I Thought This Was What They Wanted...

For as long as I can remember, progressives have been arguing that the Bush Administration's Global War On Terror was fundamentally flawed because what was required was not military action, but rather law enforcement action. Then along comes a law enforcement (rather than military) triumph in thwarting jihadist terrorism, and progressives - incredibly - can do nothing but trash it!

Amazing.

Here is Talking Points Memo's take on the FBI's thwarting of the plot to bomb several New York synagogues, which is as good an example as any of this bizarre phenomenon:

The Newburgh Four -- And The Goverment Mole Who Betrayed Them

We're starting to get a rich picture of the four hapless Jihadis who were arrested Wednesday night for plotting to bomb two New York synagogues, as well as the FBI informant who deceived them. And the overall portrait that's emerging is that of a group of struggling, disaffected petty criminals, who bonded at a Newburgh, NY mosque over having spent time in prison, before being taken in by a Pakistani immigrant looking to win leniency for a crime of his own.

There's little doubt the bumbling would-be bombers went far enough with the plot to demonstrate that they had the intention to commit terror, and for that they'll pay the price. But the whole tale comes off perhaps more as a sad glimpse into the lives of a loose group of aimless and obscurely embittered Americans than as a dire illustration of the threat of home-grown terrorism.

.....

It's easy to laugh at this gang of goons -- and we've done our share of that. But, frankly, it's also hard not to feel some compassion for what looks like a group of struggling, credulous, under-educated men, existing on the fringes of society, who lacked the intelligence or willpower to avoid getting taken in by a government informant anxious to mitigate his own situation, and by their own vague understanding of radical Islam and the hole it might fill in their lives.

And as for what this might say about the threat of home-grown terror, it's almost reassuring that the biggest terror bust we've seen in a while has this sad-sack group at his [sic] center.

If Barack Obama's national security speech last week sounded muddled - and it should have had you been paying attention - there can be little doubt as to why: How can you be a serious, responsible political leader on national security matters on the one hand and attempt to appease folks who think(?) like Zach Roth on the other?

 

Comments

[PeterUK]

Dennis,
America winning is simply not on for the self flagellants of the left.You have to lose,be trampled in the dust and preferably gang raped.Only then will the left be free to smile gain.
For those acolyites of the NYT,Obama keeping his hands clean.

[just passin by]

I actually feel some sympathy for President Hussein on that score.

The plurality of voters in this country are conservative Christians. They tend to confuse the terms "American" and "Christian" at times. The positive thing they bring to the table is patriotism. They are never going to vote for a false Messiah, so he can't really appease them.

The next biggest block of voters are our liberal friends like Zach. Everything America does is evil, and the economic engine of capitalism that drove us to success is evil too. Everything has to explained (loudly and at great length) by that underlying theory. Ergo, all our enemies are justified under some pretext or another. Unfortunately, this block has heavy influence within the academic and media resources in our country. Any time President Hussein does anything to protect the country, he is going to catch hell from these folk.

However far President Hussein wishes to socialize the country ( a debatable point), he can't do it if he loses political power, or if jihadis pull another major terrorist attack. He can't go too hawkish to prevent attacks without losing the "God damn America" bunch that got him into office.

So he is boned on either hand. My guess is that the R's lost votes over the corruption within the party that will flock back if President Hussein proves himself weak over national security, or even looks weak over said issue.

I apologize over the length of this post. BTW, I have been looking over the Modern Whig party lately, as an alternative to the R's.

[markg8]

The FBI has a habit of not just aiding & abetting "aspirational" plotters but actually bribing them, supplying them (with bogus armaments) directing them and just basically orchestrating the whole "attack".

The ostensible "leader" of the Newburgh Four admitted to the judge at his initial hearing he got stoned to the bejesus belt before being driven to the synagogue by the informant. He assured the judge that being high didn't effect his ability to understand the charges as he regularly smokes a lot of dope. Lately that dope has been supplied by, you guessed it, the FBI.

The "informant" who was apparently the actual ring leader in this case, who is still trying to reduce his sentence for fraud, was the same used by the Feds in 2004 to bust up another "plot" to sell RPGs, Stingers or some such shit in NY.

'JIHAD' GIRLFRIENDS: FBI SNITCH USED GIFTS TO TRICK OUR MEN

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05232009/news/regionalnews/jihad_girlfriend__they_were_tricked_by_g_170683.htm?page=2

Sources say Maqsood was really Shahed Hussain -- a Pakistani native who runs hotels upstate and has worked for the FBI since 2003 after getting into trouble in a fraud case. He played an integral role in unraveling another terror-related case in Albany in 2004.

As Wednesday's attack neared, Baynes said Cromitie's mood changed.

"Lately James hasn't been the same. He was just acting different," she said. "All he would do all day is smoke weed and play video games with his friends [co-conspirators Williams, Laguerre Payen and Onta Williams]."

Note the source, Rupert Murdoch's NY Post, a source you can trust wingnuts!

[PeterUK]

Interesting how ALL these people are always innocent to Abu al Marqi.

[richard mcenroe]

Aw, c'mon, Dennis. It just isn't the same if all they can try to say is, "It's Bush and Cheney's fault they were only able to buy blocks of Play-Doh!"

They have do something with their time until the next act of, erm, man-caused disaster.

Too bad none of the arrested were veterans. THEN they would have had a shovel-ready meme...

[markg8]

I really don't think conservatives have any room to bitch. Your guys don't believe law enforcement is any way to respond to terrorism. It was a major talking point against Kerry in 2004 and still is.

Dick Cheney April 22 interview with Sean Hannity:

And I think one of the most important things we did in the aftermath of 9/11 was to decide that you could no longer deal with an attack of terror upon the United States as a law enforcement problem.

Once we got hit by — on 9/11 and lost 3,000 people that day, we recognized, and it was one of the key decisions President Bush made, that this is not a law enforcement problem.

So don't come crying to us when Marshall rightly points out that "terror plots" uncovered in this country are mostly ginned up by FBI agents who'd be better off spending their time investigating the people on Wall St. who wrecked the world's economy. Conservative leaders don't believe in the law let alone law enforcement when it comes to terrorism.

[PeterUK]

Ah,the all or nothing "law enforcement" argument which completely ignores the location of the terrorists.New York,use the FBI,the Hindu Khush send the marines.Should be simple enough for the most protoplasmic leftoid.Apparently not.
Similarly it depends how well armed the terrorists are,a couple of RPGs,explosives and a 12.7 mm machinegun alters the equation somewhat.
A point worth considering is that,unlike the average criminal,Islamic terrorist have no problem getting killed.In fact that is often the objective.Quite disconcerting for the officers reading the terrorist their rights when they all turn to red mist.

[markg8]

Similarly it depends how well armed the terrorists are

The Newburgh Four weren't armed at all until the FBI came along. WTF do you know about the average criminal, let alone Islamic terrorists Petey? As the NY Post says:

Baynes, 42, dated Cromitie -- a career criminal who has been in jail more than 20 times -- for six years. She said he converted to Islam during his last prison stint but wasn't serious.

"James is a wannabe Muslim. He wasn't real Muslin. He never prayed," she said.

But during the course of the year, Maqsood kept trying to steer Cromitie down a path to jihad -- giving him religious pamphlets, clothing and prayer rugs. In the end, it seemed that cash and gifts worked better.

She said Maqsood promised to get Cromitie jobs and once said he would give him a black Mercedes-Benz. On repeated occasions, he gave Cromitie cameras, cash and even drugs, she said.

"Maqsood gave him a lot of marijuana," she said.

Williams' mother, Elizabeth McWilliams, said her son fell under Maqsood's sway in April with promises to help with medical bills for his sick brother. His brother has cancer.

"Maqsood said, 'Don't worry, brother, I am going to help with your brother's hospital bills,' " she recalled. "This man did nothing but set these guys up."

As they were about to leave, Cromitie kissed her on the cheek and promised, "Soon we are going to be all right," she said. "I guess he meant financially he meant that we were going to be OK."

She said a friend told her Cromitie had said he was going to be getting $50,000.

You can't take a Mercedes or $50,000 to heaven with you. These dumb ex-cons, unemployed and unemployable, were looking for a payday. They were evidently conned by the FBI into planting fake bombs provided by the FBI at a synagogue their FBI handler drove them to. This is what the FBI is resorting to these days. It's a waste of time and resources.

[just passin by]

Thanks for proving the point, Mark...

"Everything has to explained (loudly and at great length) by that underlying theory"

[PeterUK]

Richard Reid was a criminal. Oh dear,another grand leftist theory down the pan.

The IRA used what they termed "lilywhites" to carry out attacks.These were people with no previous connection to terrorism.Islamist terrorists are increasingly using home grown recruits to perpetrate attacks.As the IRA said,"We only have to be lucky once,you have to be lucky all the time".
This tactic keeps the security services stretched all the time.It doesn't matter whether the would be terrorists are good bad or indifferent,terrorism is about keeping a society in a state of anxiety,damage is a plus.

[markg8]

it is about keeping a society in a state of anxiety

That was the Republican strategy for almost a decade. It only works on boot pissing nuts anymore.

[markg8]

Richard Reid was apprehended trying to light explosives in his shoe on fire. Of course he;s a terrorist. He's now where he belongs, serving a life sentence in the Supermax prison in Florence CO. Don't tell anyone.

[PeterUK]

Richard Reid.

"A British citizen born in Bromley, South London and educated at Thomas Tallis School in Kidbrooke, London, he is the son of an English mother and a Jamaican father, who spent most of Reid's childhood years in prison. Reid became involved in street crime, writing graffiti with the name Enrol with FRF crew, and spent time in a number of prisons, including Blundeston Prison, and Feltham Young Offenders' Institution, where he converted to Islam. It is reported that Reid followed an conservative-orthodox form of Islam known as Salafi or Wahhabi."

The basic point being Reid was already a criminal,just like your bunch of losers.
As I said,you only need one.

[Dennis the Peasant]

These dumb ex-cons, unemployed and unemployable, were looking for a payday. They were evidently conned by the FBI into planting fake bombs provided by the FBI at a synagogue their FBI handler drove them to. This is what the FBI is resorting to these days. It's a waste of time and resources.

Mark-

If I understand the argument you've used throughout this thread, what you are saying, in effect, is that the Obama Administration is condoning and using the exact same nefarious tactics used by the Bush Administration for the exact same reasons and to achieve the exact same effect on the American Citizenry. Is that really what you meant to say?

[Rev. Jim Sutter]

With the Newburg Four (and *some* of the other cases), the problem is that the FBI is using other criminals to go out and recruit idiots, offer them money, drugs, and other enticements to sometimes only talk about terrorism. Sometimes the idiots get into the planning stage, but all too often under the leadership of the FBI informant, who is doing it to mitigate the sentence for his own crime.

There is no doubt that when things get to the stage of planning attacks, arrests must be made. But does anyone really think that the next actual terrorist attack is going to come from the Three Stooges? I just don't see the current tactics removing anyone dangerous, it's more like identifying people for the Darwin Awards. What happens to the FBI informant who recruits the idiots, trains them, pays them, gets supplies for them, convinces them to train for terrorism? Shouldn't he be sent to prison, too?

[Dennis the Peasant]

Rev. Jim-

Personally I would not gamble with the lives of innocents by betting that "The Three Stooges" could not pull off a successful terrorist attack. It doesn't take much in the way of brains to be able to come up with ways kill a whole lot of people in a very short period of time.

What I find interesting, again, is the obvious contradiction: progressives want it both ways on the issue of the correct way to fight terrorism. And strangely enough, they're happy to criticize the FBI and law enforcement, yet stand mute when you mention this was done by the Obama Administration's FBI.

[markg8]

Dennis, yes 120 or so days in Obama hasn't completed all the changes in the federal government that need to be made yet. If the only terrorist plots the FBI is uncovering are staffed by fools led into crimes by the FBI itself then reassigning FBI agents where they're actually needed ought to be on the agenda.

[Dennis the Peasant]

Mark-

I have heard no criticism of the FBI by anyone in the Obama Administration in relation to this particular episode. Have you? I have heard no pledges of FBI reform by the Obama Administration in relation to fighting domestic terrorism. Have you? I realize President Obama hasn't been in office all that long, but just when exactly during his presidency does he take ownership of the actions of the federal government? And you know what, four months is plenty enough time for someone in the Obama Administration to say "no" to entrapment... I have a difficult time believing the FBI wasn't briefing the White House on this matter prior to the arrests.

[PeterUK]

"President Obama hasn't been in office all that long, but just when exactly during his presidency does he take ownership of the actions of the federal government?"

The day he says,"I coulda bin a contender".

[PeterUK]

Dennis,
I suspect Obama is going to spend the next four years "Voting Present". His usual routine.

[markg8]

Dennis - Why should Obama spend all his time talking about what he's going to do re the FBI when he arguably has more on his plate than any new president in history? Keeping the world from falling into an economic depression, salvaging something from two failing military operations, trying to keep two major car companies afloat, overhauling our healthcare system and energy situation is plenty enough to tackle.

I think it's a big reason he hasn't turned the DoJ loose on Cheney and Bush for war crimes. It'd suck all the oxygen out of Washington and nothing else would get done.

I do have a difficult time believing the FBI briefed the White House on this matter before the arrests. The whole stupid affair sounds like one of the Bush Administration's leftover projects meant to keep us scared stupid.

[Dennis the Peasant]

Sorry, the "Oh, he's too busy to do the right thing on issues such as...

DADT
Military Commissions
Gitmo
Earmarks
Deficits
Gay Marriage
Etc.
Etc.
Etc."

... doesn't cut it with me. Period.

Hope and Change? My ass. Barack Obama is coming across as simply a bigger spending Bill Clinton. Finger to the wind and promises be damned.

And I absolutlely love the "We're too busy to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity" defense. Man, listen to yourself!

If the President has enough hang around with the Steelers and navel-gaze about the deficit on CSPAN, then he has enough time to do things the way he promised he would.

Hold him accountable, Mark, or in about 8 years you'll be having arguments with other ex-Democrats about whether you're a "real" Democrat or not.

[PeterUK]

"Why should Obama spend all his time talking about what he's going to do re the FBI when he arguably has more on his plate than any new president in history? Keeping the world from falling into an economic depression, salvaging something from two failing military operations, trying to keep two major car companies afloat, overhauling our healthcare system and energy situation is plenty enough to tackle."

Because that is the only issue,as a lawyer,Obama has any qualifications to deal with.

"Sell 'em sunshine and ship 'em shit".

[just passin by]

As long as any Obamabot parrots the daily talking points, they'll be a "real" Democrat.

Let me see, Obama can:
...prevent world depression by NOT spending money that doesn't exist for projects that aren't needed
..."salvage" two "failed" military operations by letting the military do it's jobs w/o undercutting their budgets
...let two noncompetitive car companies go bankrupt
...NOT make the healthcare system worse with more burrocrats and paperwork
...solve the energy problem by using the resources we have instead of making policy based on fantasy. Drill here, drill now. Start processing shale oil. Build more coal plants.

[richard mcenroe]

Dennis -- "And as for what this might say about the threat of home-grown terror, it's almost reassuring that the biggest terror bust we've seen in a while has this sad-sack group at his [sic] center."

Well, of course. If we're not going to constantly monitor all the returning veterans, those embittered rightwing extremists with "skill sets", how can we possibly hope to thwart the REAL man-made disasters?

[markg8]

Dennis - I don't worry about Obama, seriously when did you start? For a guy who didn't bother to vote for president last year your demands on the guy ring a little hollow.

jpb - ..prevent world depression by NOT spending money that doesn't exist for projects that aren't needed

Thank you Mr. Hoover. Might I remind you that the credit markets are wounded, possibly mortally. That means even if businesses wanted to work their way out of the recession they can't. Seeing as the only entity big enough to borrow and spend these days is the federal government it is. On thousands of sorely building and infrastructure projects that were left to languish while Bush blew our wad in Iraq.

The head of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, a Bush appointee has made about $2 trillion in government loans and guarantees to big banks trying to keep the world's economic system afloat. Hank Paulson, Bush's Treasury Sec. demanded $750 billion no questions asked of congress to keep them (and the world's financial system) from collapsing last fall.

..."salvage" two "failed" military operations by letting the military do it's jobs w/o undercutting their budgets

In the final year of the Bush administration (and excluding the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) the defense budget was $513 billion. In FY 2010, if Gates and Obama get their way, it will be $534 billion. Congress juts passed another $97 billion for those wars. You need better sources.

...let two noncompetitive car companies go bankrupt

He's shepherding them through bankruptcy now. If you mean let them fail and liquidate their assets it would bring Ford down with them and probably cause the transplants to close up here too. We'd lose millions of jobs, not just at GM, Chrysler and Ford but their supplier companies too. Steel, glass, rubber, all would be in the shitter. The ripple effect on the American economy would be akin to dropping a one ton boulder in a four foot puddle. If you'd like to see the destruction of the manufacturing base in this country and a massive depression that's an excellent idea.

...NOT make the healthcare system worse with more burrocrats and paperwork

Ok let's cut out the insurance companies and the 30% profit they take off the top, in large part by denying care, along with the dozens of different forms they use that force doctors to hire clerks to sort through that maze and instead institute single payer. One big national insurance pool, just like social security. They collect the money and pay the bills. They negotiate prices with drug companies, hospital chains and the rest of the medical establishment on behalf of all of us. You get to pick your doctor and any hospital in the USA. The Social Security Administration uses 2% of the taxes it collects to administer the program. The rest of the first world pays about 8 to 11% GDP on healthcare. We spend 16% GDP, half of it coming out of corporate income, the other half out of ours. Is it any wonder nobody can afford American workers anymore?

...solve the energy problem by using the resources we have instead of making policy based on fantasy. Drill here, drill now. Start processing shale oil. Build more coal plants.

God what a dunce. There isn't enough water in the west to process shale oil and even if there was it takes tons of shale to make a barrel of oil. Go look it up. You could drill here, drill now everywhere in the USA and it wouldn't matter. We used up all the cheap easily accessible oil in this country over the last hundred years.

Why do you think the oil companies are investing billions in dirty, hard to refine, gummy tar sands in Alberta and making bad one sided deals that don't favor them with the likes of Chavez, other tin horn dictators in Central Asia and the country that sent us, what was it 15 or 17, of the 19 9/11 hijackers while funding anti-American madrassas in Pakistan? If you think there's any big undiscovered filed left in this country or offshore you're not living a fantasy, you're just ignorant.

Richard - Tell it to the Branch Davidians, Timothy McVeigh, and Eric Rudolph. While you're at tell it to the nuts who have been buying everything on the shelves at gun shops since last year. Maybe the FBI ought to have a little talk with TX governor Perry who keeps talking about secession. And maybe you missed it bit on April 1, the Georgia Senate by a vote of 43-1 threatened to secede from and even disband the United States. Michelle Bachmann, House rep from MN said on Assrocket's little radio show she wants Republicans "armed and dangerous". She then told listeners that Thomas Jefferson told us that "having a revolution every now and then is a good thing."

Or how about the cretins at Human Events who are helping the nuts at World Net Daily advertise a millionaire who is providing you with the opportunity to attend five days of world class training at his ****** ***** Firearms Training Institute with everything you need to secure permits to carry a concealed handgun in over 30 states-all for pennies-on-the-dollar!

Plus, if you act quickly before all the guns he set aside are gone, he will give you, free of charge, a Springfield Armory XD Pistol in your choice of 9mm, .40SW, or .45ACP! along with this little come on: As the nation creeps from recession to depression, the potential for civil unrest in every major city grows more likely. There has never been a more crucial time in our nation's history to make sure you are armed and trained...

The RNC just had what passed for a serious debate considering whether or not they should start calling the Democratic Party the Democratic Socialist Party. I listened to a local fire chief today, serving as the master of ceremonies at a Memorial Day Service spout off like a fucking moron from the Michigan Militia about the USSA, the UN taking over the country before singling out gays and single mothers for ridicule.

Most of those examples are from the mainstream Republican Party. There's hundreds more examples I could cite from talk radio and FOX. God knows what's happening in other dark little corners where all that hate festers out of sight.

Having said that the DHS does these reports every now and then. A few years ago they produced a report about left wing nuts. The particular report you, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the lunatics in what is left of the Republican Party have your panties in a bunch about was started last fall by a Bush appointee at the request of the Bush Administration. Get. A. Fucking. Grip.

[Allen]

Any time I hear the FBI telling me about the FBI doing great things I don't spend a lot of time looking for the pony in the pile.

Would this terrorist plot even have existed without the FBI and their informant? Somehow I can't quite see how a carefully hatched plot under the guidance of the FBI is much in the way of law enforcement.

[just passin by]

OK Mark,

let's skip all the arguments that boil down to "it's all Bush's fault", since we know what they are worth.

How does letting Chrysler and GM fail bring down Ford?

Arguments for/against shale oil @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale_economics
That still looks more feasible then a windmill in every yard.
The point is not that we should NEVER use renewable energy, simply that we need to look at cost-effective means of production. Banking on energy production fantasies that can't meet current needs, much less growth, is stupid.

If you are concerned with the immediate effects of global warming, then please stop driving and using materials produced with modern technology. That way you can justifiably feel smug. Since I consider the concept to be a crock of shit, you will make up for my lack of faith.

I have no comments on "solving" the health crisis.

[markg8]

How does letting Chrysler and GM fail bring down Ford?

GM, Ford, Chrysler and most car manufacturers share suppliers. Goodyear sells a lot of tires they can afford to sell them at a smaller margin.

For instance way back in 2000, I think it was, I needed new front axles for my 1988 Honda Civic. I called the auto parts store and sure enough they had 'em in stock. Turned out they were good for about every small car made back then, from a Chevette, to a Nissan, to an Escort to a Corolla. For the Neon you put 'em on upside down. Go figure.

You take GM and Chrysler out of the mix and those parts manufacturers gotta make up the difference somehow. Economies of scale go out the window, factories close, people lose jobs, they don't buy cars, fewer cars get made, the whole damn cycle spirals downhill further.

Banking on energy production fantasies that can't meet current needs, much less growth, is stupid.

Banking on 20th century solutions to our energy needs is environmentally crazy, dangerous to our national security and doomed to failure. You have to wake up to those facts no matter how ideologically incovenient it is.

If you aren't concerned with the immediate effects of global warming, then please run off the cliff and take the rest of the lemmings with you. I prefer to help us make use of modern technology so we don't go down in history as the dumbest generation, the one that wrecked the planet.

It doesn't take faith, it takes a little reading of studies by actual climate scientists, instead of listening to buffoons like Senator Inhofe claim a teevee weatherman in Louisville without a college degree has as much legitimacy on the subject as MIT scientists with advanced degrees, who have spent their careers studying global warming.

Or clowns like House Rep Joe Barton the ranking Republican on the Energy & Commerce Committee who claims CO2 can't be a threat because we exhale it and they put it in Coca Cola.

[just passin by]

If Chrysler and GM go bust, then Ford and other car companies pickup any actual demand for new cars...if there is no demand for cars, or if it drops off, then suppliers get burnt. If there is demand, they will supply it.

I don't deny there is global warming, and global cooling. I also agree that humans play a possible factor. What I will argue is that humans do not create "gloabal warming" at such a rate that it demands IMMEDIATE action in destroying American industry and energy production capability.

China and India produce comparable rates of pollution. Where is the leftist call to action for them to cease production? What about the Central American land burnoffs? Why does "Earth Mother" Gore fly around in a private plane? Why does "Earth Mother" Gore profit from a carbon credits corporation?

Again, if you were serious about the issue, then you would ride a bike, and you wouldn't use any plastics (derived from oil), etc etc.

You get last word, we've been off topic too long.

[markg8]

jpb you're being inconsistent or you're a lefty. You want to see GM go down but then say Where is the leftist call to action for them to cease production? I don't necessarily want anybody to cease production I want us to lead the world in new, better energy technology. Why should we let the Germans have all the fun and profits?

What I will argue is that humans do not create "gloabal warming" at such a rate that it demands IMMEDIATE action

You might want to reconsider that. When new information comes to light it's ok to change your mind. Really, it is.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/138513-global-warming-could-be-double-previous-estimates-mit?source=financialcontent

New modeling carried out by MIT on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth’s climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that.

MIT says the difference is caused by several factors rather than any single big change. Among these are improved economic modeling and newer economic data showing less chance of low emissions than had been projected in the earlier scenarios. Other changes include accounting for the past masking of underlying warming by the cooling induced by 20th century volcanoes, and for emissions of soot, which can add to the warming effect. In addition, measurements of deep ocean temperature rises, which enable estimates of how fast heat and carbon dioxide are removed from the atmosphere and transferred to the ocean depths, imply lower transfer rates than previously estimated.

The least-cost option to lower the risk is to start now and steadily transform the global energy system over the coming decades to low or zero greenhouse gas-emitting technologies.