Army Warns of Twitter Dangers... and vegetarians and human rights groups -- seriously

This is just too ridiculous/crazy not to post. It brings to mind the question of who is really one step ahead technologically, the military or the college students?
Army Warns of Twitter Dangers

Army Warns of Twitter Dangers
October 25, 2008
Agence France-Presse

A draft US Army intelligence report has identified the popular micro-blogging service Twitter, Global Positioning System maps and voice-changing software as potential terrorist tools.

The report by the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, posted on the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), examines a number of mobile and web technologies and their potential uses by militants. ****

A chapter on "Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter" notes that Twitter members sent out messages, known as "Tweets," reporting the July Los Angeles earthquake faster than news outlets and activists at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis used it to provide information on police movements.

"Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences," the report said.

Did anyone tell these "intelligence" folks about facebook? Actually, the full-report is pretty comprehensive..

US Air Strike Massacres Civilians In Western Afghanistan

US Air Strike Massacres Civilians In Western Afghanistan
By James Cogan
26 August, 2008
WSWS.org

In one of the worst atrocities of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan, as many as 90 civilians were massacred by an American air strike last Friday in the western province of Herat. At least 60 of those killed were children under the age of 15, according to Afghan government and military sources.

The slaughter was carried out by what is, for defenceless people on the ground, one of the most terrifying warplanes in the US arsenal, the AC-130 “Spooky” gunship. Equipped with a rapid-fire five-barrel 25mm Gatling gun, a 40mm cannon and a 105mm howitzer, it is designed to lay waste to exposed targets with a torrent of bullets and artillery shells.

The victims were part of a large crowd that had gathered in the village of Azizabad—a community near the government airfield at Shindand, some 120 kilometres south of the city of Herat—for a customary commemoration of the 40th day after the death of a local leader. Many of the men in the village work as security guards at the airfield.

How they came to be targeted by US aircraft is still shrouded in a fog of contradictory reports.... [link]

alternet.org - Army Recruiter Threatens High School Student with Jail Time

A Texas army recruiter was recently suspended for telling a teenager he would be
sent to jail if he chose college over the military.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/94192

startribune.com - ACLU won't appeal ruling on security restrictions for Democratic convention in Denver

ACLU won't appeal ruling on security restrictions for Democratic convention in Denver

http://www.startribune.com/politics/26390954.html

commondreams.org - After Split Decision In Guantanamo, Legal Debate Rages On

After Split Decision In Guantanamo, Legal Debate Rages On

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/07/10864/

nytimes.com - Panel Sentences bin Laden Driver to a Short Term

Military Panel Sentences bin Laden Driver to a Short Term

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/washington/08gitmo.html?hp

nytimes.com - 500: Deadly U.S. Milestone in Afghan War

500: Deadly U.S. Milestone in Afghan War

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/us/07afghan.html

truthdig.com - Threats, Lies and Audiotape

Threats, Lies and Audiotape

By Amy Goodman
August 7, 2008, TruthDig.com

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080806_threats_lies_and_audiotape/

It was like an action movie. A young man held at night in a hotel, threatened with prison. He is to be shipped off to war in the morning. His friends desperately trying to find him. The 'down' button on the elevator had been disabled. He considered jumping from the window. When his friends arrive, they encounter military personnel patrolling the grounds. One sneaks in, gets his friend out, and they drive off into the night. This was real life for 17-year-old Eric Martinez, a
student at Aldine High School in a poor neighborhood of Houston. He responded to an Army recruitment pitch, called the delayed enlistment program.

But then, as 17-year-olds are wont to do, Eric changed his mind. When the recruiter came to his house and threatened his mother, she went to the recruiting station to meet with the officer in charge: 'She talked to Sgt. Marquette and told him that I didn't want to go, and that's it. And Marquette said that I had to go, and if I didn't, that I'd have a warrant for my arrest, and I wouldn't be able to get no government loans or nothing like that. So, my mom doesn't really know anything about it, so she believed it, and she told me. And I believed it, too, because I didn't know much about it either.' It was then that they took Eric to the hotel.

truthout.org - Not All Veterans Salute McCain

Not All Veterans Salute McCain

http://www.truthout.org/article/not-all-veterans-salute-mccain

Democracy Now! - DN!: Army Recruiter Suspended for Threatening High School Student with Jail Time, Sparks Bipartisan Call for Investigation

DN!: Army Recruiter Suspended for Threatening High School Student with Jail Time, Sparks Bipartisan Call for Investigation

Democracy Now!, a daily independent radio and TV news program:

A story involving an Army recruiter in Texas last week has led to a bipartisan call for an investigation. The recruiter from the Greenspoint Recruiting Station in Houston was suspended after a recording of his threats aired on a local TV station. The recruiter, Sgt. Glenn Marquette, warned eighteen-year-old Irving Gonzalez that he would be sent to jail if he decided to go to college instead of joining the military, even though Gonzalez had signed a non-binding contract that left him free to change his mind before basic training. We play the recording of their conversation, and we speak with two of the teenage Army recruits involved. We also question a spokesman for the US Military Recruiting Command and speak with a Texas Congressman who is calling for an investigation. [includes rush transcript]

To read, listen to, or watch the whole story:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/6/army_recruiter_suspended_for_threatening_high

FOCUS | Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?

-----Original Message-----
From: t r u t h o u t

Sent: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 12:00 pm
Subject: FOCUS | Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?



FOCUS | Col. Ann Wright: Sexual Assault in the Military: A DoD Cover-Up?

http://www.truthout.org/article/sexual-assault-military-a-dod-cover-up

Col. An Wright, writing for Truthdig, says: "There was quite a struggle in

Congress this week. The Department of Defense refused to allow the senior

civilian in charge of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO)

to testify in Thursday's hearing on sexual assault in the military. Rep. John

Tierney, chair of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign

Affairs, angrily dismissed Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Michael

Dominguez from the hearing when Dominguez said that he, the DoD chief of

legislative affairs and the chief of public affairs, had ordered Dr. Kaye

Whitley, chief of SAPRO, to refuse to honor the subpoena issued by the

subcommittee for her appearance. "

You Tube - Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted by NYPD

You Tube - Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted by NYPD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ