318 years before, on September 11, 1683, the conquering armies of Islam were repulsed from the gates of Vienna. In our day, no one thinks about such things when they get up in the morning. It was important to the Europeans then, and for a hundred years or so afterward it was a date they remembered.
September 11, 2001 started out as a pretty day. There was sunshine with just enough hint of impending autumn in the air to make it almost perfect. I was running a little late, but my wife, Gloria, and I were having a cup of coffee before I left for work. Lots of days, thatâs the only time we see each other before we go to bed at night. If I could get out the door at 9:00, and the traffic was good, I would be at work at 9:30. We were watching Steve, E.D., and Brian on Fox and Friends. Weâre both news junkies, so Fox is usually whatâs on the box. Somewhere between one cup of coffee and another the image on the TV screen switched to the 110-story World Trade Center in New York. A plane, American Airlines flight 11, out of Bostonâs Logan Airport with 92 people on board, had just crashed into it. Fox and Friends was aghast. So were we. We saw a gaping hole in the side of the building, a lot of smoke and flame and falling debris.
Casualties? Who had any idea? Certainly a planeload of people was dead. Certainly most, if not all, of the people â on how many floors? â were dead or seriously injured. Someone reported 70,000 people worked in the twin towers. The toll must be horrific. How were rescuers going to get up there? It was an incredible, sickening tragedy. âHow the hell does a pilot make a mistake like that?â I asked. It had to be an intentional act â but who would be crazy enough to do that?
We didnât know then that the air-traffic controller handling the plane in Nashua, N.H., had heard a conversation in the cockpit and realized a hijacking was under way. John Ogonowski, 50, the captain, had thumbed the mike button to alert controllers.
A few minutes later â 15 minutes, to be precise â the second tower was hit, the same way, by United Flight 175, also out of Boston. We actually saw the second plane fly into the building, live. We saw a second planeload, 65 living, breathing human beings, die. There was no uncertainty about what had happened this time. By some stretch of the imagination the first could possibly have been an accident, however unlikely. There was no way the second could be. New York was under attack.
âItâs Pearl Harbor,â I told Gloria. âWeâre at war now.â
The thought of going to work went onto the back burner for awhile as we watched, stunned and fascinated, along with everyone else in the country who had access to a television.
Somehow I got out the door. I listened to the car radio, WTOP, the Washington all-news channel, all the way down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The attack on the Pentagon â American Flight 77, out of Washingtonâs Dulles Airport, with 64 people aboard â an hour after the first tower was hit, didnât come as a surprise after the World Trade Center. All we would do was curse the people who had done it. And wait for the next attacks, wherever they were going to happen. The crash destroyed four of the five rings that encircle the world's largest office building. A Pentagon spokesman called the casualties "extensive," although they were clearly not as extensive as New York's. These casualties were also more personal to me, as a retired military man.
Reports kept coming, but they were were confused and confusing. There was a story that a car bomb had gone off outside the State Department. There was a report of smoke coming from a location near the White House. There was a rumor that a plane had crashed in western Pennsylvania, another had supposedly crashed in Kentucky, and a rumor of another headed toward the White House from Dulles Airport. We didnât know which were true; we assumed they all were until they were disproved or retracted.
People were already leaving work to bring their kids home from school. Would whoever did this attack schools, too? I didnât think so, but I could understand the feelings, the uncertainty. I wasnât altogether sure that someone wasnât going to strafe the traffic on the parkway â i.e., me. It would have been easy enough. The south tower collapsed and it was still only 9:50 a.m. The area was evacuated. There was no immediate report on casualties. We were to learn not much later that many police and firefighters didnât make it out.
President Bush spoke to the nation from Sarasota, Florida, where he had been visiting an elementary school. He tried to sound reassuring, but it was obvious he wasnât sure what was going on. No one was. There simply werenât enough facts available yet. Even before I reached work he was airborne, in Air Force One, headed for Louisiana and from there to Nebraska. Vice President Cheney was in Washington. The Capital and the west wing of the White House were being evacuated. The FAA shut down takeoffs and flights in the air were told to land in Canada.
At my office someone had brought in a television and nothing got done. We watched a snowy picture from Washingtonâs Channel 4. There were more rumors, delivered in authoritative tones, cunningly disguised as reports. Then there was the confirmation on the story about the airliner down in a field in Pennsylvania. It was United Airlines Flight 93, carrying 45 people, out of Newark, N.J. There was speculation that it had been headed toward either Washington â the White House? The Capitol? â or perhaps Camp David. It crashed 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Had it been shot down? Had the passengers crashed it? It seemed unlikely the hijackers had. An empty field didnât make much of a target.
Goddard Space Flight Center, a couple blocks from where I work, was locked down. I wondered what the terrorists would blow up there â the souvenir shop? Cubicles filled with engineers? The finance office? It didnât make sense, but I still found myself trying to calculate what the blast range would be for a nuclear device set off in downtown Washington. I wasnât happy with the results.
Dan Rather came on the box and his head talked. There was nothing memorable, only the uncertainty. He didnât know much more than we knew. Maybe not even as much. At 10:30 the north tower collapsed. There had been an hour available for evacuations; how many people could evacuate from what had been 110 stories in an hour? How many stairwells were there? How many people could walk abreast? There would be losses from smoke inhalation. Many people would have been horribly burned but still ambulatory. There were blind and otherwise disabled people who worked in the building. How to get a wheelchair down, say, 80 flights of stairs? Much later we would learn that as many as 18,000 people evacuated the two towers.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani publicly urged New Yorkers to stay calm and stay put -- unless they were below Canal Street in lower Manhattan. "If you're south of Canal Street, get out," he warned. "Just walk north." He didnât add not to stop, but New Yorkers guessed that part.
Things started to clear up a little as the day wore on. Government buildings around the US were evacuated and facilities â Goddard among them, which meant my office, too â closed down. The UN closed down. US financial markets closed down. Mayor Giuliani called for the evacuation of lower Manhattan. Vice President Cheney and first lady Laura Bush were whisked away to undisclosed locations in the morning, while the Secret Service hustled and worried. Some Congressional leaders, such as Speaker Dennis Hastert, were taken to Andrews Air Force Base. Others, like House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, as well as some Senate leaders where taken to police headquarters just blocks from the Capitol. All leaders were eventually moved by helicopter and limo to hideouts in West Virginia and Virginia, like Mt. Weather, an underground communications center near Round Hill, Va., some 75 miles from Washington.
President Bush, speaking again, this time from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, told us that US armed forces were on maximum alert. He vowed to "hunt down and punish" those responsible. We all hoped that was true; Bill Clinton had used almost the same words in the wake of the bombings of our embassies in Africa. The nation was still waiting for results.
The Drudge Report had some information. Foxâs web site had some, as did CNN, MSNBC, and others. Gradually some of the rumor was sorted out from the scanty fact. There was a traffic jam on the way home. Bush touched down at Offutt AFB in Nebraska, and was soon back in the air, on his way to Washington. A network of Navy warships was deployed along both coasts for air defense. Landmark buildings and sites were shut down, from the Space Needle in Seattle to the Sears Tower in Chicago to Walt Disney World in Orlando. The borders with Canada and Mexico were sealed. New York's mayoral primary was postponed. So was Major League Baseball's schedule, followed quickly by professional football. Nobody cared at the moment, except maybe the players and not all of them.
The military command center in Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain, responsible for U.S. air defenses, received word just 10 minutes before the first aircraft struck the World Trade Center that an American plane had been hijacked. The notification came too late for fighter jets to take action.
The TV was on as I walked in the door, with Gloria glued to it. We watched the scenes of the attacks over and over as each new bit of news was added to what Fox â and MSNBC and CNN â had to say. We saw the tapes of the towers collapsing. We heard about the people who jumped, rather than be burned alive; the Spanish-language stations ran footage of some of them. One pair, a man and a woman, held hands. It was sickening, horrible. It was beyond mere words. At 5:30 structurally weakened Seven World Trade Center collapsed.
The news channels showed us the images of smashed fire trucks, covered in gray dust and ash. There were first estimates of how many had died, still just guesses. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas was informed that the casualty figures would likely range between 15,000 and 25,000. There were fears that other nearby buildings were structurally damaged and that they would collapse as well. There were still fears of further attacks, on the Empire State Building, on the Sears Tower. Amtrak train and Greyhound bus operations were halted in the Northeast. The bridges leading into and out of New York were locked down.
By evening the fires were still burning amid the rubble of the World Trade Center. Pools of highly flammable jet fuel continued to hinder rescue teams who were still searching through the rubble, despite their losses.
Our country had been attacked and the realization was stunning. For the first time since 1814 the USAâs soil had been subject to naked, vicious aggression by a foreign power. The attacks had been aimed at symbols of American power, as though to destroy them would be to destroy what they represented. The thought that had gone into selecting them was from one point of view effective â strikes against âsymbols of oppression and greed.â From a practical point of view, the point of view that would have been taken by a professional military planner, they were ineffectual because they were totemistic. The US military is no more the Pentagon than US economic power was confined to the World Trade Center. So Clue Number One was in that sense reassuring: the enemy, whoever he was, was not a competent general. He was a tactician but not a strategist. Symbolic attacks donât win wars; destruction of the enemyâs command structure does. When thatâs gone, the enemy forces can be rolled up practically at leisure.
Congress â both Republicans and Democrats - declared its support for Bush in finding and punishing those responsible. "We are outraged at this cowardly attack on the people of the United States," Congress said in a bipartisan statement. "Our heartfelt prayers are with the victims and their families, and we stand strongly united behind the President as our commander-in-chief." Members concluded their session by singing "God Bless America" on the steps of the Capitol.
In the course of that day, President Bush spoke to the nation three times. The first was the quick talk I had heard on the radio, from Florida before leaving for Louisiana. The second, nearly as brief, was from Offutt. That evening he spoke again, at a little more length, and we listened:
These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.
A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.
America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.
Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America--with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.
"We will make no distinction," Bush warned, "between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
Despite the fears of further attacks, there was a national growl of defiance, a national thirst for vengeance. If the terrorists had expected to throw the nation into confusion they had succeeded. If they had expected us to collapse in fear they had failed. They had aroused a national fury unseen since Pearl Harbor. Sen. Hutchison spoke for us all when she said that we should determine with a moral certainty who did it; issue an ultimatum to whatever country was involved to give the person up; and if not, "We should go in, attack them, and wipe them off the face of the earth." The nation accepted the concept of being at war â we werenât quite sure with whom, not yet â with no hesitation.
Libertarian writer and weblogger Virginia Postrel passed on the story of a man who worked as a prosecutor in Galveston. He cut through the minimum security wing of the jail on an errand. All the prisoners were gathered around the televisions, wearing their orange jumpsuits, following the story with their jailers and with the same reactions. Even Bad hates Evil.
There were three attacks. The plane that went down in Pennsylvania was supposed to have been the fourth. Minutes before United Airlines Flight 93 crashed outside Pittsburgh, passenger Jeremy Glick used his cell phone to call his wife in New Jersey. He told her that he and several other people on board were going to resist the hijackers. Knowing the chances were good that he would die, Glick told his wife, Lyzbeth, that he hoped she would have a good life, and to take care of their 3-month old baby girl. Alice Hoglan of California also got to say goodbye to her son, Mark Bingham. He also spoke of a plan to tackle the hijackers in a last-minute cell phone call. One of the other people on Flight 93, Tom Burnett, the vice president of a northern California medical devices company, also managed to call his wife from the plane before going to his death. And Todd Beamer also talked to his wife. The last words she heard him say were the words he used to fire up his kids: âLetâs roll!â
We had forgotten what it was like to have heroes. Beamer, Glick, Bingham, Burnett and those who went with them rushed the hijackers. They fought them hard, the flight recorder would later attest just how hard. And rather than giving control of the aircraft back to the Americans, the fanatics smashed the plane into the Pennsylvania countryside. The men and women who resisted them went down fighting to the last.
US Solicitor General Ted Olsen was lucky enough to talk to his wife, Barbara, on American Flight 77, via cell phone before her plane smashed into the Pentagon. Barbara Olsen was brilliant and witty, a ferocious political partisan who had written Hell to Pay, an exposÚ on then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. She was a fixture on political talk shows, had another book coming out on the sordid last days of the Clinton administration and she was on her way to Los Angeles. âWhat should I tell the pilot to do?â she asked her husband. Whatever she told the pilot, Barbara Olsen died trying. Charles Burlingame, the pilot of American Flight 77, was bludgeoned to death before the plane hit the Pentagon. He died trying, too.
We were to learn later, after flight recorders had been recovered, that the pilot of Flight 11, which had hit the World Trade Center, had also fought the hijackers. On all of the four planes, Americans had died trying.
By the next day we were busy with the long process of fitting the pieces together and putting together a response.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:15 am ||
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The Battle of Vienna was on September 12. Something to remember tomorrow.
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Actually, they use a different calendar (lunar) and there are two translations from theirs to ours. One comes out as September 11, and one comes out as September 12. In fact, if you do a particularly bad translation from ours to theirs and back, you can even come out with September 10th. So I will breathe a (small) sigh of relief on Friday the 13th.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/11/2002 13:52 Comments ||
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Ahem. Assuming, of course, that we have no major attacks by then.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/11/2002 13:55 Comments ||
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Meryl and Kathy discuss the latest blogging tempest in a teapot: sexism (horrors!) in linking. I would like to reassure my readers on this subject, which is one I take very seriously: I only link to the cute ones.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 11:14 am ||
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I seldom quote Jonah Goldberg anymore, because he's a better writer than I am and I deeply resent that. Like when he hits this particular nail on the head...
I knew a guy who narrowly escaped getting hit by a falling body. The first e-mail he sent out, two hours later, was, "Hey, how do we get ahold of all the new 212 cell numbers that'll be available?"
As shocked as I was, I felt that this was not my problem as a black person. The people who worked at the World Trade Center were mostly white men, and so they had nothing to do with me as a black woman.
The people on Flight 93 were not goddamn "heroes" or "warriors," they were passengers on the wrong plane. If I have to hear about Todd Beamer and "Let's roll" one more time I am going to puke.
Damien's comment:
I'd have to question the wisdom of publishing this sort of thing under any circumstances; not that Salon has no right to do so, but common courtesy dictates that some things are simply better left unsaid. But my God, publishing this ON THE FREAKING ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11?!?
Go bankrupt. Please. And do it soon. Just further confirmation that fully half the people you meet in this world are below average.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:44 pm ||
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No class. I'm going to have to find a new newswire to visit daily. Other than Heather H, their paid content is drivel.
Forbidden thoughts? I have had poops with better judgement than Salon.
Exactly one year after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. forces in Afghanistan say they have captured at least two suspected al Qaeda members during their latest sweep. The two, including one man suspected of being a key financier for the terrorist network, were among nine detainees captured during Operation Champion Strike. Bingo! Wanna hear me ululate?
Also seized were around 150 AK-47 rifles, 200 explosive booby traps, a mortar, several cases of hand grenades, rocket launchers, rockets, heavy machine guns and military communications equipment. "I mean, the elk were just gettin' out of hand. We hadda do something...!"
Journalists covering the operation, which ended Wednesday, were barred from reporting the name of the al Qaeda suspects. The sweep began Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, about 175 miles south of Kabul, and involved nearly 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Battalion of the 504th Regiment. Not a very long operation. Guess they got what they were looking for...
Eight of the detainees were captured Saturday when troops raided a suspected al Qaeda and Taliban recruitment center near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Among the eight were two suspected al Qaeda members, including the financier, and one man identified by the soldiers as a "high-value target." One of the muckety-mucks...
A U.S. soldier said he overheard one of the two men transmit a radio message before he was captured during which he said, "I'm surrounded by the Americans, I've got no way out." Tough, ain't it?
The troops confiscated what one soldier described as a "bucketful of satellite phones, passports, a poster of Osama bin Laden, and Taliban and al Qaeda documents." They sure do like those posters. What's that the Koran says about making images and worshipping them? Guess I shouldn't ask, huh?
In the second search, CNN's Ryan Chilcote accompanied the 1st Batallion â also known as the "Red Devils" â to the village of Sharip Khail, not far from the first targeted area. There, members of the Afghan Militia Force were fired on by unidentified gunmen as they detained a man in a residential compound. Whoops! Bad thing to do. Important safety tip: when surrounded by indignant armed Merkins, hide your gun in a haystack and look friendly...
A U.S. Army sergeant told the village elder, "We are here to search your village ... we are not hear to take your things ... you have 10 minutes to get all the men, women and children here, don't leave anyone behind." After the village was emptied, the soldiers found AK-47 rounds in a mound of hay and, noticing a portion of newly mud-plastered wall, dug through to find 17 rockets and documents inside, including a postcard with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's name written on it and a document from the Pakistani Foreign Service. Yow. That one's gonna hurt somebody. I wonder if Powell's been on the phone with Perv yet?
They also found rosters of names, Korans, English learning manuals, hand grenades and an anti-tank mine. "It's the intel mother lode!"
The invaluable Steve tipped me to this one, too...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 03:32 pm ||
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WOW, good news! I LOVE his last transmission: "I'm surrounded by the Americans, I've got no way out." That should've been captured on tape and now broadcast every 15 minutes on Voice of America broadcasts to Saudi, Syria, Iraq, Iran ...never mind, they don't need our help in the overthrow....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2002 16:49 Comments ||
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A postcard to Omar?
"Hey Mohammad - wish you were here - you should see the sights - oops, forgot about that eye thing - nevermind"
Posted by: Brian M. ||
09/11/2002 19:28 Comments ||
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U.S. forces at this forward-reaching base camp [near Khost] rose at first light Monday to the sound of bullets going over their tents. "Damn! I ain't even brushed my teeth yet..."
A company of soldiers from Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne Division pulled on their boots and leapt into action. For the next 22 minutes, they exchanged small arms fire with local fighters in a battle that shows the complexity of warfare in eastern Afghanistan. "What's complex about it? They shoot at us, they miss. We shoot at them, we don't. Simple."
The early morning battle was an afterthought to a night of heavy street fighting between forces loyal to the local warlord, Pacha Khan, and troops loyal to the chief of police in this region, Mustafah. On Sunday night, battles took place throughout the city. Much of the town was in flames after small-arms fighting and repeated rocket attacks. Zadran's doing it for The Peopleâ¢. That's why he rockets them.
The fighting carried on into the early morning. Just after sunrise, fighters loyal to Khan crashed through an Afghan-controlled checkpoint where forces loyal to Mustafah were located. The checkpoint is positioned on the edge of the American base here, which is called Chapman air base. Mustafah's fighters drove Khan's fighters closer to the U.S. perimeter. Both Khan's men and Mustafah's men are loyal to the Afghan Military Force, and in theory allied with the Americans here. There's a theory the earth is flat, too. Herded 'em right toward the Merkins, did he? Mustapha's no dummy...
But they are at odds with one another internally over control of the region. So while at times they back American efforts to rid the country of al-Qaida and Taliban, they fight each other for power. American forces try their best to stay out of the fighting for fear that taking sides might create complex political problems that could further destabilize an already volatile area. It could get more unstable than it is? Dayum!
But they were forced to get involved Monday morning when the fighting was pushed within 100 meters of their perimeter. Bullets whizzed by as soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division ran to fortify a 300-meter perimeter berm. Yup. That always gets the old attention...
Soldiers carrying M-4 rifles and high-caliber machine guns fired on approaching Afghan troops, some of whom had already fired at the U.S. base. "Bad move, guys!"
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"
U.S. troops returned fire. In all, four Afghan fighters were killed and seven were wounded. No U.S. forces were killed or injured. "That's why."
In all, about 150 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne participated in the firefight. "I woke up hearing gunshots. And the adrenaline was flowing and you just throw on your gear as fast as you can," said Spc. Alexander Perez, a 23-year-old Maryland native. "It was real scary. I won't lie. But we are infantry and we're going to get shot at." If you're not scared, you're stoopid...
Sgt. Lewis Cannistraro, a 23-year-old, Massachusetts native, said the soldiers returned fire only after being fired upon. "A couple of rounds were hitting in front of us," he said. "At first you're like, 'Well, these people are shooting at me.'" Comes as a suprise, doesn't it? There you are, watching the dirt kick up or the bark fly, and you're thinking something silly, like, "What the hell do they have against me?" Then all that training you've had, over and over and over again, kicks in...
But he said the soldiers of the 82nd didn't have much time to think about the situation, they simply had to react. By the time they did have a chance to reflect, the shooting had subsided, he said. Four waxed, seven ventilated. Gosh, I like those guys...
Thanks to Steve for the story.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 06:19 pm ||
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Funny thing about all that training (Hey! Saddam, ya listenin'?) When the poo hits the fan blades that training makes those actions of shooting back and snuffin' the bad guys a reflex (and a damn fine one to have in a war zone, if you ask me)
Posted by: Brian M. ||
09/11/2002 19:22 Comments ||
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Iraqi newspapers marked the anniversary of Sept. 11 with banner headlines describing the terrorist attack as ``God's Punishment'' against America, and ordinary Iraqis also voiced anger at a country they fear might be preparing an invasion of their country. Maybe if they spent a little less time being angry about things people wouldn't want to attack their country. But that's cause and effect, so it's probably beyond them.
The state-owned weekly Al-Iktisadi covered its front page Wednesday with a photograph of a burning World Trade Center tower and a two-word headline in red: ``God's Punishment.'' So was whacking the bunker full of Ba'ath wives and kiddies back in Gulf War I, I guess...
The daily Al-Jumhuriya, in a front-page editorial, said the lesson the United States should have drawn from Sept. 11 was that its policies inspired hatred. Many Arabs have linked Sept. 11 to a sense in the region that Washington unfairly sides with Israel and that its Iraqi policy has hurt ordinary citizens here. Maybe they should ask themselves "Why do they hate us?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:43 am ||
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Saudi Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz said Wednesday the Arabs back a U.S. strike to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and that publicly expressed opposition to such a move was merely propaganda for local consumption. "There is a covert Arab-Western consensus on the need to topple Saddam," Talal told the Egyptian opposition daily al Wafd. Godammit! There goes another keyboard...!
Talal, a half brother of King Fahd, is well known for his calls for reform in Saudi Arabia, such as his approval of Western-style elections, a practice unknown in the kingdom. "When the Arabs claim that they are against hitting Iraq, they just want to appease Arab public opinion and because they fear innocent people in Iraq being harmed," he said. So how do the Arabs talk themselves out of that corner?
Talal played down as exaggerated and blown out of proportion the ill effects that Arab countries say they fear U.S. military action would have. Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the 22-nation Arab League, said last week such action would open the gates of hell and cause major instability in the Middle East. "And the worst thing that could possibly ever happen, anywhere, under any circumstances..."
"The negative consequences already exist as the Arabs are divided and cannot agree on anything that might help the Iraqi people, in addition to the fact that Israel is playing with us," Talal said. So he's admitting that they're ineffectual and divided, but still somehow phrases it "Israel is playing with us," rather than "we're playing with ourselves."
The prince, who holds no official post in his country, said a U.S. strike was inevitable and the U.S. administration was determined to topple Saddam, though it had not fixed when or how it was to be done. The United States intends to change the regime in Baghdad even if international weapons inspectors return to Iraq, he said. The whole world, including Arab states, Talal said, want the intervention to be backed by the international community and approved by the United Nations. We'll be expecting the Soddies to stand up and vote "Yes" then.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 02:56 pm ||
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He'd have gotten an A, but dropped his final grade to a B- with the "Israel's playing with us" term paper he turned in. Overall, though, moves up to #1 nominee for headguy to replace Fahd, at least in our eyes
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2002 16:58 Comments ||
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What would cause a Soddy turn against Saddam? Prince Bandar must have coaxed a Bush' promise of Sharia government in a defeated Iraq. No? On Sept. 9, Bush said that the U.S. would have no role in governing a post-Saddam Iraq. Why the hell would he say that?
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/11/2002 19:36 Comments ||
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Baghdad, Sept 11, INA
Speaker of Iraqi National Assembly Dr. Sadoun Hammadi has sent letters to the concerned members at U.S Senate who called on not taking a hasty military action against Iraq, and the necessity for US Senate to discuss the subject comprehensively before taking any decision to use force. Dear Senate,
Hi, how are you? Haven't heard from you in awhile. We're fine here. You know, we've been thinking about all this, and we don't think you should do anything hasty, if you know what we mean. We mean, you really have to discuss these things before you make any decisions. A good discussion can take years, you know?
And if you should decide to do something, keep in mind that in Iraq, us parliamentarians have no power. None. Zippo. Zilch. I mean, we're nothing compared to Saddam. So we wouldn't be worth expending any bombs or missiles on, would we?
Sincerely,
The Iraqi National Assembly
Dr. Hammadiâs letter was attached with previous letter addressed to US Congress in which he invited a delegation accompanied with experts in dismantling weapons of mass destruction to visit Iraq to inspect above and beneath the ground for three weeks. He affirmed that Iraqi government would offer all needed facilities. "Sure. Anything you need... Well, not that... Ummm... No, not that, either..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:27 pm ||
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A passenger who spent a long time in an airplane toilet Wednesday prompted a security alert and full search of the Lufthansa plane. "It was quite amusing," Lufthansa spokesman Thomas Jachnow said. "He was on the toilet for quite some time. That was enough reason to alert the federal border police." "I think it was the schnitzel..."
The man went to the toilet after the plane had landed in Berlin's Tegel airport from Frankfurt. His lengthy stay prompted the flight attendant to alert security officials. The border police detained the man once he had emerged and conducted a thorough search of the plane which did not produce anything unusual. "Whoa! Do not go in there!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 11:00 am ||
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Andrew Sullivan flings some fragrant fruit in Salon, at Suzie Creamcheese Susan Sontag for her latest emission.
That is one sign that it is not a war but, rather, a mandate for expanding the use of American power.
What can that last sentence mean? Could it not have been written during every single war that this country or any country has ever waged? Of course, wars mean an expansion of government power. That is why, for example, small-government types like me support war only as a last resort. But unlike Sontag, I consider the massacre of 3,000 people in New York City, after decades of low-level terrorism against American citizens, and the promise of even more bloodshed, to be a reason to defend ourselves.
Suzie is so-o-o-o-o September 10th. September 10th, 1968, in fact...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 02:48 pm ||
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I liked the Best Of The Web's takedown of her Monday - she's reputed to be a writer of some standing and obviously didn't know what the hell a metaphor was..
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2002 16:45 Comments ||
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The McKinney era in Georgia politics ended Tuesday when state Rep. Billy McKinney lost his seat in a Democratic runoff, three weeks after his daughter lost her place in Congress. John Noel, a political unknown who was a toddler when McKinney first took office 30 years ago, easily defeated McKinney, 2,852 to 1,565. Noel, 31, had never run for office before and elicited little media interest until he forced McKinney to his first runoff. G'bye, Billy. Don't come back...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 09:55 am ||
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Suspected homicidal maniacs Islamic militants gunned down a heavily guarded state minister and 15 others, including four Indian soldiers, in separate attacks Wednesday in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, law minister for Jammu-Kashmir state, was killed with five supporters in the village of Lalpora, nearly 70 miles north of Srinagar, said police in Kupwara. The attack began when an explosion went off and two gunmen burst out of a rice paddy firing machine guns. Lone, a pro-India National Conference party candidate in the upcoming state elections, and a policeman guarding him were hit by the first bursts of gunfire. Four other policemen and a civilian were killed in the gun battle. Eight other people were injured in the attack. The gunmen escaped. Damn!
Two Islamic militant groups - Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the largest Pakistan-based group operating in Kashmir, and the previously unknown Al-Arifeen Squad - both claimed responsibility. They can fight it out over who gets credit, and probably will. I still haven't heard anything from Mary Robinson and her crew on the use of this kind of dirty tactic, targeting the pols from non-violent political parties because you don't agree with them. She'll get around to pronouncing some sort of opinion, no doubt...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:37 am ||
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She'll criticize the U.S. for not being more involved, saying we are too interested in the human-rights-snuffing War On Terror⢠to care....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2002 9:00 Comments ||
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Pakistani security forces have arrested 402 suspected al-Qaeda members during months of raids on hide-outs and heightened security along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday. Most of the men are Arabs and were turned over to the United States, Interior Ministry officials said. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of al-Qaeda and Taliban members are believed to have fled Afghanistan and sought refuge in Pakistan with the help of Pakistani extremist groups. They mean the fundo preachers...
Pakistani and U.S. security forces have conducted a number of joint raids on suspected al-Qaeda hide-outs throughout the country, particularly in remote provincial areas that U.S. authorities describe as staging areas for many fugitives attempting to regroup in Pakistan. Yeah. The fundos hate it. But with an estimated core of 2000 Bad Guys, that's a fifth of al-Qaeda out of the way, not counting however many were shot, boomed, or daisy cut in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:49 am ||
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Pakistan police say they have foiled planned terrorist attacks by Islamic militants against American fast food outlets to mark the first anniversary of the September 11 strikes in the US. A police statement says the Harkatul Mujahedin al-Alaami militants, part of the group charged over the US consulate attack in June, were planning to strike McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Karachi on Wednesday. "Godammit! I ordered original and this is crispy! Kill the infidels!"
The fast food chains have several outlets and are usually filled with families. They make the best targets, don't they?
The men accused of plotting to attack the fast food restaurants say they have been trained in Afghanistan in using rocket launchers and grenades.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 10:52 am ||
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Pakistani police said they had killed two suspected al Qaeda members and arrested five others after a three-hour shootout Wednesday in the southern city of Karachi in which a young girl was wounded in the crossfire. A police source said the men were thought to be members of al Qaeda, although provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah declined to comment, describing the men only as "not ordinary criminals." Shootouts with ordinary criminals usually don't run to three hours...
Security and intelligence agents raided a three-story building in an upmarket district of Karachi Wednesday morning and arrested two men, but had to call in police support after other people in the building threw a grenade at them. "And when did you realize the men weren't ordinary criminals, Inspector Shah?"
"Ummm... It might have been the grenade. Yes, I think that was it..."
"There was a shootout which lasted over three hours in which six policemen were injured, one of them seriously," Shah told reporters at the scene. "Cheeze! You shoulda seen it...!"
Witnesses said police had fired teargas and thousands of rounds at the building before the gunmen, armed with Kalashnikovs, grenades and sub-machineguns, finally surrendered. "Two criminals were killed and we have arrested a total of five criminals," Shah said. One of the arrested men shouted "Allahu Akbar as he was led away, while another was speaking Arabic, witnesses said. The Kalma, the Muslim declaration of faith, was written in blood on the wall of the apartment's kitchen, a policemen told Reuters. Drama. They're into drama...
One officer said one of the men was an Afghan while two others were Arabs. But Shah refused to say who they were. The police source said they had recovered a laptop, some CDs and several thick books from the apartment. That means they can shoot it out with somebody else next week. Karachi seems to have become the al-Qaeda Bigs' hometown â or at least one branch of al-Qaeda.
Another one, courtesy of Steve...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 10:45 am ||
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Israeli troops, backed by about 60 armored vehicles, raided a town in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, searching mosques and homes for suspected Islamic militants and exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen. Despite extensive gun battles, there were no reports of injuries, and Israeli forces withdrew from Beit Hanoun, a town of about 30,000 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, after six hours. Islamic militants said they detonated explosives near a tank, and reporters saw a deep crater on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun. The army said four Palestinians wanted for questioning were arrested, and that there were no casualties among the soldiers. Wonder if they've begun a program of rooting the Hamas and PFLP gunnies out of Gaza now? It would seem like a logical move...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 07:29 am ||
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The Palestinian Cabinet resigned Wednesday after Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?) lost a showdown with parliament â the most serious challenge to the Palestinian leader since he returned from exile in 1994. Earlier in the day, Arafat had set Jan. 20 as a date for presidential and parliamentary elections in an attempt to defuse the confrontation with disgruntled legislators who accused him of making only halfhearted efforts to reform his administration. First y'gotta have the opinion that some sort of reform is needed...
The maneuver failed, and legislators insisted on moving forward with a no-confidence vote on the 21-member Cabinet. The cabinet used to be much bigger. It was 31 members. It's still about ten larger than it needs to be...
The move did not appear to immediately endanger Arafat's leadership. However, it was a blow to his prestige and reflected a groundswell of discontent. "There is a crisis of confidence," said lawmaker Salah Taameri, a veteran member of Arafat's Fatah movement. "Believe us when we say it's serious." What do you do when your dictator's become powerless?
Arafat now has two weeks to present parliament with a new Cabinet list. Thanx to Steve for the headzup! He sez he heard Janet Reno's looking for a job...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 10:07 am ||
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If his parliament had really wanted to take at least 50%+ of the government power they'd have had the balls to elect a Prime Minister - with or, even better, without Ararat's OK
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/11/2002 16:42 Comments ||
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Well, they had the balls, but they (the balls, that is) were to tired to assert themselves after the boys strolled past that herd of goats on the way to the meeting...
Where's PETA when you need them?
Posted by: Brian M. ||
09/11/2002 19:38 Comments ||
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In what appears to be an attempt to placate the United States, Lebanon and Syria are cracking down on radical militant groups in the Levant. However, the move inadvertently will strengthen mainstream political-militant groups, like Hezbollah, which remain a source of U.S. concern. I hate it when that happens... Why do you say that?
Firefights broke out Sept. 5 when Lebanese troops besieged a Palestinian refugee camp near Baalbek in Syrian-controlled eastern Lebanon. Lebanese Interior Minister Elias Murr said the troops were looking for arms caches. That's a pretty assertive thing for the Lebanese to do. Usually they just lie there and occasionally whimper...
A day later, however, after meeting with camp leaders and Syrian military intelligence, the troops deployed armor around the Jalil refugee camp and set up roadblocks and checkpoints, searching vehicles and checking motorists' identification. These are all clear indications that the soldiers are seeking people, not weapons. Lebanon's actions â backed by Syria â may help answer U.S. calls to crack down on terrorism. They could, or they could be in response to a perceived danger to Lebanon and its Syrian owners...
The measures likely are intended to pacify a bellicose Washington by actually purging militant groups, but they could have the unintended effect of strengthening the Hezbollah and Fatah organizations in Lebanon by removing smaller competitors from the scene. Both of the larger groups participate in Lebanese politics and engage in militant activity. With the legitimacy of a government and the tools and determination to fight a war, these groups will pose a long-term dilemma for the Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli governments. While it definitely has its thug elements, Hezbollah's a mainstream Lebanese political party by now, owned and operated by Iran. Fatah is also mainstream, at least for that area. The al-Qaeda influenced minimobs in Ain el-Hilweh and al-Jalil are a different story, much more bloodthirsty and fond of the sound of gunfire. They also make the mistake of denying the writ of the Lebanese government â something Fatah and the Hezbies at least pay lip service to. Al-Qaeda is busted, so it there's no real cost involved in the Syrians cracking down on the al-Qaeda wannabe's.
Thanks to Frank G. for this one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 11:56 am ||
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Another dispatch from ace reporter, D.J. Wu...
Twenty-five Palestinians on the Israel Defense Forces' wanted list have taken refuge in Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah. Among the 25 - the radio quoted senior Palestinian sources confirming their presence in Arafat's offices - are the head of the PA intelligence apparatus in the West Bank, Tawfiq Tirawi, whom Israel has accused of being involved in orchestrating terror attacks. Tewfiq is the head of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. He can't drive anywhere without expecting a little gift from the heavens...
Also among the wanted men are the Force 17 commander in Ramallah and his deputy, whom the radio said are responsible for attacks in which 15 Israelis were killed. Some of the 25 have taken permanent refuge in the Muqataa - Arafat's compound - while others come and go. Channel Two television reported Tuesday that Arafat had insisted that the opening session of the Palestinian Legislative Council, currently underway in Ramallah, take place in his compound for fear that if he exited the Muqataa then IDF forces would move in and arrest the wanted men. "Hey! Yasser's out at a meeting! Let's go in a go through his stuff!"
"While you're in there, grab Tewfiq, wouldja? Somebody sez he wants to talk to him..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 05:19 pm ||
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The leader of the Abu Sayyaf rebels who kidnapped four Jehovahâs Witnesses on Aug. 21 has been killed in a gun battle with government troops, the Armed Forces Southern Command confirmed yesterday. Southcom chief Lt. Gen. Ernesto Carolina said Abdulmuin Sahiron, nephew of the one-armed bandit leader Radulan Sahiron, was killed in an encounter at the border of Patikul and Talipao towns in Sulu last Friday. Tough, ain't it? Rigor mortis has been going around lately...
Carolina said Abdulmu-inâs death was confirmed by Patikul Mayor Hasser Hayu-dini and a barangay chairman who ascertained Sahironâs death through his mother. But Carolina said Abdulmuin turned over his hostages - Norie Bendijo, Cleofe and her sister-in-law Flora Montulo and Emely Mantic - to his uncle Radulan who is now fleeing an intense manhunt, which the military has dubbed "Operation Endgame." It's kind of hard on the Avon ladies, but Abu Sayyaf doesn't have too much "top leadership" left...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 03:47 pm ||
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Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, expressed his admiration Wednesday for a man who followed him as the world's most wanted terrorist â Osama bin Laden. "I'm proud of the path of Sheik Osama bin Laden," Carlos was quoted as saying in an interview in the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. He said bin Laden followed a trail he credits himself with helping blaze. "Yep. That's right. You young'uns wouldn't know about it, but back when I was a lad we didn't have indiscriminate killings..." Al-Hayat said it sent written questions to Carlos in his French prison and he sent handwritten answers back. Ramirez also said he had followed news of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States "nonstop, from the beginning. I can't describe that wonderful feeling of relief." "All those dead people! It was so inspiring... Yes, thank you. I'd love to have my medication now..."
Ramirez, a Venezuelan, was sentenced to life in prison in 1997 by a Paris court for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer. Ramirez has described himself as "anti-imperialist" and said in the past that he had never had links with bin Laden, but had "strategic points of agreement" with bin Laden's movement. Ramirez says he is a communist and a Muslim, and sympathized with the Palestinian cause and at times found sanctuary with Palestinian guerrillas who ran their own mini-state in Lebanon before the 1982 Israeli invasion forced most of them out of the county. Yep. All those communists and Muslims can stand back and tell themselves, "I've made the world a better place." Can't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 10:35 am ||
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This is excerpted from a long discussion of the process of analyzing terrorist networks, written by intel analyst Dennis Pluchinsky, in the Washington Times. If you're interested in the mechanics of the process it will make a good read. This paragraph deals with what happens to al-Qaeda...
Be aware that assessing al Qaeda threats today is more difficult. The pre-September 11 al Qaeda no longer exists. It has most likely metamorphosed into a new structure with different characteristics, tendencies, procedures, communication codes, false documents, membership, command and control, travel methods and financial channels. It is quite possible that al Qaeda may eventually transform itself into a "leaderless resistance" movement like the Earth Liberation Front or the defunct Revolutionary Cells in Germany. Al Qaeda could become amorphous, with no structure, hierarchy, central headquarters, or group dynamics. It evolves into an ideal that provides, via Web sites, CDs, videotapes, manuals and publications, the ideological framework and training for adherents. Islamic extremists around the globe could then decide if they want to further the movement by setting up small, local, autonomous cells to carry out attacks consistent with the ideological framework. In this scenario, al Qaeda is no longer called "the base" but the "nexus." We've already seen that (a part) of al-Qaeda has assumed a new name â Fath e-Islam â and probably new leadership. This is the bunch that's reported to have moved back to Afghanistan and is allied with the Talibs and Hekmatyar's Secret Army of Doom. My guess would be that the Secret Army of Doom is built on a base of Hekmatyar's Hezb e-Islami, with a Taliban and an al-Qaeda/Fath e-Islam wing. The jihadis claim Zawahiri (or his ghost) is the Bad Guy in charge. I think it's Hekmatyar, with casual support from Iran.
It looks like there's also another functioning wing of al-Qaeda that's headquartered in Karachi, where the coppers just shot it out with the Bad Guys today. Ramzi bin al-Shibh claims to be in charge of the military shura of this bunch. Perhaps it's the one Binny's kid's "in charge" of. These are the guys who'll be allied with Harkatul Mujaheddin al-Alaami — or vice versa. Ultimate control of this bunch will be contested by the Pak fundos.
Those are two of the al-Qaeda successors that take form through a heavy mist of open-source. The active intel guys will have better information, so we can expect that if we can see a hazy outline, they can see some detail.
I think Pluchinsky has a very good point in that (a wing of) al-Qaeda could become simply a clearing house for "an ideal that provides, via Web sites, CDs, videotapes, manuals and publications, the ideological framework and training for adherents." That's not providing leadership, though; it's running web-based pep rallies. It's also not providing funding, training, and specialist support, so it results in a lot less effective organization. Pluchinsky thinks that if we stay the current course, al-Qaeda will be neutralized as a threat within four years. I think he's right. But I also think that the al-Qaeda remnants will be subsumed into the local terror machines, strengthening them. That's the more incentive not to stop whacking them as hard and as often as we can.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/11/2002 02:34 pm ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
