PS
Friday, September 19, 2008
Arab-American Pie
I have been writing a parody of Don McLean's American hit and classic song American Pie. Find it here.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Why Did Middle Class Saudis Hijack UA 11 et al?
I was just looking though my file system and found this little grain of sand.
Did anybody see the Saudi ambasador's unprecedented evasion on last Sunday's Meet the Press (4/25/2004)? He kept tapping his briefing papers on the desk as if to point out that he had run out of things to say and not to press in too deeply. Tim Russert did not throw the hardball that would probably have made Prince Bandar walk out on the interview. Namely that Prince Ahmed bin Salman, owner of 2002 Kentucky Derby winner "War Emblem", was identified as a key contact for Abu Zubeida, a top level Al Quaeda operative.
Unfortunately, the FBI was not able to question Bin Salman because he had a fatal heart attack during a visit to hospital for minor, other reasons during the week after this revelation. He was only 40-something. Then, Abu Zubeida's interrogators, acting friendly and continuing to pretend to be with Saudi intelligence, told Zubeida that they did not believe him.
Did anybody see the Saudi ambasador's unprecedented evasion on last Sunday's Meet the Press (4/25/2004)? He kept tapping his briefing papers on the desk as if to point out that he had run out of things to say and not to press in too deeply. Tim Russert did not throw the hardball that would probably have made Prince Bandar walk out on the interview. Namely that Prince Ahmed bin Salman, owner of 2002 Kentucky Derby winner "War Emblem", was identified as a key contact for Abu Zubeida, a top level Al Quaeda operative.
Unfortunately, the FBI was not able to question Bin Salman because he had a fatal heart attack during a visit to hospital for minor, other reasons during the week after this revelation. He was only 40-something. Then, Abu Zubeida's interrogators, acting friendly and continuing to pretend to be with Saudi intelligence, told Zubeida that they did not believe him.
He apparently replied that yes, of course, bin Salman knew about the plans for 9/11 and so did some other members of the royal family whose mobile numbers he then also divulged. The FBI was not able to meet with them either. One had a fatal car wreck on the way to bin Salman's funeral. The other promptly died in the desert "of thirst".
These details were given to Gerald Posner by an anonymous source with US intelligence services. When I personally recounted them to Tom Ridge, then head of the Dept. of Homeland Security, he appeared to acknowledge their veracity and said, "Isn't that amazing?" The fingered Saudis were doubtless well travelled and connected to friends in America, not least duplicitous big contributors to George W Bush's campaign like Ken Lay. That there are Americans who knew about the plans for a terrorist attack is also what I hear on the back channels from my high school in Switzerland.
It is now generally understood that the attack of 9/11 served to eliminate Saddam. But he rivaled the other Sunni leaders in the Gulf, certainly not America and not even so much Israel. Bin Laden seems to have engaged the mostly young Saudi hijackers under false pretenses. Saudi is certainly a dangerous place for ambitious young men. It has a capricous and brutal, medieval system of justice supported by a system of education rife with religious indoctrination. The hypocrisy must have been overwhelming to those easily manipulated "martyrs" who bin Laden made fun of in a video released after 9/11. It seems hardly accidental that bin Laden has not been captured or killed. The attack provided a pretext for the removal of Saddam which encouraged investmetn in the Gulf, particularly Dubai, the Arab Vegas. The bin Laden family, the Gulf's leading indigenous contractors, must be secretly thrilled. With much help from America and on the backs of US taxpayers and servicemen, their black sheep has turned out to be the most productive member of the family.
These details were given to Gerald Posner by an anonymous source with US intelligence services. When I personally recounted them to Tom Ridge, then head of the Dept. of Homeland Security, he appeared to acknowledge their veracity and said, "Isn't that amazing?" The fingered Saudis were doubtless well travelled and connected to friends in America, not least duplicitous big contributors to George W Bush's campaign like Ken Lay. That there are Americans who knew about the plans for a terrorist attack is also what I hear on the back channels from my high school in Switzerland.
It is now generally understood that the attack of 9/11 served to eliminate Saddam. But he rivaled the other Sunni leaders in the Gulf, certainly not America and not even so much Israel. Bin Laden seems to have engaged the mostly young Saudi hijackers under false pretenses. Saudi is certainly a dangerous place for ambitious young men. It has a capricous and brutal, medieval system of justice supported by a system of education rife with religious indoctrination. The hypocrisy must have been overwhelming to those easily manipulated "martyrs" who bin Laden made fun of in a video released after 9/11. It seems hardly accidental that bin Laden has not been captured or killed. The attack provided a pretext for the removal of Saddam which encouraged investmetn in the Gulf, particularly Dubai, the Arab Vegas. The bin Laden family, the Gulf's leading indigenous contractors, must be secretly thrilled. With much help from America and on the backs of US taxpayers and servicemen, their black sheep has turned out to be the most productive member of the family.
Monday, March 13, 2006
First Submission to PS in Memory of Pushpinder Singh
This personal blog is named "PS" in memory of Pushpinder Singh. Push was Marvin Minsky's prodigal student turned colleague for more than a decade. Despite the fact that he was working on problems that will define our era and the state of humanity, Push was also one of the most humble and accessible graduate students at the Media Lab. I liked him immensely and have been greatly saddened and perplexed by his sudden and unexpected departure.
Here is a significant item about the mechanics of memory that I have been thinking about it since writing it up as a term paper for the Society of Mind class. Push graded it. He did not really agree and neither did anyone I talked to in neuroscience.
Update: I went to an April, 2008 neuroscience conference at MIT's McGovern Center. The model I suggest is now being taken seriously.
Here is a significant item about the mechanics of memory that I have been thinking about it since writing it up as a term paper for the Society of Mind class. Push graded it. He did not really agree and neither did anyone I talked to in neuroscience.
Update: I went to an April, 2008 neuroscience conference at MIT's McGovern Center. The model I suggest is now being taken seriously.
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