Results tagged “pentagon”

Hey! The Pentagon is just like us, tracking blogs and social media for trends. When it released its report about the ill-planned Air Force One flyover in late April, buried in the pages of documents were details that the military was gauging fallout online: One email read, "Web site blog comments ‘furious’ at best"—like this one!—"Twitter search reveals ‘tweets’ regarding two F-16’s chasing commercial airliner. Rate of 1 tweet per minute and growing" (Twitter rate was later 3 Tweets/minutes!). And the Christian Science Monitor noticed that the Pentagon also ignored the warnings of USAF Maj Gen Brian P. Meenan, who wrote, "NYC populace can be sensitive to airplanes that appear lower than normal or tracks not normally seen over the NYC area. Influenced by 9/11. Have seen one or two instances of civil aircraft cleared for visual arrivals that triggered inquiries to media and local officials concerning unusual flt activity from folks on the ground." The AP—which notes that even a Pentagon PowerPoint chart admitted "No positive spin is possible"—also found that the Air Force's cell that monitors Internet chatter suggested, "Government involvement in this incident could be used to frame expected handling of H1N1 outbreak."

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects in the 9/11 attacks have agreed to plead guilty in "full". While it's unclear whether they'll admit to specific charges, the defendants "request[ed] an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions," according to a letter read in the Guantanamo Bay court. The NY Times reports, "The request appeared to be intended to cut short any effort to try them, and to challenge the United States government to put them to death" (but the judge isn't accepting formal pleas immediately). Mohammed, who allegedly confessed that he planned the attacks, also took time to tell the judge, "I don't trust you" and "We don’t want to waste our time with motions. All of you are paid by the U.S. government. I’m not trusting any American.”

Photograph by M.V. Jantzen on Flickr

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who federal authorities accuse of proposing and overseeing the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., appeared in a military courtroom today at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Mohammed said he would represent himself and, when told he could face the death penalty if convicted, "Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time. I will, God willing, have this, by you."