Dennis Blair says "It's cool to kill Americans!"

Director of National Intelligence Says Intelligence Community Can Target Citizens Presenting a Terrorist Threat

By JASON RYAN

The director of national intelligence affirmed rather bluntly today that the U.S. intelligence community has authority to target American citizens for assassination if they present a direct terrorist threat to the United States.

“We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community; if & we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra D-Mich., addressed the issue at today’s hearing.

“The targeting of Americans — it’s a very sensitive issue, but again there’s been more information in the public domain than what has been shared with this committee,” he said.

“There is no clarity.” Hoekstra said. “What is the legal framework?”

“Whether that American is involved in a group that is trying to attack us, whether that American has — is a threat to other Americans. Those are the factors involved.” Blair explained. “We don’t target people for free speech. We target them for taking action that threatens Americans.”

According to U.S. officials, only a handful of Americans would be eligible for targeting by U.S. intelligence or military operations. The legal guidance is determined by the National Security Council and the Justice Department.

In the past, the U.S. has killed Americans overseas but they were viewed as “collateral damage.” In 2002, the CIA killed American-born Kamal Derwish, a member of the “Lackawanna 6″ terror group during a CIA Predator drone strike. Derwish was driving in a car with other members of al Qaeda, the government said.

In 2008, a missile strike in Somalia killed American Ruben Shumpert, a Seattle man suspected of being an Islamist radical. Shumpert was wanted by federal authorities on gun and counterfeit currency charges. He had agreed to plead guilty but fled the country days before sentencing in 2004.

The Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al Awlaki, who has become a prominent influence with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was at a meeting with leaders of the terror group when U.S. officials knowingly launched a cruise missile strike to eliminate the terror leaders. Several people were killed but Awlaki survived.

Terrorism an Emergent Threat, Recruitment Efforts Grow

The disclosure about detailed guidance to target Americans as part of terror plots comes amid fresh warnings about increased threats and concerns about new al Qaeda attacks.

“We have been warning in the past several years that al Qaeda itself and its associated affiliates and al Qaeda-inspired terrorists remain committed to striking the United States,” Blair said today, “and in the past year we have some names that goes behind these warnings.”

Blair cited the cases of Colorado terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi, the accused Christmas Day bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab and Major Nidal Hasan, who was charged in the November 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people.

“We have made complex, multi-team attacks very difficult for al Qaeda to pull off, but as we saw with the recent rash of attacks last year&identifying individual terrorists, small groups with short histories using simple attack methods, is a much more difficult task,” Blair said.

Blair added that radicalization and recruitment foments suicide bombers. “Al Qaeda’s radical ideology seems to appeal strongly to a group of disaffected young Muslims, and this is a pool of potential suicide bombers and this pool unfortunately includes Americans,” Blair said.

The DNI said that Internet and social media sites have become critical to terrorism recruitment efforts. Speaking about the Hasan case and his alleged Internet communications with al Awlaki, Blair said, “The homegrown radicalization of people in the United States&is a relatively new thing.”

Blair said U.S. intelligence was rapidly working to counter the emerging problem. “There are some technical things, which are making it more difficult, with the use of social networking as opposed to simply looking at a Web site and responding by e-mail.”

Increasing Threat?

Blair said this is “a threat, which may be increasing. We’re taking it more and more seriously and this is a — this is something that is very — is potentially very dangerous to us because of all of the — for all of the reasons of the rights that American citizens have.

“We may be shooting behind the rabbit here and it’s moving faster than we thought and we’re spending a lot of additional effort on that, to try and understand it.” Blair said.

.

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens,swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won’t come outof the pear tree have to do with Christmas? This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England werenot permitted to practice their faith openly.   Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.   It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaningplus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church.

Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

==============================================================

- The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

- Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

- Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

- The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

- The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

- The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

- Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving,
Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

- The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

- Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Pat ience, Kindness,
Goodness,   Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

- The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

- The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

- The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol  …

so pass it on if you wish.’

Merry   (Twelve Days)   of   Christmas Everyone !

Sourece: GracePoint Gospel Women’s Ministry.

Another south-east London dispatch, this time to a soon-to-be-demolished council flat in at 157 Harper Road in Elephant and Castle, which has been transformed by artist Roger Hiorns into a grotto of blue crystals.

 It’s a small flat – and as you enter, passing a scrap of sixties wallpaper still intact, you walk first into an ordinary, bare living room and kitchen. It’s dark and dirty, with a stench of years and years of habitation gone stale, and the boarded-over windows make it especially dingy. Then you turn back and left into what must have been the bedroom and bathroom, which are now covered in rich blue copper sulphate crystals, sharp to the touch. And that is it. The bathroom entrance is so encrusted with crystals that there’s barely room to squeeze through, and very little room in the bathroom anyway.

 Only a few people are allowed in at a time, so it’s not too crowded. And it’s the kind of installation you can imagine some people getting annoyed with, and saying but what does it mean? To be honest, I have no idea. But it’s worth seeing. And as the demolition of the building is delayed, it’s now on until January.