Feds push Carnivore after attacks: ‘Federal police are reportedly increasing Internet surveillance after Tuesday’s deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Just hours after three airplanes smashed into the buildings in what some U.S. legislators have dubbed a second Pearl Harbor, FBI agents began to visit Web-based, e-mail firms and network providers, according to engineers at those companies who spoke on condition of anonymity.’ Wired

Two important, succinct points from William Pfaff, in the International Herald Tribune. Attacks Show That Political Courage Is the Only Real Defense

“The practical uselessness of revenge has repeatedly been

demonstrated, and continues to be demonstrated in the Middle

East, since those who employ terrorism are not functioning on a

pragmatic scale of reward and punishment. As the Israelis find,

making martyrs of your enemies invites further martyrdoms.”

“The second reaction will be that the United States needs even

more elaborate defenses than now exist. Yet the Pentagon,

CIA, NSA and the rest of the American apparatus of national

security proved incapable of preventing the attacks Tuesday.

They are incapable of preventing their repetition in some other

version.

There are no technological defenses, as such, against this sort of

thing. Surely, if nothing else comes out of the attacks Tuesday,

they ought to have demonstrated to Americans the irrelevance

of national missile defense.” [via Sam Smith]

Cockburn and St. Clair: Who Saw It Coming?

There may be another similarity to Pearl Harbor. The possibility of a Japanese attack in early December of 1941 was known to US Naval Intelligence and to President Roosevelt. Last Tuesday, derision at the failure of US intelligence was widespread. The Washington Post quoted an unnamed top official at the National Security Council as saying, “We don’t know anything here. We’re watching CNN too.” Are we to believe that the $30 billion annual intelligence budget, immense electronic eavesdropping capacity, thousands of agents around the world, produced nothing in the way of a warning? In fact Osama bin Laden, now prime suspect, said in an interview three weeks ago with Abdel-Bari Atwan, the editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, that he planned “very, very big attacks against American interests.”

Here is bin-Laden, probably the most notorious Islamic foe of America on the planet, originally trained by the CIA, planner of other successful attacks on US installations such as the embassies in East Africa, carrying a $5 million FBI bounty on his head proclaiming the imminence of another assault, and US intelligence was impotent, even though the attacks must have taken months, if not years to plan, and even though CNN has reported that bin-Laden and his coordinating group al-Qa’ida had been using an airstrip in Afghanistan to train pilots to fly 767s. CounterPunch

Helping Children After a Disaster; American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Facts For Families: “It is important to acknowledge the

frightening parts of the disaster when talking with a child about it. Falsely minimizing

the danger will not end a child’s concerns. Several factors affect a child’s response

to a disaster.” Can be printed out and used as a handout to guide and encourage parents in talking with their children about yesterday’s events. And: Talking with Children About Terrorism: “Judith Myers-Walls, a Purdue University Extension specialist in child development and family studies, has researched children’s reactions to wars and disasters and offers advice for parents and others on how to help children cope with the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Centers and Pentagon.”

Assume the kids know about it. They probably know more than you think. The reality of today’s world is that news travels far and wide. Adults and children learn about disasters and tragedies shortly after they occur, and live video footage with close-ups and interviews are part of the report. Children and youth are exposed to the events as soon as they can watch TV or interact with others who are consumers of the news. Not talking about it does not protect children. In fact, you may communicate that the subject is taboo and that you are unavailable if you remain silent.

Also: Cornell expert advises parents on how to help children cope with news of terrorist attacks: “…Parents and other adults will naturally tend to become preoccupied, anxious, and sad by the disaster, but they must guard against this where children are concerned. If adults are “psychologically unavailable,” children will suffer. This is a major issue. The message to parents is clear: Don’t become glued to the television and unavailable to your children when they need you most.”