MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: August 6, 2006

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August 12, 2006

Is Al Qaeda Finished? No, Really

James Fallows no doubt wishes his Atlantic piece (you can't read it here--subscription required) on why it's time to declare the war on terror over (because we won) had run, oh, just about any other time. But timing isn't everything, and Fallows--one of a vanishingly small number of big-name journalists who actually bother to go out and talk to people--impressively lays out what most people who follow Al Qaeda have been trying to say for some time (and are still saying in the wake of the London plot): Al Qaeda as the group that masterminded 9/11 hasn't existed since the war in Afghanistan, since its top operatives were killed or driven into hiding, since it lost the ability to freely communicate via cell phones or the Internet, to transfer money over international financial networks, etc. What exists now, as Peter Bergen's Mother Jones story on "The Wrong War" noted some time ago, is a loose confederation nominally inspired by the occasional Osama or al-Zawahiri tape, but mostly proceeding on the Environmental Liberation Front model (no overall comparison intended) of like-minded cells that claim affiliation with an ideological brand when it suits them. The problem is that thanks to current U.S. policy in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, that unstructured network is growing larger and stronger every day, even in spite of its own mistakes (such as killing large numbers of Muslim civilians). Which is why Fallows is right: It's time to stop. Not stop going after terrorists, which is what the Brits were doing in investigating bomb plotters, but stop the "war" (meaning what, exactly?) on "terror" (ditto), and move on to what might actually make the world more secure.

August 11, 2006

It's All About Iran

Is it starting to look like the administration has trouble focusing on more than one thing at a time? For weeks now the not-so-subtle message from the White House has been that Lebanon is all about Iran (must rein in Hezbollah in order to contain Iran's ambitions); now comes word from Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq (and, lest we forget, the neocons' favorite Afghan long before all this war stuff started), that increased carnage in Iraq is also about Iran.

Iran is pressing Shiite militias here to step up attacks against the American-led forces in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Lebanon, the American ambassador to Iraq said Friday. Iran may foment even more violence as it faces off with the United States and United Nations over its nuclear program in the coming weeks, he added.

This could keep going for a while. Oil prices? Iran. Climate heating up? Iran. Lieberman defeated? Iran, or maybe the terrorists... Read Bob Dreyfuss' Mother Jones piece here for one take on what the Iran focus is all about.

Katrina victims get finger-printed and photographed--not everyone is happy

Calling it "a little bit too much Department of Homeland Security," Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, criticized Louisiana's Road Home program for taking fingerprints and photographs of people applying for home loans. Ashdown's organization is known for its harsh criticism of Katrina fraud. Nevertheless, Ashdown said that contractors could accomplish their goals just as easily by asking for multiple forms of identification.

A spokeswoman for ICF International, the company hired by the state to help homeowners determine what kinds of grants and loans they need, called the procedure "minimally intrusive," and a spokesman for the Louisiana Division of Administration said that none of the applicants had complained about being finger-printed and photographed.

One can hardly imagine a homeless person who is living in a cramped trailer, a relative's crowded house or an out-of-state apartment to make waves when she is trying to get help with a loan. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin confirmed that outside of the application facility, people had indeed complained.

"They said it made them feel like a criminal when they were just trying to get help. One guy even said he was so taken aback that he asked them if they wanted some blood also."

ICF International maintains that using these procedures will not only expose fraud, but will cause fraudulent applicants to change their minds and not even bother with applying.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority has not yet made a decision as to whether the finger-printing and photographing will remain in place. The Louisiana ACLU has expressed a concern that the government could use the fingerprints and photographs for purposes unrelated to home loan applications, or that identity theft could be increased because of the process.

One hopes that if the state decides it is best to continue using this procedure, that the people doing the finger-printing and photographing are trained to carry out the procedures in a non-threatening way.

Darfur: "From Really Bad to Catastrophic"

"Peace" brings only war to Darfur.

"The signing of the peace agreement unfortunately took a lot of effort from large parts of the international community and very little after that in terms of monitoring, pushing for implementation and holding parties accountable," said Dave Mozersky, Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group.

But what the world has agreed to call peace, still looks very much like war.

In July Darfur saw the bloodiest month for the world's largest aid operation since the conflict began 3-1/2 years ago with eight humanitarian workers killed. Access to the 3.6 million dependent on aid is at its lowest ever level.

Government planes are again bombing rebel factions who rejected the deal, U.N. officials say. Rebel leader Minni Arcua Minnawi, who signed the accord, is accused of torturing his opposition, and other rebels have factionalised. A new alliance has declared renewed war with the government.

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said in Geneva on Thursday: "It is going from really bad to catastrophic in Darfur."

(Reuters)

Click on the image for more information on the Darfur crisis.

Killing Endangered Species To Save Them?

That's the thinking behind a program designed to sell a limited number of permits to hunters to help communities conserve indigenous populations of endangered sheep. Daniel Duane went on his first hunt a while ago and wrote about it for Mother Jones, an experience that made him re-think his notions about hunting. ("I felt privileged to be there and I did feel that at least in the one setting in which I participated, hunting could really be an extraordinary way to participate in the rhythms of life.") The radio show Living on Earth is rebroadcasting an interview with Dan this week. Check out the LOE website for more details.

Significant Drop in Risky Sex Among Teens?

According to a CDC study released today the number of US teenagers who have had sex and/or are sexually experienced is on the decline, and condom use is on the rise. The report finds that the proportion of high school students who are sexually experienced decreased by 13% from 1991 to 2005. The Washington Times is quick to point out that the percentage of students who said they had ever had sexual intercourse decreased 9%, from 54.1% in 1991 to 46.8% in 2005. Yet the paper fails to mention that since 2001, when the Bush Administration started funding and promoting abstinence only education in schools, the numbers are a wash -- 46.8% said they had ever had sex last year vs. 45.8% four years earlier, a neglible difference at best given the 3.3% margin of error.

In fact, the proportion of teens who had sex with four or more partners and those who had had sex within the preceding 3 months actually increased slightly from 2001 to 2005. Condom use was the only category with a statistically significant improvement with an increase in those four years, by 5% to nearly 63% of teens. Meaning those who are having sex--and the numbers seem to be remaining quite steady these days, are getting smarter about it.

19 Percent of 2004 Bush Voters Say They'll Vote Dem

Many Americans might not have things quite straight when it comes to WMD in Iraq, and there are those who don't know which state Kentucky Fried Chicken comes from, but large and swelling numbers are starting to get a clue about George W. Bush's administration.

Republicans determined to win in November are up against a troublesome trend — growing opposition to President Bush.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted this week found the president's approval rating has dropped to 33 percent, matching his low in May. His handling of nearly every issue, from the Iraq war to foreign policy, contributed to the president's decline around the nation, even in the Republican-friendly South.

More sobering for the GOP are the number of voters who backed Bush in 2004 who are ready to vote Democratic in the fall's congressional elections — 19 percent. These one-time Bush voters are more likely to be female, self-described moderates, low- to middle-income and from the Northeast and Midwest.

Two years after giving the Republican president another term, more than half of these voters — 57 percent — disapprove of the job Bush is doing. (AP)

Bombing Pakistan Would Not Be a Good Idea, Whatever the Weekly Standard Says

Defiantly refusing to draw the obvious conclusion from yesterday's terrorist plot revelations--namely, that rigorous, decidated, internationally cooperative police work is our best weapon in fighting terror; or at least it seems to have yielded better results than, say, invading, occupying, and getting stuck indefinitely in Muslim countries--the Weekly Standard floats the notion of military strikes...on Pakistan.

Pakistan's willingness to fight terrorism has been uneven. While President Musharraf's regime has provided some key al Qaeda leaders and actionable intelligence in the past, it has also arguably not done enough to crack down on al Qaeda's rear bases on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border (and on other terrorists operating on its soil). But if the early reporting is right, Pakistan has now provided crucial cooperation in stopping the largest planned attack since 9/11.

It will be interesting to follow the details of the plotters' ties to Pakistan. Who did they meet with? Why hadn't Pakistan arrested those terrorists previously? Will the U.S. and U.K. pressure Pakistan to arrest those terrorists now, if they have not yet? Or, will the U.S. and U.K. attempt more aggressive measures, as they did earlier this year when America bombed a home thought to have housed al Qaeda's Ayman al Zawahiri?

Pakistan has now been the launching pad for one major attack and one planned attack on British soil. And while the Pakistanis have proven increasingly willing to cooperate with American and British counterterrorism officials, it is clear that a substantive al Qaeda network still operates from there.

Pakistan is not our friend, granted. And Musharraf is playing--perforce--a double game. But if you want to make it even harder for him to pitch in in the war on terror, sure, bomb his country. Way to shore a guy up! And aside from the specifics of Pakistan, it's not my impression that the military-first approach has worked out all that well for us so far...

Conservatives Against the War on Drugs???

That's right -- and in Nevada, no less. If an odd coalition spanning the political divide gets its way this fall, it might be as easy to fire up the ol' bong in Reno as in Amsterdam. Sasha Abramsky has the details.

David Beckham Dropped From England Squad. How About Dropping Blair, too?

David.Beckham.Tony.Blair.20.jpg

"I told David I'm looking to the future and looking to take the team in a different direction,'' [Steve] McClaren, [the new England coach] who took charge on Aug. 1, told reporters in London today. "He's not part of that.'"

If only Tony Blair had a coach who wanted to take the team in a new direction...

Feds Say: California and Oregon Salmon Fisheries a “Failure”

AP’s Jeff Barnard reports: “Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez on Thursday declared commercial salmon fishing a failure off Oregon and California this year, based on sharp harvest cutbacks imposed to protect struggling returns to the Klamath River.”

This is, on the one hand, good news for fisherman, in that it frees up $80 million in federal aid. But it’s bad news for them, as well as all the other people concerned with the plight of fisheries and the ocean (and no one more than us), because it is yet another sign marine ecosystems are crashing.

What, in this case, is to blame? Via the AP:

Gutierrez blamed five years of drought in the Klamath Basin for low water and growing infestations of parasites that are diminishing salmon returns there.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and salmon fisherman Mike Newell of Newport, a member of the Oregon Salmon Commission, blamed the problems on the failure of the Bush administration to deal with long-standing problems of poor water quality and loss of habitat in the Klamath Basin. "It's a long overdue recognition our fisheries are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy because of the lack of a viable season," DeFazio said. "We have a very sick river system that needs a significant amount of investment, or this will just happen again and again."

Both are right. As the AP’s Barnard notes, “the Klamath River has been a flashpoint for conflicts between the Bush administration and farmers on one side and fishermen, Indian tribes and conservation groups on the other over allocations of scarce water between farms and fish.”

In 2003, Bruce Barcott wrote a nice piece for us on the Klamath called “What’s a River For?”

Cheney to Lamont: The Terrorists Have Already Won

As if being kissed by Bush weren’t enough, now Senator Joe Lieberman feels himself in the clammy embrace of Vice President Dick Cheney. Yesterday Cheney held a teleconference with reporters in which he bemoaned the fact that Democrats would "purge a man like Joe Lieberman."

“Purge”? Uh, isn’t it called a “primary”? But then the Vice President always chooses his words for maximum fear factor. As the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne points out: “that word ‘purge’ has a nice Stalinist ring, doesn't it?”

Cheney then told reporters:

"The thing that's partly disturbing about it is the fact that, [from] the standpoint of our adversaries, if you will, in this conflict, and the Al Qaeda types, they clearly are betting on the proposition that ultimately they can break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task."

[Is] "the dominant view of the Democratic Party"…"the basic, fundamental notion that somehow we can retreat behind our oceans and not be actively engaged in this conflict and be safe here at home."

And they’re all on message. Yesterday GOP chair Ken Mehlman called the DNC "the Defeat-ocrat Party" … "that once stood for strength now stands for retreat and defeat."

And Tony Snow said: "It's a defining moment for the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party they're going to come after you."

And, speaking in his first public appearance since losing the primary, Lieberman used the U.K. terror arrests to call Ned Lamont’s goal of withdrawing American troops from Iraq by a fixed date a “victory” for terrorists.

“If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It will strengthen them, and they will strike again.”

Low blow, Joe.

August 10, 2006

Is the U.S. really being short-changed by the U.N.?

The United Nations has an annual budget of $1.8 billion, of which the United States pays 22%. U.S. deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Mark P. Lagon, says that UN member states, especially large contributors, want to know if they are getting their money's worth. He also says that those who look to the U.N. for assistance want to know whether the world is getting the best possible value for U.N. contributions.

Thalif Deen, writing for Inter Press Service News Agency, believes that Lagon is asking this question with his fingers crossed behind his back. The reality, says Deen, is that the U.S. has gotten quite a bit for its 22%. According to the latest U.N. figures, the U.S. has consistently held the number one spot in obtaining procurement contracts, averaging over 22.5% of all U.N. purchases annually.

Russia, which has the next highest average--10.36%--pays only 1.1% of the U.N.'s annual budget. Several western European nations average 4.8% and 8.6%. The European Union contributes a total of 37% of the U.N.'s budget and therefore claims that it is the largest contributor and not the U.S.

According to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, the U.N. and its agencies contributed about 3.2 billion annually to the city's economy during the late 1990s. Deen points out that that figure is bound to be higher now; however, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton has complained that "the United States doesn't get value for (its) money."

Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, has pointed out that "what the United States spent to violate the U.N. Charter with the invasion of Iraq could have funded the entire budget of the United Nations for decades."

Wal-Mart: "The goal of China's unions is to build a harmonious society."

Wal-Mart added insult to injury to its 1.3 million U.S. employees yesterday when it announced it would allow its workers in China to unionize. Wal-Mart has fiercely opposed American workers’ attempts to unionize—-in one case, closing a meat-cutting division after ten butchers voted to unionize. Nu Wexler, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch, says the company “is applying an inconsistent double standard. In the U.S., they aggressively fight unions in their stores. But if unions are a barrier of entry to an emerging market, Wal-Mart is willing to flip-flop on its position.”

Labor experts Oded Shenkar of Ohio University and Richard W. Hurd of Cornell both suggest, in Bloomberg News’s coverage of the announcement, that the retailer probably agreed to allow unions under pressure from the Chinese government. "Part of getting along with the government in China is accepting government-sponsored unions,” says Hurd. Wal-Mart’s own statement strikes a similar note, pitching the move as a way “to further strengthen its ties to China and our associates.”

Back home, Wal-Mart has cast unions as “desperate and divisive,” not to mention bad for the bottom line. But Chinese unions are “different from unions elsewhere,” company spokesman Jonathan Dong told Bloomberg. “The goal of China's unions is to build a harmonious society.”

Danger of Mass Suicides Among Detainees in Britain

There is a real danger of "mass suicides" among more than 20 foreign terror suspects held in maximum security prisons in Britain awaiting deportation. An Council of Europe investigation found that the mental and physical health of the suspects had deteriorated sharply since their arrest last August. (Guardian)

"The delegation shared its concerns with the UK authorities that serious mental disorders, coupled with the situation in which the detainees found themselves, increased the likelihood of a major crisis, including the possibility of multiple suicide. The delegation's findings suggested that such a scenario was real and should be addressed accordingly."

As we're now used to hearing, the decline in detainees' health was put down to the indefinite length of their detention, the lack of charges leveled, and the prospect of being deported to home countries, like Algeria, where they might be tortured.

Given the other news from Britain today, any bets on whether this report will lead to improved conditions for these detainees (whose guilt or innocence have not been established)?

iPod Listeners to Be Profiled?

As noted below, the first plot to blow up airliners with liquid explosives was foiled in 1994. That particular scheme used a cheap Casio watch as a timer, a detail that might have remained a footnote if not for the, um, thoroughness of American counterterror officials. Fast forward 10 years, and now more than a dozen Guantanamo detainees have been held in part because they were caught wearing what the government has called "the infamous Casio watch." We recently printed some excerpts from their military tribunal hearings, in which the incredulous detainees tried to understand the logic of wristwatch profiling:

Detainee 651, Usama Hassan Ahmend Abu Babir: I have a Casio watch due to the fact that they are inexpensive and they last a long time. I like my watch because it is durable. It had a calculator and was waterproof, and before prayers we have to wash up all the way to my elbows.

Detainee 298, Salih Uyar: If it is a crime to carry this watch, your own military personnel also carry this watch. Does this mean they’re just terrorists as well?

Detainee 228, Abdullah Kamel Abudallah Kamel: When they told me that Casios were used by Al Qaeda and the watch was for explosives, I was shocked…. If I had known that, I would have thrown it away. I’m not stupid. We have four chaplains [at Guantanamo]; all of them wear this watch.

Detainee 154, Mazin Salih Musaid al Awfi: Millions and millions of people have these types of Casio watches. If that is a crime, why doesn’t the United States arrest and sentence all the shops and people who own them? This is not a logical or reasonable piece of evidence.

Today's plot reportedly involved MP3 players as timers. Air passengers in Britain have already been told not to bring their iPods on board. Earbud wearers, you've been warned.

Liquid Explosives: Easy to Find, Make, Hide

The BBC has a good Q&A on liquid explosives. Here's a key snippet:

How are they made?

There are such things as liquid explosives that are high explosives and they behave in exactly the same way as solid explosives, such as TNT.

But there are also explosives that are made by mixing a solid and a liquid - one being the oxidant and the other being the fuel. Unlike most high explosives, they do not contain the fuel and oxidant in the same molecule but they do contain them in sufficiently close contact to cause a blast.

Are the components difficult to get hold of?

No, it is very easy. Ordinary household substances could be used.

Specialist knowledge or equipment needed to make?

If someone wanted to obtain a solid high explosive in a liquid form, it would not be difficult for a trained chemical technologist.

But if someone was using a backyard laboratory it is more likely they would go for the two component approach.

Not a lot of experience is needed, the principles are quite simple but it would be a hazardous process of trial and error.

I would not want to be messing about these things. It has been known for schoolboys to go home and attempt this and blow their house up.

Could an explosive device be carried on to an aeroplane?

The size of a device necessary could be carried in hand baggage. Explosives in a toilet bag, certainly inside a shoulder bag would be enough to meet the terrorists' needs.

They could be quite hard to detect because I do not think any of the things we have mentioned would respond to x-rays. For example, a liquid hydrocarbon fuel could pass as mineral water.

The question is how do you get something packed into a bag so it does not look suspicious?

More here.

Neocon Hubris and Chaos in the Middle East

Mark Levine, last seen deftly unmanning David Horowitz on Hannity & Colmes, has a counterintuitive take over at Tomdispatch on the troubles convulsing a certain part of the world. Call it the Chaos Theory of the Middle East. He argues that political and military leaders are especially prone to the illusion that they control events. "[A]nd perhaps the most hubristic version of this illusion is the belief that they can use chaos itself to further their control, to strengthen their situation. Our world today reminds us constantly that you ride that tiger at your peril." Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon -- we don't lack for reminders.

[W]hen I was in Iraq only a year into the American occupation, among the first things most Iraqis I met, particularly Sunni and Shiite leaders, would bring up were their fears of onrushing factional/sectarian violence and possible civil war and their desire to avoid it at all costs (unless it involved the Kurds, held in disdain because of their close relations with the U.S.). Then they would almost invariably state their belief that the Bush administration was encouraging sectarian differences and tensions in pursuance of a classic imperial strategy of divide and rule -- or at least, divide and make sure no one asks you to leave.

[...]

The problem is, in the world of occupational politics, one rarely gets to eat one's cake and have it too. At some point, the ripples from the chaos you generate, whether purposely or by accident, converge into the kind of perfect wave of horror that you just may not be capable of riding out. Ask Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the top brass of the Israeli Defense Forces about that. Thanks to Matthew Kalman of the San Francisco Chronicle, we now know that the current Israeli air campaign against, and invasion of, Lebanon had been planned out perhaps two years ago; that, more than a year ago, "a senior Israeli army officer" was giving "off-the-record" PowerPoint presentations about just such a "three-week campaign" to influential figures in Washington; and that Hezbollah's July 12 capture of Israeli soldiers was the pretext that the government had been waiting for to launch its campaign.

More at Tomdispatch.

Milk? Prove It. Liquids on Planes

Wow, we really do live in a new world.

Liquids for children are allowed on board, as are liquid prescription medicines with the traveler’s name on the bottle and non-prescription medicines like insulin. Parents were being asked to take a sip of the juice or milk to prove it is what they say it is. (NYT)

Neocon Max Boot: Current Bush Strategy in Iraq Isn't Working

Whoa! Not quite on the level of Francis Fukuyama's showy disavowal of neoconsersavative groupthink, but not far off: Max Boot (a neoconservative who has long pushed for more US troops in Iraq and who recently argued that we should "let Israel take off the gloves" -- what gloves?) has this to say in the Los Angeles Times:

But there's another course short of withdrawal: reducing U.S. forces from today's level of 130,000 to under 50,000 and changing their focus from conducting combat operations to assisting Iraqi forces. The money saved from downsizing the U.S. presence could be used to better train and equip more Iraqi units. A smaller U.S. commitment also would be more sustainable over the long term. This is the option favored within the U.S. Special Forces community, in which the dominant view is that most American soldiers in Iraq, with their scant knowledge of the local language and customs, are more of a hindrance than a help to the counterinsurgency effort.

Make no mistake: This is a high-risk strategy. The drawdown of U.S. troops could catalyze the Iraqis into getting their own house in order, or it could lead to a more rapid and violent disintegration of the rickety structure that now exists.

Which path should we take? My preference remains deploying more soldiers, not fewer. A couple of divisions in Baghdad, if skillfully led, might be able to replicate the success that Col. H.R. McMaster's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment had in pacifying the western city of Tall Afar, where the troops-to-civilians ratio was 10 times higher than in Baghdad today. But at this point, I am also open to a substantial reduction in troop numbers because the current strategy just isn't working.

Next up...?

Astroturf Telecom Groups Exposed

New from the media reform team at Common Cause:

Back in March, Common Cause released its first "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing" report, detailing the activities of nine groups masquerading as think tanks and public interest organizations, but controlled by telephone and cable companies. Since then, we've gotten the dirt on five more.

For example, Hands off the Internet sounds like activists wanting to protect the Internet. Actually, it's a telecommunications industry-backed organization that was spending $20,000 a day on television commercials aimed at eliminating long-standing net neutrality protections so that telephone and cable companies can maximize profit and minimize competition on the Internet.

These groups have managed to convince some members of Congress (with, just possibly, a nudge and a wink) that they enjoy public support. The Common Cause website allows people to go on the record and tell their Senators they oppose the telecom reform bill, which is, to quote CC, is "riddled with giveaways to the phone and cable companies."

See the new report here.

New Orleans Post-Katrina Recovery Lagging

Brookings has as a one-year anniversary special report on New Orleans' post-Katrina recovery. Bright spots include: the housing market is on the upswing, tourism and business travel are picking up, but that's pretty much it for the plus side of the ledger.

Basic findings:

Housing rehabilitation, and demolition, are well underway while the housing market tightens, raising rent and home prices. Across the most hard-hit parishes in the New Orleans area, the pace of demolitions has accelerated in the last six months while the number of permits issued for rehab has nearly doubled in the city. Yet, housing is less affordable as rent prices in the region have increased by 39 percent over the year and home sale prices have spiked in suburban parishes.

Across the city, public services and infrastructure remain thin and slow to rebound. Approximately half of all bus and streetcar routes are back up and running, while only 17 percent of buses are in use, a level of service that has not changed since January. Gas and electricity service is reaching only 41 and 60 percent of the pre-Katrina customer base, respectively.

The labor force in the New Orleans region is 30 percent smaller today than one year ago and has grown slowly over the last six months; meanwhile, the unemployment rate remains higher than pre-Katrina. The New Orleans metro area lost 190,000 workers over the past year, with the health and education services industries suffering the largest percentage declines. In the past six months, the region has seen 3.4 percent more jobs but much of that may reflect the rise in new job seekers. The unemployment rate is now 7.2 percent, higher than last August.

Since last August, over $100 billion in federal aid has been dedicated to serving families and communities impacted by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. In the meantime, the number of displaced and unemployed workers remains high. To date, the federal government has approved approximately $107 billion in federal aid to the Gulf Coast states most impacted by the storms. Of these funds, nearly half has been dedicated to emergency and longer-term housing. In the meantime, an estimated 278,000 workers are still displaced by the storm, 23 percent of whom remain unemployed.

Full report (PDF) here.

UK-US Bomb Plot/Red Alert: Test Run in 1994?

Some scary background from Tony Harris of CNN (with the caveat that it's not yet certain "Al Qaeda," whatever that name means these days, is behind this):

In fact in 1994, al Qaeda actually pulled off a test run of one of these bombs that was assembled on an airplane using liquid explosives and a detonator. In that case, it was a Casio watch. Here the thinking is that it might have been one of these electric key fobs.

So he says ... we're only talking about a small amount of explosives. Look at what Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, had. That was only a small amount of explosives, yet it was enough to bring down a plane, and that was much evolved from what happened in 1994.

In 1995 and 1996, there was a plot to bring down up to 11 transoceanic flights from the Pacific into the United States. This plot is very reminiscent of that. So you begin to see where there's an evolution of the al Qaeda playbook here.

Not sure how testing this out 10 years ago and doing it today represents an "evolution" but it's an interesting data point.

BULLETIN: US-UK AIR TERROR THREAT

LEVEL`CRITICAL’; ARRESTS IN BRITAIN; HEATHROW SHUT; ALL LIQUIDS BANNED ON US FLIGHTS

US THREAT LEVEL `RED’ ON INCOMING BRIT FLIGHTS

CHERTOFF STATEMENT THURSDAY MORNING

U.S. RAISES AIRLINE THREAT LEVEL

TERROR THREAT TO UK-US FLIGHTS

MI5 STATEMENT: THREAT TO THE UK FROM INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

FEARS OF 'PARALLEL TERROR GROUP'

August 12, 2006

August 11, 2006

August 10, 2006

August 9, 2006