of terrorists in league with the attackers of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, crashed in Pennsylvania, killing all on board.The...