Do they know that a mere 19 men who had infiltrated our
country hijacked four airliners and used them to destroy the
World Trade Towers and damage the Pentagon? Current
Congressional leaders are even more brainless than leaders in
November, 1941, who thought the country could avoid World War II by
being neutral. They hadn't yet experienced an attack by an
enemy. Today's leaders have..
The government didn't know of a potential terror threat when
the 9/11 hijackers entered the country. Today the
government is more careful about who it allows in. Suspected
terrorists cannot come in at monitored points of entry.
They have to find entry points that aren't closely monitored such as
along our southern border. Coming in that way allows
them to bring weapons and high explosives.
s
Those who claim there isn't a crisis need to explain when the terror
crisis that began on 9/11 ended. Americans didn't
realize there was a terror crisis until a plane hit the second
tower.
Our enemies haven't announced an end to their war. Maybe they
haven't attacked our homeland because they prefer to concentrate on
defending their homeland. Maybe our law enforcement agencies
have been preventing their attacks. Or maybe they are secretly
preparing a surprise attack like the Germans did before the Battle
of the Bulge or the Viet Cong did before the 1968 Tet
Offensive. If they think they can mount a surprise
attack, we may not know until it begins.
Showing posts with label 9/11 attack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9/11 attack. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Bill Clinton Iraq Attack Made Invasion Necessary
Those who talk about the Second Iraq War, The WMD War, seem to have
forgotten that the war began during Bill Clinton's
administration rather than George W. Bush's administration.
Clinton began the war late in 1998 either because he didn't think Saddam Hussein was adequately cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors or to distract attention from his impeachment. The bombing of Iraq was just as much a declaration of war as Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 had been a Japanese declaration of war against the United States. American bombing of Iraqi targets continued after 1998 in areas designated "no fly zones" for Iraqi aircraft. The U.S. was still at war with Iraq on 9/11/2001. It is for this reason that it was logical for President Bush to ask if Iraq might have been responsible for the attack.
Regardless of the reason for the attack, Clinton's request that the inspectors leave so they wouldn't be hurt by the bombing meant Saddam no longer had to worry about U.N. inspectors exposing any work on Weapons of Mass Destruction. The rest of the world had no way of knowing if he started rebuilding his nerve gas stockpile or developing other WMD.
After the 9/11 attack demonstrated the total inadequacy of western intelligence about the Muslim world, President George W, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair developed a legitimate concern that Saddam Hussein might have redeveloped, or even expanded, his WMD programs. They also had to take seriously rumors that Hussein might form an alliance with America's new enemy al Qaeda. It is common for those who face a common enemy to become allies.
President Bush began an effort to restart the U.N. weapons inspections, but Iraq resisted. When Iraq finally allowed inspectors in, they found that in the time after the inspector's departure in 1998 and their return in 2003 Iraq had acquired rockets that it was illegal for Iraq to have as well as nerve gas shells that had not yet been loaded.
Bush once again tried to get adequate assurances about inspections and destruction of any weapons programs. Because of the climate in Iraq the United States had only a small amount of time to take military action before weather conditions would have inhibited military action. When Bush could not get adequate assurances he had to order the invasion of Iraq.
The invasion discovered evidence of WMD programs in Iraq. CNN reported in June, 2003, that parts and plans for a nuclear gas centrifuge had been found under a rose bush.
Richard Miniter in his book, "Disinformation" lists the following as examples of WMD related discoveries.
"• Found: 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium
• Found: 1,500 gallons of chemical weapons
• Found: Roadside bomb loaded with sarin gas
• Found: 1,000 radioactive materials--ideal for radioactive dirty bombs
• Found: 17 chemical warheads--some containing cyclosarin, a nerve agent five times more powerful than sarin."
Clinton began the war late in 1998 either because he didn't think Saddam Hussein was adequately cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors or to distract attention from his impeachment. The bombing of Iraq was just as much a declaration of war as Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 had been a Japanese declaration of war against the United States. American bombing of Iraqi targets continued after 1998 in areas designated "no fly zones" for Iraqi aircraft. The U.S. was still at war with Iraq on 9/11/2001. It is for this reason that it was logical for President Bush to ask if Iraq might have been responsible for the attack.
Regardless of the reason for the attack, Clinton's request that the inspectors leave so they wouldn't be hurt by the bombing meant Saddam no longer had to worry about U.N. inspectors exposing any work on Weapons of Mass Destruction. The rest of the world had no way of knowing if he started rebuilding his nerve gas stockpile or developing other WMD.
After the 9/11 attack demonstrated the total inadequacy of western intelligence about the Muslim world, President George W, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair developed a legitimate concern that Saddam Hussein might have redeveloped, or even expanded, his WMD programs. They also had to take seriously rumors that Hussein might form an alliance with America's new enemy al Qaeda. It is common for those who face a common enemy to become allies.
President Bush began an effort to restart the U.N. weapons inspections, but Iraq resisted. When Iraq finally allowed inspectors in, they found that in the time after the inspector's departure in 1998 and their return in 2003 Iraq had acquired rockets that it was illegal for Iraq to have as well as nerve gas shells that had not yet been loaded.
Bush once again tried to get adequate assurances about inspections and destruction of any weapons programs. Because of the climate in Iraq the United States had only a small amount of time to take military action before weather conditions would have inhibited military action. When Bush could not get adequate assurances he had to order the invasion of Iraq.
The invasion discovered evidence of WMD programs in Iraq. CNN reported in June, 2003, that parts and plans for a nuclear gas centrifuge had been found under a rose bush.
Richard Miniter in his book, "Disinformation" lists the following as examples of WMD related discoveries.
"• Found: 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium
• Found: 1,500 gallons of chemical weapons
• Found: Roadside bomb loaded with sarin gas
• Found: 1,000 radioactive materials--ideal for radioactive dirty bombs
• Found: 17 chemical warheads--some containing cyclosarin, a nerve agent five times more powerful than sarin."
Monday, September 12, 2011
Thoughts on 9/11
I learned about the 9/11 attack a little later than most people. I worked second shift and usually got up around 10:30.
When the clock radio came on the announcer wasn't making much sense to a brain that wasn't completely awake. He was saying something about the Pentagon and Vice President Cheney with the word "unprecedented" being mentioned. I thought at first that something had happened to Cheney.
I went into the living room and turned on the television to one of the news channels. With the frequent replays of the morning's events it took some time for me to determine what had already happened and what was happening at that time.
I was glad that ABC New Commentator Paul Harvey had returned to work by 9/11. He had been off for an extended period due to a throat problem, but had returned in August. Harvey had a positive attitude and frequently reminded his listeners that whatever the situation was it wasn't as bad as it seemed. He recognized that emphasizing the negative made the situation seem worse than it was.
I wasn't surprised that something like the 9/11 attack had happened. I wasn't expecting anything of that scale, but I was expecting more terrorist attacks such as those that had been happening against American interests elsewhere in the world
The media had been reporting lapses in airline security for some time, so I wasn't surprised that terrorists might hijack airplanes. There had been movies about terrorists using aircraft in this manner. I wouldn't have expected President George W. Bush to anticipate such a possibility but the people at the FBI and the CIA should have.
U.S. support for the tyrant known as the Shah of Iran had led to an attack on the American embassy in Tehran after the Iranian people overthrew him.
After I learned the identities of the suspected hijackers I realized I was right that the decision to base American forces in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War was a very bad idea. Western nations, including the U.S., have been pushing around Middle Eastern countries for too long.
The basing of American forces in what Muslims regard as their Holy Land may have been enough to push some Saudis over the edge and provoke them to commit suicide by flying planes into various American buildings. The U.S. had ignored the significance of a previous attack on American forces in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government might have welcomed American bases to protect them from Iraq, but may of their citizens viewed the bases as the home of an foreign occupation force.
American leaders often seem ignorant of the fact that members of other cultures sometimes view the world and military conflicts differently from Americans. The failure to recognize this difference in viewpoint hampered the U.S. war effort in Vietnam.
I learned from one of the recent broadcast 9/11 related documentaries that Osama bin Laden had wanted the U.S. to invade Afghanistan because he believed the U.S. would lose. Bin Laden may not have contemplated a traditional military victory. Instead of a traditional victory he may have been thinking in terms of dragging out the fighting until Americans got tired of the battles and left like they did in Vietnam.
North Vietnam never won a major battle in Vietnam until two years after American forces left. The Tet offensive was not a communist victory because they couldn't keep any places they took and much of the Viet Cong was destroyed. When the U.S. left Vietnam its allies were in charge of the government that controlled South Vietnam which was the American goal in Vietnam. However, the American media had previously decided the war was lost because it lasted so long.
Bin Laden may have been hoping for a similar outcome. Dragging out the fighting until Americans decided they couldn't "win" would allow him, or his successors, to claim they had defeated the "Great Satan" and use the "victory" as a recruiting tool.
The 9/11 attack was the start of a war that is continuing. We cannot afford to abandon the war effort just because the war appears to be endless. Americans often mistakenly claim that the Vietnam War was the nation's longest war. Actually Vietnam was merely a conflict within the long running Cold War, as was the Korean War. America stood firm in the Cold War and eventually the enemy quit.
We must continue to stand up to the terrorists because if we don't take the war to them, they may bring the war back to us. One of the reasons the terrorists haven't launched another major attack on the U.S. is because they are busy fighting our army.
When the clock radio came on the announcer wasn't making much sense to a brain that wasn't completely awake. He was saying something about the Pentagon and Vice President Cheney with the word "unprecedented" being mentioned. I thought at first that something had happened to Cheney.
I went into the living room and turned on the television to one of the news channels. With the frequent replays of the morning's events it took some time for me to determine what had already happened and what was happening at that time.
I was glad that ABC New Commentator Paul Harvey had returned to work by 9/11. He had been off for an extended period due to a throat problem, but had returned in August. Harvey had a positive attitude and frequently reminded his listeners that whatever the situation was it wasn't as bad as it seemed. He recognized that emphasizing the negative made the situation seem worse than it was.
I wasn't surprised that something like the 9/11 attack had happened. I wasn't expecting anything of that scale, but I was expecting more terrorist attacks such as those that had been happening against American interests elsewhere in the world
The media had been reporting lapses in airline security for some time, so I wasn't surprised that terrorists might hijack airplanes. There had been movies about terrorists using aircraft in this manner. I wouldn't have expected President George W. Bush to anticipate such a possibility but the people at the FBI and the CIA should have.
U.S. support for the tyrant known as the Shah of Iran had led to an attack on the American embassy in Tehran after the Iranian people overthrew him.
After I learned the identities of the suspected hijackers I realized I was right that the decision to base American forces in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War was a very bad idea. Western nations, including the U.S., have been pushing around Middle Eastern countries for too long.
The basing of American forces in what Muslims regard as their Holy Land may have been enough to push some Saudis over the edge and provoke them to commit suicide by flying planes into various American buildings. The U.S. had ignored the significance of a previous attack on American forces in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi government might have welcomed American bases to protect them from Iraq, but may of their citizens viewed the bases as the home of an foreign occupation force.
American leaders often seem ignorant of the fact that members of other cultures sometimes view the world and military conflicts differently from Americans. The failure to recognize this difference in viewpoint hampered the U.S. war effort in Vietnam.
I learned from one of the recent broadcast 9/11 related documentaries that Osama bin Laden had wanted the U.S. to invade Afghanistan because he believed the U.S. would lose. Bin Laden may not have contemplated a traditional military victory. Instead of a traditional victory he may have been thinking in terms of dragging out the fighting until Americans got tired of the battles and left like they did in Vietnam.
North Vietnam never won a major battle in Vietnam until two years after American forces left. The Tet offensive was not a communist victory because they couldn't keep any places they took and much of the Viet Cong was destroyed. When the U.S. left Vietnam its allies were in charge of the government that controlled South Vietnam which was the American goal in Vietnam. However, the American media had previously decided the war was lost because it lasted so long.
Bin Laden may have been hoping for a similar outcome. Dragging out the fighting until Americans decided they couldn't "win" would allow him, or his successors, to claim they had defeated the "Great Satan" and use the "victory" as a recruiting tool.
The 9/11 attack was the start of a war that is continuing. We cannot afford to abandon the war effort just because the war appears to be endless. Americans often mistakenly claim that the Vietnam War was the nation's longest war. Actually Vietnam was merely a conflict within the long running Cold War, as was the Korean War. America stood firm in the Cold War and eventually the enemy quit.
We must continue to stand up to the terrorists because if we don't take the war to them, they may bring the war back to us. One of the reasons the terrorists haven't launched another major attack on the U.S. is because they are busy fighting our army.
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