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Unexploded Car Bomb Left Trove of Evidence

By AL BAKER

Published: May 3, 2010

Among the enduring images left by car bombings, overseas or in the United States, is investigators on their hands and knees, crawling through the wreckage searching for clues: a blasting cap or a timing device, a piece of the explosive’s casing or a trace of the chemicals used.

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Car bombs, by design, do their best to devour any evidence of their existence, or send it flying.

On Saturday in Times Square, a homemade bomb built inside a Nissan Pathfinder did not explode — and as a result, a trove of evidence was left behind for investigators to pore over, not only for physical evidence or forensic clues, but also as a reflection of an assailant’s methods, mind-set and possible motives.

“There is a lot there to read into the case that really helps them,” said James M. Cavanaugh, a former bomb expert with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who investigated car bombs and tracked the Unabomber, Theodore J. Kaczynski, and Eric R. Rudolph, the bomber of abortion clinics and other sites.

Or, put another way by Kevin B. Barry, who retired in 2002 as a detective in the bomb squad of the New York Police Department and is now an official with the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators: “He was trying to cover his tracks, but he left more clues than a guy walking into a bank to rob it without a mask. This guy left everything here but his wallet.”

The evidence has yielded much: police detectives and F.B.I. agents, using the vehicle’s identification number, have already located and spoken with its registered owner and learned that it was sold for cash two weeks ago in Bridgeport, Conn.

Like the 17-character identification number, each bit of material from the car or its insides will be traced to divine its provenance, investigators said.

And when the bomb in the Pathfinder did not go off, the authorities had not only the vehicle, but also the raft of explosive elements packed inside: two neon-color alarm clocks and the time one was set to, some batteries, two five-gallon gasoline containers, three propane tanks, firecrackers, fertilizer packed in clear plastic bags bearing a store’s logo, a cooking pot and a 78-pound metal gun box, a GC-14P 14-gun steel security cabinet manufactured by Stack-On, the police said.

Moreover, a car is an ideal receptacle for microscopic or invisible traces of who might have been inside. The authorities have been dusting the outside of the Pathfinder for fingerprints. Inside, they can search for traces of hair or skin cells that might have sloughed off on a steering wheel or a seat cover. They may find literature tucked into a glove box, or some food under a seat.

Each clue will be its own mini-investigation, in an inquiry that is involving “hundreds” of officers and agents, said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

Mr. Cavanaugh, who retired last month from the federal agency, said: “You could have hair, fingerprints, the skin cells, DNA, blood. This is a great way to start. Of course, the world is not all ‘CSI.’ But once you get someone to look at, you can go back to see if they match what you’ve got, and that is a beautiful thing.”

On Monday, Mr. Browne said that “some forensic evidence” had been developed, but he declined to say if it was fingerprints, DNA or something else that had been culled from the vehicle, or if literature had been found. “We are in the middle of a sensitive investigation,” he said. ”There are only so many things I can disclose.”

“The fact that it was not destroyed was an opportunity to develop evidence from it,” Mr. Browne said. “It led us to the registered owner, which was an important development.” Finding the identification number “continues to pay dividends,” he added late Monday.

In the broadest sense, Mr. Cavanaugh said, the device and the way it was designed speak to a “grandiose purpose.”

It was apparently fashioned in short order and with seemingly common tools. The clocks were on the floor of the back seat area, and the plastic gas containers were on the rear seat, on either side of a 16-ounce canister with M88 firecrackers. Behind that, the three propane containers were arrayed, one with some firecrackers affixed to it. And behind that was the gun locker, inside a cardboard box, containing eight bags of nonexplosive fertilizer.

“I call this a Rube Goldberg contraption,” Mr. Cavanaugh said.

“It’s the ‘swing-the-arm-with-the-shoe-that-hits-the-ball-and-knocks-over-a-stick-that-knocks-something-off-a-shelf,’ ” he said, “and it is all supposed to work.”

It malfunctioned, for reasons that are still being pieced together, though Mr. Browne said the packet of M88s attached to one of the propane tanks went off partially, dispersing some of its force.

“I don’t know for certain what the designer had in mind,” Mr. Browne said.

Some psychology is also involved, Mr. Cavanaugh said, as investigators must be imagining what the bomber or bombers were thinking. “I can tell you that they thought it was the atomic bomb,” he said. “They have more desire than ability.”

Car bombs, or “vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices,” can have a range of effects on what evidence is left behind, depending on how the vehicle is situated and what materials are used, said an explosives expert who dealt with bombs in the United States Marine Corps but declined to be identified by name.

In the 1996 truck bomb attack on the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia , which killed 19 American airmen, the explosion could have been even more devastating if the truck had been parked alongside the complex, rather than backed into it.

Mr. Barry recalled a Manhattan car bomb from the 1970s that blew the hood onto a building’s roof 21 stories high.

Sometimes, streets and sewers must be searched for blocks.

Having the Nissan intact in this case, the former military analyst said, was a good thing.

sorry I couldn’t find the second part of the conference yet.

at 7:30 : “the usa is sending their youngsters to tough middle east regions to fight (die), I believe we are doing the right thing “, I think gates is obviously looking deeply saddened…..

WHO accused of losing public confidence over flu pandemic

The World Health Organisation and other public health bodies have “gambled away” public confidence by overstating the dangers of the flu pandemic, according to a draft report to the Council of Europe.

link to one of the original articles.

WHY THE FACTS OF 9/11 ARE SUPPRESSED: John McMurtry

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What In The World Are They Spraying?

By Michael J. Murphy

03 March, 2010
Countercurrents.org

What would you say if you were told that airplanes were regularly spraying toxic aerosols in the skies above every major region of the world? That is exactly what a group of protestors were claiming outside of the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting that was held in San Diego from February 18-22. However, inside the convention center was a different story. The scientists gathered to discuss the “plausibility” of implementing various Geo-engineering campaigns throughout the world, all under the guise that the Earth has a man-made global warming problem that can be solved in-part by spraying aerosol aluminum and other particles into the sky to block the sun. When these scientists were asked about the possibility of existing aerosol programs; they stated that no aerosol spraying programs have been implemented to date. A little confused? Why would protestors gather outside of a meeting making claims that world-wide aerosol programs were under way if scientist were only now discussing the possibility of implementing these programs? Could it be that one of these groups is being deceived?

Mauro Oliveira, the Webmaster of Geoengineeringwatch.org, was one of the protestors. He claimed that the program for Stratospheric Aerosol Geo-engineering (SAG), AKA chemtrails, has been well under way around the world. As a matter of fact, Oliveira stated that witnesses from around the globe claim that heavy aerosol spraying is occurring almost every day over just about every city. He went on to explain the difference between a contrail and a chemtrail. He stated that when a jet airplane flies at a certain altitude, a visible trail of streaks of condensed water vapor sometimes form in the wake of the aircraft. This is called a contrail. Contrails are normal and usually dissipate in a few seconds. They are very similar to when we breathe in cold weather. According to Oliveira, what occurs behind a SAG plane spraying aerosols is quite different. What can be seen is a thick white line also called a chemtrail that lingers in the sky for several hours. The SAG lines are sprayed into the upper atmosphere and then spread out forming what then appear to be clouds. The particles from these aerosols then fall to the ground where they enter our soil and water and can also be inhaled.

Another group of protestors had traveled over 10 hours from a small Shasta County community in Northern California. They became concerned about SAG when many from this community began to see dramatic changes not only in the sky, but also on the ground. Trees were dying, grass was not growing and many farmers were having difficulty getting any crops to grow on their farms. The crisis prompted biologists from the community to take action by testing the soil. The results were shocking. Aluminum, barium and other elements were found to be up to thousands of times higher than normal limits. Such high quantities lead to unhealthy PH levels in the soil which can be deadly to ecological life systems. These shocking results led to additional testing of Lake Shasta with samples from the Pit River arm tributary that tested over 4,610 times the maximum contamination level of aluminum allowed in drinking water in the state of California. Also, peer reviewed scientific studies conclude that bio-available aluminum, now found in huge quantities in rain world-wide, is very harmful to flora and thus the eco-system. Ironically, these are the same substances the scientists are considering implementing in the various potential “future” aerosol spraying campaigns that were being discussed at the meeting.

A large number of other protesters became interested in SAG after experiencing burning eyes, migraine headaches, anxiety, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and other health problems on days that airplanes were allegedly witnessed spraying aerosols in the sky. Deborah Whitman, Founder and President of the non-profit environmental organization Environmental Voices and also Producer of the documentary “Sky Lines” is no stranger to these symptoms. She has been hospitalized over 51 times on what she calls “heavy spraying days”. Whitman has committed her life to helping people who claim to be experiencing similar problems resulting from aerosol spraying and gets calls from all over the U.S. in response to her website and documentary. Her recommended health tips can be found at www.environmentalvoices.org. Other indicators that possibly validate the claim that SAG is connected to health problems are the respiratory mortality rate, which has risen from eight on the list of mortality to third in the past five years, and the fact that Alzheimer’s and other illnesses linked to aluminum have continued to rise around the globe at astronomical rates since the inception of the alleged spraying.

The AAAS meeting hosted some of the world’s leading geo-engineering scientists. With years of education and even more experience in their respected fields, the scientists looked at geo-engineering issues from many angles. Workshop subjects ranged from, the effectiveness of geo-engineering to potential problems and even touched upon the issue of ethics. According to independent reporter Stewart Howe of Los Angeles, all of the scientists seemed to be looking for solutions to what they believe is the problem of global warming. Howe stated that the scientists appeared to be carefully weighing both the pros and cons of SAG when presenting potential campaigns to address the man-made global warming theory. Many were actually advocating alternative methods to combat this issue due to the potential risks of SAG that include droughts, ozone depletion, less solar power, decimated weather patterns, military use of technology and other various environmental impacts. Howe said, “after witnessing the aerosol spraying for years, I was surprised by the discourse among scientists.” Stewart went on to say that he believes that most of the scientists attending seemed to be separated from the knowledge of any current SAG deployment. As a matter of fact when asked about current SAG operations, leading geo-engineering scientist Ken Caldiera replied that he was unaware of any current aerosol spraying operations and when prompted to explain the long lingering trails left behind planes, he stated that they are simply normal contrails from jets.

David Keith, another leading scientist and expert in the field of geo-engineering, discussed the well-funded studies that have been conducted to predict potential future risks as well as benefits associated with geo-engineering. Some of the potential benefits include a cooler planet, and the reduction of melting sea ice and rising sea levels. Keith discussed what aerosol particles would be most effective in achieving the stated goals of the SAG program. He went on to say that initially sulfur was considered, however, aluminum is more effective and can be used by adding ten to twenty mega-tons per year into the stratosphere. When asked about health related studies that have been conducted to predict the potential risks of adding the particles in our air, Keith stated that many studies have been completed and indicate few risks. However, when asked specifically about the use of aluminum as an aerosol, he said “we haven’t done anything serious on aluminum, so there could be something terrible that we will find tomorrow that we haven’t looked at.” After the meeting, Keith showed consideration to the protesters by initiating a discussion about the SAG program outside where the protestors were standing. When confronted with concerns about SAG deployment from the group, he went on to say that he shared similar views and is against any deployment until proper research is completed to determine potential risks of aerosol spraying. He also went on to say that he is unaware of any current SAG operations, but, would be willing to look at any scientific proof if presented to him.

As the skies around our world continue to change, there is strong evidence that points toward current deployment of massive aerosol operations. Could it be that scientific data and studies are being used to implement pre-mature full-scale SAG programs with-out the knowledge of the top scientists who are involved with the research? If so, what kind of ethical considerations can we expect from the geo-engineering community in the future? It is hard to believe that the strange white lines in the skies witnessed around the world and the toxic elements found in the soil, water and air are from an unrelated source. We the people, in partnership with the scientific community need to challenge not only the environmental and health risks associated with SAG but also the numerous world-wide allegations about current deployment. It is imperative that we become educated and involved in uncovering the truth of this alleged crime against both nature and humanity. The future of our planet depends on it. As concerns continue to grow around the world about this issue, additional information including meet-up groups can be found on various chemtrail and geo-engineering websites.

Michael J. Murphy is a journalist and political activist from the Los Angeles area whose work focuses on issues that go beyond the interest of the Corporate mainstream media. Michael’s interviews include; Chelene Nightingale (California Governor candidate), Mark Reed (California congressional candidate), Bill Hunt (Orange County Sheriff candidate), Jenny Worman (California congressional candidate), Stewart Rhodes (Oath Keepers, Founder) and Ed Asner (Actor “Mary Tyler Moore”, “Lou Grant” and “UP”). Michael has also made a series of short films that address controversial political issues. He can be reached at 310.431.8890 or whtagft@hotmail.com.

original story at : link

A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds? A thousand architects and engineers want to know, and are calling on Congress to order a new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center.

“In order to bring down this kind of mass in such a short period of time, the material must have been artificially, exploded outwards,” says Richard Gage, a San Francisco architect and founder of the nonprofit Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

Mr. Gage, who is a member of the American Institute of Architects, managed to persuade more than 1,000 of his peers to sign a new petition requesting a formal inquiry.

“The official Federal Emergency Management [Agency] and National Institute of Standards and Technology reports provide insufficient, contradictory and fraudulent accounts of the circumstances of the towers’ destruction. We are therefore calling for a grand jury investigation of NIST officials,” Mr. Gage adds.

The technical issues surrounding the collapse of the towers has prompted years of debate, rebuttal and ridicule.

He is particularly disturbed by Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper, which was not hit by an aircraft, yet came down in “pure free-fall acceleration.” He also says that more than 100 first-responders reported explosions and flashes as the towers were falling and cited evidence of “multi-ton steel sections ejected laterally 600 ft. at 60 mph” and the “mid-air pulverization of 90,000 tons of concrete & metal decking.”

There is also evidence of “advanced explosive nano-thermitic composite material found in the World Trade Center dust,” Mr. Gage says. The group’s petition at www. ae911truth.org is already on its way to members of Congress.

“Government officials will be notified that ‘Misprision of Treason,’ U.S. Code 18 (Sec. 2382), is a serious federal offense, which requires those with evidence of treason to act,” Mr. Gage says. “The implications are enormous and may have profound impact on the forthcoming Khalid Shaikh Mohammed trial.”