Five Years

Five years ago,today, our country was attacked by Islamic extremists. Shortly after this attack, I started writing; first in email form and then on this blog. I wanted to work out my anger, my aggression, and my sadness at what was, in my opinion, the worst day in our country's history. The journey from there to here has been filled with many comments, arguments, and discussions.


Everything written in my column or in the comments section has made us better people in my opinion. Some of the arguments have been petty but in the end I think we have all benefited from an online "town hall" meeting that has gone on for virtually five years. I know that your writings have helped me and I have grown beyond what I started out as....an angry person who hated virtually every male Muslim in the world......to someone who is more understanding of the majority of citizens in that part of the world. Recently, however, the questions I find I am asking myself over and over again is: how could we, as a nation, be so off target now? And how can I, as a lone voice in the cyber-wilderness, help? I think I'll answer the last question first.

Five years ago I began a journey that has brought me to a crossroads in my life. Today is a watershed moment for me as this evening, around 5:30 pm, I will begin my Masters program in Education. I honestly believe that if the attacks did not happen, I would not have considered becoming a teacher or even a writer. Chances are pretty good that a Notes from the Front blog would not have existed. After the election of 2000, I felt so apathetic about politics that I found it hard to engage anyone in any sort of discussion of current events or international affairs. I really started to tune out during the whole O-J debacle and lost complete interest when two candidates were presented to me that were just plain awful. I was disengaged. After 9-11, I decided to put my virulent feelings to work in a positive way, become engaged, and attempted to share my point of view in the hopes that this blog would be a gateway for someone to ask more questions....to learn more......to somehow improve, in a small way, our current condition. It is my hope that this has been my way to help out in some sort of small fashion.

After the attacks, I really felt that America would come together. For a time, we did. People seemed to cared more about each other and there was a thirst for knowledge about the Middle East. Most of our citizens were engaged in world events for the first time in decades and we had the love of the rest of the world. I recall the scenes from Tehran of people holding candles and holding American flags in honor of the fallen. All of that good will is gone now...spoiled by the greedy men that have pretty much been running (or ruining) our country, in one form or another, since November 22, 1963. A coup d'etat occurred on that day and it has been the same people (or like minded people) that have been in charge ever since.

Any person that has come along like Jack Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, or John Lennon who has tried to unite people and make the world a more equal or better place has been eliminated. An event like 9-11 is no different. In the end, something that should have brought us together was tarnished, twisted and has ended up dividing our nation even more. I lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of our current leadership who have hijacked that awful day for their own tyrannical needs.

Some of you might not know this but not all of the 3000 victims were American. Many were British and others hailed from countries around the world including Iran. To me, it was an attack upon civilization by a group of uncivilized, insane men who have no regard for human life and a high regard for human suffering.

Which brings me to my other question: where did it all go wrong? Specifically, in regards to bringing those responsible to justice? While it's true that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, one of the men responsible for 9-11, is in custody, the other two, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahari are still at large. The simple fact that the United States, the most powerful nation on the planet, can't find these two men enrages me to the point of insanity. It seems so simple a task given our technology and our intelligence. Vexing me further still are the people in this country who think that Bush Co has done a great job in the War on Terror.

Over the last few weeks, CNN has been airing a documentary entitled "In The Footsteps of Bin Laden," put together by Christiane Amanpour. Just in time for the fifth anniversary of 9-11, the two hour report summarizes what happened leading up to 9-11, what happened immediately after, and what the future holds. I highly recommend watching this program as it demonstrates the completely apathetic attitude of this administration as well as an utter lack of planning in key moments in the War on Terror. Much of the report contained information that I already knew and have talked about extensively on this blog. It did, however, contain two pieces of information, one factual and one conjecture, that were truly horrifying.

Before I go any further, for those of you who loathe Bush Co, please remove all objects from your desk and anything around your personage that could cause you or someone else physical damage. Any outrage you have felt up this point will be small compared to how you will feel after you read the next few paragraphs. For those of you who are still in love with Bush Co, please open another Internet Explorer window and begin searching through your government approved websites and propaganda to calm yourself from my "bias" and "evil liberalism." Everyone ready? Good.

In December 2001, Gary Berntsen was the CIA field commander in charge of capturing and killing Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountain region (left) in Afghanistan. According to Berntsen, they had intercepted bin Laden's radio transmissions and had him cornered. American forces combined with Afghan and Pakistani forces had forced him into an area that was somewhat large and needed to be more thoroughly searched. Up to this point, Berntsen had felt somewhat uncomfortable relying so heavily on non-US forces so he sent a request to CENTCOM (Central Command for US Forces) for more troops.


They never came.

And his request was never answered because, you see, dear readers, our beloved president, our vice president and our warm, wonderful defense secretary must have thought that 50 men were enough to find Osama bin Laden.

50 men.

50 men to search an area that was (and still is) hundreds of square miles. 50 men to dig through the massive complex of caves that had been in place, well known by bin Laden, since the 1980s during the Soviet occupation.

Berntsen had requested 600-1000 army rangers be sent in to help find bin Laden. His request did not even elicit a response. Nothing. Silence. And somehow (gosh, wonder how?) bin Laden managed to slip away through the "net" that Pakistani forces had set up. Since that time, the searches for bin Laden have been half hearted at best and the real focus has been Iraq. This year, command of security and the search for Al Qaeda has been turned over to NATO. Mr. Berntsen has written a book on this called Jawbreaker and it can be purchased here.

What happened at Tora Bora and the "search" since then has always perplexed me. How could we let the man (or men if you count Zawahari) escape? The person most directly responsible for the worst attack on American soil? What happened? And why is NATO now running the show?

Well, now I know. And it pretty much confirms everything I have ever said about Bush Co. Basically it boils down to three possible reasons or perhaps some combination of all three.

1. Our current leadership is inept.
2. Our current leadership doesn't care.
3. Our current leadership was complicit.

I think the way our federal government (and by that I mean both Democrats and Republicans) has handled the War on Terror, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and Hurricane Katrina goes a long way to proving the first reason to be accurate. But stupidity only goes so far and then you have to look at what they value and that has always been Iraq. The 9-11 attacks provided this administration with the popular support it needed to invade Iraq. As early as Thanksgiving 2001, according to Bob Woodward in his book "Plan of Attack", plans were under way to invade Iraq. That is what they have always cared about. They could've cared less about Afghanistan. There's no money there! That's one of the main reasons why Tora Bora was such a fiasco. The leadership in our Armed Forces was under orders, by the president, to focus on Iraq during that same time period, December 2001. Woodward, by the way, had complete access to President Bush and his staff and actually received approval by the president to quote him directly!

The balls on our president.....I'll tell ya. Woodward's book, which you can purchase here, is a stunning, step by step look at a complete loss of focus on our true enemies and, ultimately, the breakdown of our democracy. We (that includes me) gave the president carte blanche to go after somebody...anybody....to right the wrong that was done to us. We were all duped into thinking that it was part of the War on Terror and that somehow it would help us in our fight against bin Laden. I know I let my anger cloud my judgment and that will never happen again.

All of this makes me wonder if it was really "just bureaucracy" that prevented us from stopping the 9-11 hijackers. Did people in our government know ahead of time that an attack was coming? Did they let it happen? It's very possible. Heck, Don Rumsfeld told talk show host Larry King that at eight o'clock on the morning of the 9-11 attacks he was meeting with Congressmen and told them that "sometime in the next two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve months there would be an event that would occur in the world that would be sufficiently shocking that it would remind people again how important it is to have a strong healthy defense department." We have all seen the countless documents and testimonies that detail how much we knew before the attacks. Yet nothing was done. People like counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill (who died in the 9-11 attacks by the way) and Coleen Rowley were screaming their heads off about Al Qaeda in the United States. No one did anything. Why? Stupidity and apathy only go so far and then you have to look at other motives which bring us back to Iraq.

We went into Iraq for a multitude of reasons which are now mostly untrue or outright lies. Even Bush himself has said that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks and that bin Laden was responsible. Bush has said that every effort has been made to find him. Yet, what do you think it says to bin Laden, when we basically showed him that he can commit the worst attack on our soil in our country's history and Saddam Hussein is still more important? I guess bin Laden is, as President Bush has said, "insignificant."

And the CNN report confirms what is coming next. Now, bear in mind, what follows is partly conjecture. According to the documentary, odd as it may seem, many in Al Qaeda felt the 9-11 attacks were wrong. It was too big a blow. Bin Laden's own son left him quickly after the attacks because he felt that his father had ruined their little paradise in Afghanistan. There was much in-fighting and some in Al Qaeda felt that bin Laden didn't give us infidels enough of a chance to convert to Islam before attacking. Many in Al Qaeda felt that it was wrong to kill thousands of us if we might come over to their side.

This fits perfectly with much of what we are seeing from him and his followers lately: audio and video recordings of bin Laden and Zawahari reaching out to us and saying that it is not too late to convert. Too late for what I have always wondered. According to CNN and several other sources, bin Laden and Zawahari have recently received a "blessing" from religious leaders around the Middle East to kill ten million Americans if we don't convert. This comes as no great shock to most of us, I suppose, as this is what their goal has seemingly always been. Of course, saying it and doing it are two different things. Can they do it? Or more importantly, can we trust Bush Co to protect us? Their track record so far gives me no hope so my answer to the last question is a resounding NO!

To answer the first question, though, one need only turn to the sale of 4 Agosta submarines, by the French (d'oh, not them again!) to Pakistan. Here is some information I found, on a naval technology site about these subs:

Three Agosta 90Bs were ordered by the Pakistan Navy in September 1994. The first, Khalid (S137), was built at DCN's Cherbourg yard and was commissioned in 1999. The second, Saad, assembled at Karachi Naval Dockyard, was launched in August 2002 and was commissioned in December 2003. The third, Hamza, which is being constructed and assembled in Karachi, is to launch before the end of 2006 and commission in 2007. Work on the vessel was halted following a terrorist attack in May 2002, which killed 11 French engineers in Karachi, but has since restarted. The third submarine is being fitted with the MESMA air independent propulsion system, which will be retrofitted to the first two. The MESMA AIP has successfully completed Pakistan Navy acceptance trials.

Pakistan has been given a license by DCN to offer commercial production of the submarines to potential customers.

Potential customers? Hmm....Oh, and by the way, all of these submarines are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. They are all currently in Karachi, Pakistan, a hotbed of anti-American sentiment and less than 100 miles from where Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahari are supposedly hiding. I don't think it would be real difficult for a few hundred lunatics to take over one of these subs and launch an attack against us. Heck, they already tried it once! Why go to the trouble of smuggling in a suitcase bomb when you can stay near the comforts of home? Remember, too, that most Islamic extremists don't care if we launch a counter strike. They view this life as transitory and if a few hundred thousand innocent Muslims die...well, it is the way of Allah.....as long as several infidels also die.

Now, with all of this information I have just shared with you, how confident do YOU feel that our current leadership is on top of all of this? I guess I feel about as confident as them finding out who the anthrax killer was. Hey, by the way, whatever happened to that whole deal? Last I heard, the anthrax came from a military lab somewhere and then suddenly.....no stories anymore. And weren't all the letters containing the anthrax mailed to either Democrats or the "liberal" media? Hmmm....oh well, there I go again...I probably should just be a good little American, trust my government, and not think to hard. It might hurt.

Anyway, clearly what we are doing now is not working. None of it. We need new leaders. As in, right now. It's too bad we can't do a recall in the national election like they did in California. So I guess that leaves the 2006 midterms. It's up to all of you to look seriously at what each candidate is saying on how best to defend and fight for this country. To me, there is no other issue that is more important. We are talking about the future of our civilization here, people! And the same old, tired line about "cutting and running" or "fight em there so we don't have to fight em here" insults my intelligence. Can't Bush Co come up with something better than this drivel? How about a new plan for Iraq? Something that does not contain grade school level rhetoric and jingoistic fear.

We need smart, strong people who have one goal: protect our nation. I would begin with all seven of my "Profiles in Courage" subjects. They would be a good start. Can we please have a leader who really cares about unifying this world while at the same time is a bad ass mofo that can kick some serious tail?

So, my promise to all of you is to continue to provide you with information and talking points to help you understand what is going on. Don't completely take my word for it, however. Go out and see for yourself if what I am saying is true. If you think I am wrong, find a better way. A new way. Share it with me. There is certainly room for improvement in anything any one of us does.

Most importantly, don't be afraid. Arm yourself with knowledge and any apprehension you feel will slip away. These are dark, dark times my friends and all of us need to start talking.

And listening as well.

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy" -James Madison, 4th President of the United States and father of the Constitution.