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Brain Machine Interfaces
by Gregor Wolbring
November 30, 2006

Modifying the human body or enhancing our cognitive abilities using technology has been a long-time dream for many people. Nano-bio-info-cogno-synbio (NBICS) is now reaching a critical stage where it could lead to the fulfillment of that dream.

An increasing amount of research tries to link the human brain with machines allowing humans to control their environment through their thoughts. It is said: "Ultimately the technology will be used for people whose spinal cords are destroyed in accidents or those handicapped by strokes." (1)

Scientists demonstrated in 2002 that human thoughts can be converted into radio waves and used by paralyzed people to create movement. (1) "Scientists in Australia have developed a mind switch that enables people to activate electrical devices (e.g. turn on a radio or open doors) by thinking."

The IDIAP Research Institute (formerly the Institute Dalle Molle d'Intelligence Artificielle Perceptive/Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence) is developing non-invasive brain machine interfaces.

The Institute states in a recent publication: "Brain activity recorded non-invasively is sufficient to control a mobile robot if advanced robotics is used in combination with asynchronous EEG analysis and machine learning techniques. Until now brain-actuated control has mainly relied on implanted electrodes, since EEG-based systems have been considered too slow for controlling rapid and complex sequences of movements. We show that two human subjects successfully moved a robot between several rooms by mental control only, using an EEG-based brain-machine interface that recognized three mental states. Mental control was comparable to manual control on the same task with a performance ratio of 0.74."

Many researchers are working on brain machine interfaces.

Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. of Foxborough, Massachusetts, received FDA approval to test the "Brain Gate." The company started with people with spinal cord injuries and is now recruiting patients for BrainGate ALS trials, according to deal.com.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, are developing a wireless neuroprosthetic that could potentially be used to control robotic limbs for quadriplegics. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis of the university’s Department of Neurobiology has a variety of articles on his webpage. A 14 year-old boy plays space invaders using thoughts alone, as a grid connected to his brain measures his electrocortigraphic activity.

The device was developed by Dr. Eric C. Leuthardt, an assistant professor of neurological surgery at the School of Medicine, and Dr. Daniel Moran, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. They connected the patient to a sophisticated computer running a special program known as BCI2000 developed by collaborator Gerwin Schalk at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health in Albany, which displays a video game linked to an electrocorticographic (ECoG) grid. The primary purpose of the grid was to facilitate treatment for epilepsy.

In Austria, the Graz University of Technology has a brain-computer interface lab. In Japan, Hitachi has joined forces with university researchers. In Finland the Proactive Computing Research Programme (PROACT) is funded by the Academy of Finland and led by Academy Professor Mikko Sams. IST has funded the Presencia project under its Fifth Framework Programme - Future Emerging Technologies - Presence Research.

A 'Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI)' -- a 'mental typewriter' -- was unveiled at the 2006 CeBIT in Germany, the biggest consumer technology conference worldwide. Devices such as the BBCI are not only seen to benefit disabled people but "could also spread to the entertainment industry, creating a whole new class of video games. Or they could be integrated in active car safety systems, for instance braking the vehicle in response to the driver’s thoughts."

Cambridge Consultants' Virtual Helmet can link brain wave patterns to a virtual reality system, allowing the wearer to enter an illusory world of movement. Researchers at Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation in Japan have developed galvanic vestibular stimulation -- a technology that can compel a person to walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel, in effect creating remote-controlled humans.

Researchers at Columbia University have combined the processing power of the brain with computer vision to develop a novel device that allows people to search through images ten times faster than they can on their own. The cortically coupled computer vision system -- known as C3 Vision -- turns the brain into an automatic image-identifying machine. The project is funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Air Force has long been interested in "alternative control technology" that will allow its pilots to fly planes hands-free.

A robotic hand controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated by researchers in Japan. It mimics the movements of a person's real hand, based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging of brain activity. This is seen as another landmark in the advance towards prosthetics and computers that can be operated by thought alone.

The system was developed by Yukiyasu Kamitani and colleagues from ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, and researchers from the Honda Research Institute in Saitama. Subjects lying inside an MRI scanner were asked to make "rock, paper, scissor" shapes with their right hand. The scanner recorded brain activity and fed data to a connected computer. After a short training period, the computer was able to recognise the brain activity associated with each shape and command the robotic appendage do the same.

The list goes on.

A brain-activity interpretation contest organized by the University of Pittsburgh provided entrants with functional MRI scanner data and behavioural reports recorded when four people watched two movies. Competitors were asked to create an algorithm that used the brain activity to predict what viewers were thinking and feeling as the film unfolded.

The crunch test came from a third film. Competing researchers were shown the brain activity only, and had to predict the behavioural data -- what the viewers had reported seeing and feeling during the film on a moment-by-moment basis. The rules are here and the results are here.

The competition webpage can be found here. It describes next year’s competition as follows: "The 2007 PBAIC will build upon last year, but will push the competition to a much higher level by focusing on interpretation of subjects' actions and behaviors in addition to cognition. The 2007 Pittsburgh Brain Activity Interpretation Competition will involve analysis of a new, unique fMRI data set representing dynamic subject-driven behavior in a virtual world. fMRI data will be made available from multiple subjects in a very realistic virtual world of multiple streets and rooms (house, bar, playground) with subject control in the world, multiple tasks, social interaction, rewards and threat avoidance. Additionally, eye movement data will be provided along with overlaid tracking of every object fixated on by subjects in the virtual world."

The Choice is Yours

Although brain–machine interfaces are often talked about in relation to disabled people, we can expect they will also be used by the non-disabled as a means to control their environment -- especially if the devices are non-invasive and no implants are needed.

To date there has not been much public discussion of the implications of brain machine interfaces, the amount of public R&D funding they receive, and control, distribution and access to these devices.

Gregor Wolbring is a biochemist, bioethicist, science and technology ethicist, disability/vari-ability studies scholar, and health policy and science and technology studies researcher at the University of Calgary. He is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology and Society at Arizona State University; Member CAC/ISO - Canadian Advisory Committees for the International Organization for Standardization section TC229 Nanotechnologies; Member of the editorial team for the Nanotechnology for Development portal of the Development Gateway Foundation; Chair of the Bioethics Taskforce of Disabled People's International; and Member of the Executive of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. He publishes the Bioethics, Culture and Disability website, moderates a weblog for the International Network for Social Research on Diasbility, and authors a weblog on NBICS and its social implications.


Resources

* "Cyborg implants bring new hope to paralyzed." The Sunday Times. 2002.
* David Stonehouse. "The cyborg evolution." Sydney Morning Herald. 2003.
* Institut Dalle Molle d'Intelligence Artificielle Perceptive / Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence. IDIAP. 2005.
* Millan, J. R., Renkens, F., Mourino, J., and Gerstner, W. "Noninvasive brain-actuated control of a mobile robot by human EEG." IEEE Trans. Biomed Eng 51, 6 1026-1033, PM:15188874. 2004.
* Wetware. The Status of Brain-Machine Interfaces. 2004.
* Tim Radford."Brain implant may restore memory."The Guardian. 2003,
* Duncan Graham-Rowe. "World's first brain prosthesis revealed ." New Scientist. 2003.
* Whitaker Foundation. Thought-Controlled Prosthetics. 2002.
* Pratt School. DARPA to Support Brain-Machine Research. Duke University e-Press. 2003.
* Cyberkinetics. BrainGate™ Neural Interface System. 2005.
* Jo Revill. “Mind power allows disabled to take a virtual stroll.” The Observer. July 2, 2006.
* Yuri Kageyama. “Remote control device ‘controls’ humans.” Associated Press. October 26, 2005.
* Lakshmi Sandhana. “This is a computer on your brain,” Wired online. July 12, 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/2uadm5

U.S. Plans to Screen All Who Enter, Leave Country
Personal Data Will Be Cross-Checked With Terrorism Watch Lists; Risk Profiles to Be Stored for Years

By Ellen Nakashima and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, November 3, 2006; A18

The federal government disclosed details yesterday of a border-security program to screen all people who enter and leave the United States, create a terrorism risk profile of each individual and retain that information for up to 40 years.

The details, released in a notice published yesterday in the Federal Register, open a new window on the government's broad and often controversial data-collection effort directed at American and foreign travelers, which was implemented after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

While long known to scrutinize air travelers, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to apply new technology to perform similar checks on people who enter or leave the country "by automobile or on foot," the notice said.

The department intends to use a program called the Automated Targeting System, originally designed to screen shipping cargo, to store and analyze the data.

"We have been doing risk assessments of cargo and passengers coming into and out of the U.S.," DHS spokesman Jarrod Agen said. "We have the authority and the ability to do it for passengers coming by land and sea."

In practice, he said, the government has not conducted risk assessments on travelers at land crossings for logistical reasons.

"We gather, collect information that is needed to protect the borders," Agen said. "We store the information we see as pertinent to keeping Americans safe."

Civil libertarians expressed concern that risk profiling on such a scale would be intrusive and would not adequately protect citizens' privacy rights, issues similar to those that have surrounded systems profiling air passengers.

"They are assigning a suspicion level to millions of law-abiding citizens," said David Sobel, senior counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "This is about as Kafkaesque as you can get."

DHS officials said that by publishing the notice, they are simply providing "expanded notice and transparency" about an existing program disclosed in October 2001, the Treasury Enforcement Communications System.

But others said Congress has been unaware of the potential of the Automated Targeting System to assess non-aviation travelers.

"ATS started as a tool to prevent the entry of drugs with cargo into the U.S.," said one aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. "We are not aware of Congress specifically legislating to make this expansion possible."

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), yesterday asked Homeland Security to brief staff members on the program, Collins's spokeswoman, Jen Burita, said.

The notice comes as the department is tightening its ability to identify people at the borders. At the end of the year, for example, Homeland Security is expanding its Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, under which 32 million noncitizens entering the country annually are fingerprinted and photographed at 115 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land ports.

Stephen E. Flynn, senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, expressed doubts about the department's ability to conduct risk assessments of individuals on a wide scale.

He said customs investigators are so focused on finding drugs and weapons of mass destruction that it would be difficult to screen all individual border crossers, other than cargo-truck drivers and shipping crews.

"There is an ability in theory for government to cast a wider net," he said. "The reality of it is customs is barely able to manage the data they have."

The data-mining program stemmed from an effort in the early 1990s by customs officials to begin assessing the risk of cargo originating in certain countries and from certain shippers. Risk assessment turned more heavily to automated, computer-driven systems after the 2001 attacks.

The risk assessment is created by analysts at the National Targeting Center, a high-tech facility opened in November 2001 and now run by Customs and Border Protection.

In a round-the-clock operation, targeters match names against terrorist watch lists and a host of other data to determine whether a person's background or behavior indicates a terrorist threat, a risk to border security or the potential for illegal activity. They also assess cargo.

Each traveler assessed by the center is assigned a numeric score: The higher the score, the higher the risk. A certain number of points send the traveler back for a full interview.

The Automated Targeting System relies on government databases that include law enforcement data, shipping manifests, travel itineraries and airline passenger data, such as names, addresses, credit card details and phone numbers.

The parent program, Treasury Enforcement Communications System, houses "every possible type of information from a variety of federal, state and local sources," according to a 2001 Federal Register notice.

It includes arrest records, physical descriptions and "wanted" notices. The 5.3 billion-record database was accessed 766 million times a day to process 475 million travelers, according to a 2003 Transportation Research Board study.

In yesterday's Federal Register notice, Homeland Security said it will keep people's risk profiles for up to 40 years "to cover the potentially active lifespan of individuals associated with terrorism or other criminal activities," and because "the risk assessment for individuals who are deemed low risk will be relevant if their risk profile changes in the future, for example, if terrorist associations are identified."

DHS will keep a "pointer or reference" to the underlying records that resulted in the profile.

The DHS notice specified that the Automated Targeting System does not call for any new means of collecting information but rather for the use of existing systems. The notice did not spell out what will determine whether someone is high risk.

But documents and former officials say the system relies on hundreds of "rules" to factor a score for each individual, vehicle or piece of cargo.

According to yesterday's notice, the program is exempt from certain requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 that allow, for instance, people to access records to determine "if the system contains a record pertaining to a particular individual" and "for the purpose of contesting the content of the record."
http://tinyurl.com/y7kotv

fema concentration camps up and running FEMA Concentration Camps:
Locations and Executive Orders

Friends of Liberty (undated) 3sep04

< Below: U.S. Concentration Camps: FEMA and the REX 84 Program - The Awakening News (undated) 3sep04>



There over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft's list. The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a "mass exodus" of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons.

Operation Cable Splicer and Garden Plot are the two sub programs which will be implemented once the Rex 84 program is initiated for its proper purpose. Garden Plot is the program to control the population. Cable Splicer is the program for an orderly takeover of the state and local governments by the federal government. FEMA is the executive arm of the coming police state and thus will head up all operations. The Presidential Executive Orders already listed on the Federal Register also are part of the legal framework for this operation.

The camps all have railroad facilities as well as roads leading to and from the detention facilities. Many also have an airport nearby. The majority of the camps can house a population of 20,000 prisoners. Currently, the largest of these facilities is just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaskan facility is a massive mental health facility and can hold approximately 2 million people.

Now let's review the justification for any actions taken...

Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:...

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990
allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995
allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997
allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998
allows the government to seize all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports, and waterways.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10999
allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000
allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001
allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002
designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003
allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004
allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005
allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051
specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310
grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049
assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921
allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA's Civil Security Division stated in a 1983 conference that he saw FEMA's role as a "new frontier in the protection of individual and governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis." FEMA's powers were consolidated by President Carter to incorporate the...

National Security Act of 1947
allows for the strategic relocation of industries, services, government and other essential economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements for manpower, resources and production facilities.

1950 Defense Production Act
gives the President sweeping powers over all aspects of the economy.

Act of August 29, 1916
authorizes the Secretary of the Army, in time of war, to take possession of any transportation system for transporting troops, material, or any other purpose related to the emergency.

International Emergency Economic Powers Act
enables the President to seize the property of a foreign country or national. These powers were transferred to FEMA in a sweeping consolidation in 1979.

Where are these camps?

ALABAMA

Opelika - Military compound either in or very near town.

Aliceville - WWII German POW camp - capacity 15,000 Ft. McClellan (Anniston) - Opposite side of town from Army Depot;

Maxwell AFB (Montgomery) - Civilian prison camp established under Operation Garden Plot, currently operating with support staff and small inmate population.
Talladega - Federal prison "satellite" camp.
Full Listing Here:
http://tinyurl.com/96fbn
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Exclusive Intelligence Examiner Report
Illuminist Evil Exposed and Illustrated
Texe Marrs
posted Wed, 6 Jun 2007

The vast majority of people in our world today have no idea whatsoever that they are bombarded on every side by occult imagery that is extremely dangerous and terribly destructive to their mental and spiritual health. Our entire culture is under severe and constant attack by satanic forces. Yet, few are aware.

Ignorance of danger, however, does not assure one of safety and survival. Indeed, it is the ignorant who usually become the hapless and unwitting victims of the global conspiracy of elite satanic worshippers.

Twenty-first century man foolishly believes himself to be impervious to psychological attack. He fancies himself to be resistant to assault by mind controllers.

Smug and arrogant, modern men and women thus fall quickly to seduction. Unaware of the inner esoteric significance of satanic imagery, so often the victim literally is immersed in wicked thoughts. He becomes nothing less than a brain-dead, dancing marionette, a category of X-files, a mere puppet on a string, his mind manipulated like the keys and chords of a malevolent and chaotically tuned grand piano. Falsely believing himself to be safe and secure, he scoffs at those who try to warn him of the dangers. He often brands the warner as a "conspiracy theorist" or a "kook," or worse. Unprotected and vulnerable, yet supremely ignorant of his susceptible condition, the deceived man stands locked in the confusing and diabolical maze of the Illuminati's fiery matrix, on the very precipice of utter devastation.
Between Life and Death

Philosopher David Hume, in his classic Natural History of Religion, wrote:
"We are placed in this world, as in a great theater, where the sources and causes of every event are entirely concealed from us, nor have we either sufficient wisdom to foresee, or power to prevent those ills with which we are continually threatened. We hang in perpetual suspense between life and death."

Big Brother government, of course, soothingly assures us we are well protected from harm. We are told, in ominous tones, that frightening, cruel, and deadly terrorists are ever lurking about, ready to pounce on us and kill us. But, thanks to Big Brother and his Ministry of Love, the multitudes are led to believe they will not fall prey to the heinous plots and schemes of the "Islamo-fascists." Yes, God bless Big Brother. He loves you and wants only the best for you and your family. Only he and his minions have sufficient wisdom to foresee, and the power to prevent, the great ills that would otherwise befall and overpower us.

Calmed by Big Brother's love, enchanted and enthralled by the siren calls of his caring bureaucracies, most of us simply lay back and placidly take it. Tranquilized and mute, our situation becomes, then, like an odious, yet strangely otherworldly, manifestation of the Silence of the Lambs. President George W. Bush is playing the role of Hannibal Lecter. Obviously criminal and corrupt in behavior, the President, nevertheless, is viewed by the deceived electorate somewhat perversely as their benevolent Savior and Protector. The unknowing masses are all so very appreciative of his love and consideration for their personal welfare. A cannibal at heart, Mr. Bush loves the people so much that, if he could, he would eat them—alive.
The Sober, The Vigilant, The Awakened Few

Some, a few of you, dear readers, are not, however, so easily gulled. You are sober, awake, vigilant. You are not calmed, you are not soothed. You are blessed with perception and discernment. You are aware. You know!

You who truly know are unlike the deceived masses, the useless eaters who simply take up stall space, like farm animals, bleating sheep, readied for slaughter. Maybe at one time, in the distant past, you, too, were not aware. But one day, you suddenly woke up. You exclaimed, "Oh, I see...Oh my...So that's it!"

After that incredible, initial discovery, one's life can never again be the same. Now you know!

My encyclopedic new book Codex Magica, has had exactly this sobering type of effect on many readers. As one well-educated friend told me, "Wow, I've always wondered about a possible conspiracy of evil in the world. But here it is—a massive picture book proving it!"

That's what Codex Magica really is—a picture book encyclopedia demonstrating not only that an immense conspiracy really exists, but threateningly, it is all around us. Each and every day, each of us has numerous encounters with unexpected evil, with satanic deception. Only now, we who know are aware. We are awake. We live, and we see the souls of the living dead, as it were, all around us, practicing their wicked ritual debaucheries, displaying their symbols and worshipping their graveyard idols, in living color.

I print in these pages a number of photos sent to me recently by ministry friends, knowers, who have taken note of the illuminist imagery that confronts us everywhere, in magazines, newspapers, movies, TV, the internet, etc. I am always glad to receive the proofs you find in your local research and investigation, and I add them to my huge and growing Codex Magica collection.

Together, as knowers, we will continue our fight against the works and workers of darkness. I know the elite are angry at being exposed, but too bad for them. It's our job, our mission in life. You and I, after all, are commanded in Ephesians 5:11 to have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather, to expose, that is, to reprove them.

That's why I wrote and published Codex Magica. And I know it's why so many of you continue to write and send me your discoveries. For that, please accept my sincerest thanks. May our Lord and Saviour reward you accordingly.
Click here: http://tinyurl.com/3bbkcp
to view pictures that illustrate this article.
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JFK airport plot 'a US setup'
06/06/2007 08:17 - (SA)

Port Of Spain - The four suspects in an alleged terror plot to bomb a New York airport were set up in an elaborate plan by the US Republican party to retain hold of the White House, the daughter of an arrested suspect claimed on Tuesday.

Huda Ibrahiim, daughter of Amir Kareem Ibrahiim, one of four men accused of plotting acts of terrorism against the United States, said US justice officials had engaged in entrapment in breaking up the alleged plot.

Huda, 20, speaking on behalf of the Trinidad and Tobago and the Guyanese Shi'ite Muslim community, read from a prepared statement in a press conference at a hotel in Port Of Spain.

She said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant key to breaking up the alleged plot had presented himself as an Islamic missionary from the United States while visiting the homes of Abdul Kadir and Amir Ibrahiim.

The FBI's informant, whom she called "the source", "is the only person culpable of any of the activities mentioned in the complaint.

Intent to entrap

"The source visited our brothers with the specific intent to entrap them in activities they know nothing about, never agreed to and did not participate in," said Huda.

Her 62-year-old father, 56-year-old former Guyanese parliamentarian Abdul Kadir, along with Russell De Freitas and Abdel Nur, both of Guyanese heritage, allegedly plotted to blow up fuel-tank pipelines at New York City's John F Kennedy International Airport.

Ibrahiim, a Trinidadian, and Kadir appeared in Trinidad court on Monday while Nur gave himself up to local authorities on Tuesday. All three men are facing extradition to the US where De Frietas has already been arraigned.

"We believe that the persons responsible for the arrest of our brothers are doing it for a purpose other than the protection of the people and interests of the USA," Huda said.

"They have apparently done so in the interest of shoring up a lame duck presidency and increasing the lame chances of the Republican party being returned to power in November 2008", said Huda, whose father is a retired government accounts clerk.

'Sure of their innocence'

She also said her father was afraid to fly, was not computer literate and does not use the internet.

"We are absolutely sure of their innocence. Neither of these men and we believe no one in our community participates in activities as those alleged in the public statements or in the filed complaint of the Department of Justice", she said.

As believers in Islamic Sharia, they followed the cardinal principles of the Koran, she said, including the principle that the blood of civilians is sacred.

"To our Muslim brothers and sisters we swear by Allah, the Lord of Muhammad, that we have not participated in any terrorist plot against the United States," she added.
http://tinyurl.com/3adhgn