Why isn't the FBI accusing Usama Bin Laden of 9/11?

If anyone is curious, go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website--- go to the "10 Most Wanted"--- click on the profile of Usama Bin Laden (there is no profile for Osama Bin Laden)and check it out: http://www.fbi.gov/

The FBI has a reason why each individual is on the Most Wanted list. Some run drug cartels out of Mexico, some have stolen over $150 million in a money laundry scheme. But Bin Laden is on the list, not for the events that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, but for the attacks on United States Embassies in several African countries that killed 200 people.

From the FBI website:

"Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar Es Sallam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These attacks killed over 200 people. In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world."

He's considered armed and extremely dangerous. His profile contains no accusation that he even knew about 9/11.

Bin Laden first got on the list in 1999, but then his FBI profile was updated in November 2001.

I'm like most Americans and believe he played a key role in the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings and the damage done to the Pentagon. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious as to why the U.S.'s Public Enemy Number 1 isn't being indited on the charges that so many of us believe he should be. By "many of us" I mean, the few that believe our government had no idea that that Tuesday morning was going to be what it is now. The darkest day in American history. Based on published books and declassified reports, it's safe to say our government knew "something" was going to happen, but the when, where and how it will happen, was not clear enough.

I don't believe 9/11 happened because a group of men half a world away "hate freedom," but I do believe that the whole story isn't being told and will never be told. The idea of never knowing the whole truth of that day drives people crazy. They refuse to believe that there will never be a day that we still won't know everything.

The truth is we will never know the whole truth. Those that knew the truth, probably, have been executed and buried in unmarked graves spread around the world or had their bodies dumped in the deepest canyons in the ocean.

If the FBI can't find a reason or a piece of evidence linking Bin Laden to 9/11, the protesters in Washington D.C. and the kids that made the film "Loose Change" don't have a prayer of discovering why it happened. We might as well ask Hollywood to tell us the story because they don't know either, but they'll at least make the story look good while telling it.

Cuban Patriot, considered by some, a Terrorist, living happy and free in the USA

My family just finished burying my grandfather, a Cuban exile who came to the United States with my grandmother, mother and uncle in the 1960's. The emotions of the day were fragile. We went to have lunch at a popular Cuban restaurant called Versailles, located in downtown Miami. Versailles is home-base for all anti-Castro Cubans, a number that is dwindling but still strong.

While eating our lunch my Uncle Jorge nudged me with his elbow.

"You see that guy coming in?" He said. I looked up to see an old man walking slow. The old man was accompanied by a not as old man and a young person probably in their 20's. "Do you know who he is?" My uncle Jorge asked me. "No," I said. He looked at the old man, then back at me. "That man is Luis Posada Carriles. Fidel [Castro] hates him!"

Puzzled by this old man. Wondering how could Castro not like this slow walking old man.

"Why doesn't he like him?" I asked. By now Carriles had sat down and was looking at the menu.

My uncle went on to explain why. He said in the 1970's Carriles blew up one of Castro's planes in Venezuela that may have had the Cuban baseball team on board. While trying to escape, Carriles was caught in Panama. There he faced a trial for blowing up Castro's plane and was found NOT GUILTY. Upon hearing the verdict, Castro sent a team to assassinate Carriles, who was now in Bolivia. They almost succeeded. Carriles was shot, which is the reason for his current speech problems, but escaped. Carriles made his way to the United States where he is now living in Miami.

Recently the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, tried to extradite Carriles back to Venezuela for the crime he committed 40 years ago. The U.S. government denied the request because Carriles was already on trial for the crime and was found not guilty. It's illegal to keep trying individuals until the verdict fulfills the agenda of one person. One trial, one verdict, that's all you get. They couldn't find Carriles guilty, so he gets to stay in the U.S. where he is now a citizen.

I took a moment and stared at this old man. My grandmother jumped in the conversation. "I wish Castro was on that plane when it exploded," she said.

The morning started with burying my grandfather, a Cuban exile, with a Cuban flag draped over his coffin, never to return to the island he longed to be free. It ends with the sharing of lunch with a man who would commit acts of terror in the name of Patriotism to bring that freedom.

We live in an age where such acts are considered terrorism only if they go against the American Agenda. This act, however, was one of desperation, redemption, and pure craziness. Not many people can pull off what he did, survive and assassination attempt, and live in the country which so many despise.

I do not condone his alleged actions. But this I will say, Luis Posado Carriles... vivi a Cuba Libre!

For more information of Carriles... http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/p/luis_posada_carriles/index.html

BP Spill recap and The First Ammendment... particularly the freedom of the press

The crisis in the gulf has been a great learning experience for the corporate machine and the U.S. government, but the greater impact has yet to be known. Now that it seems British Petroleum has got the spill under control, the question "can we prevent this from happening again?" becomes an issue.

Currently the Obama administration has a "freeze" on off shore drilling but that doesn't mean contracts aren't being given out to oil companies like BP. It seems like the next "black gold" mine is north, towards the arctic. This posses a problem. If another spill like this were to happen further north, not only will it cause great damage to the eco-system, it might take two or three times as long to fix (keep in mind, it took BP over three months to fix this problem).

A recent article in Rolling Stone went into detail on how damaging drilling in the arctic is and the potential dangers. For your reading pleasure: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/120130

The next big problem is the denial of the press. One of the greatest, if not, the greatest concept ever created by our government was a free press. Although personally I think a free press is taken for granted by many citizens, nonetheless it is a right given to all citizens.

An incident like this does cause much embarassement to BP and seeing it everyday on TV, in the newspapers and on the radio for three months can be irritating for some.

But preventing cameras and reporters into certain areas that are public, or putting a distance order on journalists to prevent getting any graphic images is a assualt on one of our biggest rights. If a problem happens in public, journalists have the right to report on what is happening.

When access to information is restricted, it allows lies, misconceptions and details to be overlooked.

Here's a video of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper talking about the restrictions. Personally, I'm not a huge Cooper fan, I think during the course of a year he's 90 percent "talking head" and 10 percent journalist, but here in this clip from July 2, I think he's got it right.