Author Archives: James Yardley

Bin Laden Conspiracy Theories: Real or Not

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Bin Laden is Alive/ Already Dead

The Argument

The lack of photos or video evidence, plus inconsistencies in accounts of the raid, suggests everything was made up. It is also highly suspicious that bin Laden was immediately buried at sea.

Since 9/11 there have been many reports of Bin Laden’s death.

In 2005 senator Harry Reid suggested bin Laden was killed in a Pakistan earthquake. In 2007 Benazir Bhutto said he was killed by Omar Sheikh, a Pakistani militant.

The argument goes that bin Laden’s death was staged possibly as pretext for a war in Pakistan. It has also been argued that it was simply done to boost Obamas poll ratings.

J’s View

It is very odd that no pictures or evidence of any kind have been released. The US claims that releasing any pictures would provoke an anti US reaction and increase the likelihood of reprisal terrorist attacks. I am uncomfortably willing to go along with this for the moment, whilst failing to be totally convinced.

The US also argued there was no point in releasing pictures because conspiracy theorists would just claim they had been doctored. What a ridiculous argument.

‘Well we would release the evidence your honor but we fear the defence might argue against it’.

The suggestion that evidence is not needed because it might be rejected is a very worrying trend.

The US also claim that bin Laden’s body was hurriedly buried at sea to prevent his grave becoming a shrine. I go along with this argument. In my mind it makes sense. A bin Laden shrine would only have encouraged extremism. However it is convenient.

Suggestions that bin Laden was already dead, have never been conclusively proved to any extent.

Personally at the moment I believe he is dead and was killed in this attack, although I am by no means certain. I remain wholly unconvinced by arguments that this has been staged to boost Obamas poll ratings or as pre-text for a war in Pakistan.

Bin Laden was Executed. He was Never Going to Stand Trial

Argument

Bin Laden had strong links with the CIA in the 1980s. It is argued he coordinated with them during the war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. Had bin Laden been tried these details would have emerged and embarrassed the US so he was killed to prevent this.

J’s View

This in my view is probably the strongest of all the arguments. That said whilst I’m suspicious I am by no means convinced. In 1979 after leaving college bin Laden went to join the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and fight the Soviet Union. During the war the US provided financial aid and weapons to Mujahedeen leaders. However this aid was provided through Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence not directly by the US. There were of course CIA members on the ground.

The CIA has denied having direct contact with Bin Laden. However a number of authorities say that the CIA brought both Afghans and Arabs to the US for military training. Was bin Laden one of them?
I’m certainly willing to consider the possibility he was killed to stop a trial.

Pakistan Already New

Argument

People argue there was no way Pakistan could not have known about Bin Laden, particularly when he was living next to the Pakistan Military Academy in a large compound. Bin Laden also had strong links with the Pakistani Intelligence Authorities going back to the war in Afghanistan.

J’s View

I don’t believe that Pakistani intelligence new of bin Laden’s existence. It wouldn’t make any sense for them to harbor him.

Pakistan wants an end to the war in Afghanistan and get rid of the US. One of the best ways to do that would be to find bin Laden. So why hide him? Moreover keeping the information secret would have been virtually impossible, particularly with the $25 million bounty on bin Laden’s head.

Capturing bin Laden would have given great prestige to Pakistan. As it is Pakistan has been left deeply embarrassed.

Whatever we conclude I don’t believe we can say we’re certain of anything. Keep doubting and the truth will reveal itself.

AV and Election Result: Liberal Democrats Hammered and UK Say's 'NO' to AV

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The Liberal Democrats have been hammered in the British local elections. They lost over 650 councillors and 9 councils as the British public punished the liberal democrats for broken electoral promises.

In a further blow to the Lib Dems, the public decisively voted against the Alternative voting system (68% to 32%). The Lib Dems had insisted on a referendum on AV as part of their coalition agreement with the Conservatives.

Embattled leader Nick Clegg said that they ‘had taken a real knock’. The Lib Dems and Clegg have come in for criticism over broken promises, particularly over issues such as tuition fees.

The Lib Dem wipe out was made all the more painful by the surprising resilience of the conservative vote. Their coalition partners had been expected to lose up to around 900 councillors but actually gained 78 new ones.

The Labour party did not have quite as good a night as was expected. They did however gain almost 800 councillors and 25 councils. They were also very successful in Wales where they won 30 of the 60 seats falling just 1 seat short of a majority. It is not clear whether they will seek to form a coalition or govern alone. The best story for Labour was their large increase in their share of the national vote which rose to 37% (10 points higher than the previous election)

However, there was a disaster for Labour in Scotland (their traditional stronghold) where their support collapsed, as it did in fact for all three main parties. The Scottish National Party (SNP) pulled out a stunning victory and perhaps the story of the night. A few weeks prior to the campaign the SNP had been 10 points behind Labour in the polls but they were able to pull off a remarkable turnaround.

The SNP gained a majority of the Scottish parliamentary seats, this despite a voting system which makes majority’s difficult to obtain. The question is when will they now seek a referendum on independence? Despite the SNPs own popularity, polling suggest only around 30% of Scots actually support independence itself. Prime minister David Cameron has said he will vigorously oppose any break up in the union.

The vote against AV was also much higher than expected. The YES campaign was defeated by more than 2 to 1. The NO campaign successfully overturned polls which had them behind six months earlier. The Labour party had been split over the issue with its members arguing both for and against. A BBC commentator said that, ‘Ed Milliband had been weakened’ by his association with the AV campaign.

The question now is will Clegg be able to hang on as Lib Dem leader? And will the coalition be able to survive? If not we all might be voting again quite soon.

PSN Update 3: Sony Blames Anonymous

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Sony has blamed the online group anonymous for the crash in its network. Anonymous has famously been responsible for defending free speech across the internet. They most recently ran campaigns against companies for withdrawing support from the site Wikileaks.

Sony reported that it had found a file on one of it servers. They claim the file was named anonymous and read, ‘we are legion’.

The group Anonymous had denied any involvement in the data theft. It is thought Anonymous sympathised with three hackers whom Sony sued, this was supposedly the motivation for the attack. The hackers were sued after they successfully found a way to play pirated software on the ps3.

Sony argues that a denial of service attack (which overloads the targets servers with traffic) was undertaken by Anonymous. They claim this caused a distraction allowing the hack.

The explanation is unlikely to impress the millions of gamers who are still unable to play on the PSN network, or the many more millions on Sony Online Entertainment (Which was also taken offline 2 days ago).

Anonymous have strongly denied any involvement in the attack. They argue they would have nothing to gain from attacking a network used by many of their sympathisers.

Experts had previously suggested it was unlikely Anonymous were involved. The majority opinion remains that this action was by major criminals. Sony said today themselves that this was a, ‘highly sophisticated and very professional attack’.

Is blaming Anonymous almost two weeks after the attack (with the network still offline) an increasingly desperate action? Even if Anonymous’ s attack was a distraction it is no excuse for the lack of proper security. Regulators say customer data should have been encrypted. Sony now faces a major fine from the UK information commissioner’s office for failing to secure customer information.

Now the New York attorney general has subpoenaed Sony. The states top law official wants to know more about how hackers were able to access people’s data.

Sony is offering 30 days of PlayStation plus (the paid version of the PlayStation network) to customers as a means of compensation. Users can try out demos, get the latest game upgrades and betas. There will also be a forced Firmware upgrade. This will help patch up the hack and offer increased protection when the network goes back online.

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First Update

Second Update

Bin Laden Executed, Says Daughter; US in row with Pakistan over Bin Laden's Wife

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The Al-Arabiya television station today reported, that Osama bin Laden’s 12 year old daughter claimed that he was captured and then shot by US forces. Senior Pakistani intelligence officials told the television station this is what the girl has told them.

The claims have been given more credence because of a number of embarrassing corrections by the US administration.

The White House now admits that bin Laden did not use his wife as a human shield as was previously suggested. They have also now said that bin Laden was unarmed when he died.

Commentators have speculated that the US may have wanted Bin Laden dead as opposed to alive. It is thought that during any trial embarrassing links may have emerged regarding bin Laden’s links with the US in the 1980s (when the CIA supported Afghan resistance fighters against the then Russian occupation) Believers in this theory are likely to jump upon this latest claim as proof.

The US has also admitted that bin Laden’s wife is not dead. She is currently in a military hospital being treated for a shot to the leg.

US forces had intended to take Ahmed al-Sadah , the youngest of bin Laden’s five wives, with them. However because one of their helicopters crashed during the operation they did not have space for her.

The US believes she could provide vital information about links to bin Laden. Information which could be used to break up terrorist cells and prevent any reprisal attacks. However in a surprising twist Pakistan has now indicated it will refuse to hand her over to the US, potentially escalating the row between the two countries. Pakistan has come in for significant criticism for being unable to identify bin Laden’s hiding place sooner, this despite the fact he was living a huge complex just yards away from the Pakistan military academy.

Pakistan has indicated that all those currently being held will eventually be sent back to their countries of origin.

PSN Update 2: Sony Closes Another Online Service as 100 Million Now Affected

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Sony’s and millions of users nightmare got even worse today as it emerged that not only had the play station network been hacked but also Sony’s Online Entertainment. Sony was forced to close the service which runs various online games.

Worse still the SOE breach was thought to have happened before the PSN network problems which raise numerous questions about Sony’s whole handling of the crisis. One expert said, ‘Inevitably people will be wondering if more is to come’. Names, addresses, emails, DOBs, numbers and this time Sony has also admitted some credit details card (Outside the US) were taken.

On Sunday Sony had said that it hoped to have some services up and running sometime this week, though nothing is certain. Users will need to use two methods to verify their account when PSN goes back online, because of the compromised security. The exact methods remain unclear.

Sony also hit back at reports that millions of credit card details had been taken, saying that too its knowledge this is untrue. They said, ‘there is no evidence our main credit card database was compromised’. We can only hope that everything gets back online as soon as possible.

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Third Update
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Bin Laden Loved Coke and Pepsi: The Selfish Terrorist

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Today Osama Bin Laden was exposed as a hypocrite as it emerged he used to order in bulk quantities of Coke and Pepsi. Two Pakistanis helped Osama buy in orders of Coca-Cola and Pepsi from a local shop.

The two brands are some of the strongest symbols of American power and influence. They are synonymous with Western Capitalism. It is simply incredible that bin Laden would buy and therefore fund the very thing he supposedly hated.

In a bizarre way you might suggest that bin laden helped fund his own death. By buying Coke and Pepsi whom then paid taxes to the US government.

In my mind it only goes to show the truth about terrorists. Many terrorists would have you believe they are fighting what they believe is a just cause. We sometimes think about them as being ‘brain washed’ or ‘misguided’.

The truth is that behind every terrorist’s actions is a selfish objective. Yes even suicide bombers are fundamentally selfish. How so? Terrorists become terrorists to give their own lives meaning. In our increasingly interconnected and vast world the individual has felt increasingly disempowered. Many ordinary unexceptional people are finding themselves without meaning. Terrorism and a perceived injustice gives them a cause and a meaning for their existence.

Religion or brain washing don’t create terrorists from nothing. They definitely encourage it and foster it but they do not create it. Individuals who are lost and looking for meaning find such causes. Once they find a cause they throw themselves into it completely, encouraging their own deception. (Interestingly this is not a dissimilar path to many conspiracy theorists)

Ultimately bin Laden didn’t even truly believe in his own terrible cause as the buying of coke shows. His actions were fundamentally selfish as he sought to give his own life meaning.

Osama Bin Laden Killed: News and Reactions

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Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been killed after US forces raided his hiding place in Pakistan. President Barack Obama said it was, ‘the most significant achievement to date in our efforts to defeat Al-Qaeda’.

On Sunday a team of US forces undertook the operation in Abbottabad, a sleepy hollow 150 kilometres from Peshawar and home to the PMA – Pakistan Military Academy – their Sandhurst. Incredibly Bin Laden was living just 1000 yards away from the academy in a built up complex! Not in some mountain cave as most people thought.

After a fire fight Bin Laden was killed and his body recovered. No US soldiers were killed in the operation. Bin Laden’s body has been identified and has been buried at sea.

Despite being the most wanted man in the world, with a bounty of $25 million on his head, Bin Laden has successfully eluded capture for 10 years since 9/11 (and before then as well). Today thousands of Americans are celebrating news which they thought would never come.

Reaction to the News

A last Americans feel as if they have got some sort of justice, it is significant that it was the Americans who found him. America has struggled to recover from the events of 9/11. Perhaps Americans can now find some closure for that terrible event.

Bin Laden’s death is a vital symbolic victory for America and for US president Barack Obama. In the years since 9/11 the west and America has struggled. There has been a major recession, stock markets are lower. There has been a sense of the declining power of the West. Will today’s events help reverse this?

Terrorism Expert Michael Yardley said,

Bin Laden killed more Afghans than Americans. He used Islam as a screen for his own, evil, crusade. There are only a tiny number of Al Qaeda operating in Afghanistan now – maybe 100. We should not revel in his death too much though, the war isn’t over yet.

Experts and US officials have warned about the possibility of reprisal attacks. But a senior US official said, ‘the loss of Bin Laden puts the group on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse’. Ayman al-Zawahiri, previously Al-Qaeda’s number 2 remains at large. He is much more heavily involved in Al-Qaeda’s day to day operations than Bin Laden ever was in recent years. He is not however thought to be as popular or as charismatic as Bin Laden.

PSN Update

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Earlier article

Sony today announced that friends lists and trophy data are unaffected by the PSN Network outage. The news will come as a big relief to gamers, some of whom have spent months and years building up their achievements. Sony has also said it hopes to have some parts of the network back up and running by May 3rd, that would be almost two weeks after the initial outage.

In another crumb of comfort for gamers Sony has said it will do something special for its customers for their, ’extraordinary patience’. It will have to be something momentous if they have any hope of turning around this PR disaster.

Currently Sony has found no evidence that credit card data has been stolen (data it claims was encrypted in contrast to other data such as names and addresses). The safest policy at this stage would be to check your bank statements for any unusual activity.

Sony may now face a large penalty fine from the UK information commissioner’s office for failing to secure customer information such as names and addresses. However, given the maximum fine is only £500,000, it is likely to be the least of the technology giant’s worries.

Speculation remains rife as to who was behind the attack. Currently the consensus view among experts is that major criminals are responsible, given its huge scale.

Original Article

2nd Update

3rd Update