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I have two essays that I wrote in the aftermath of 9/11.
The first is entitled "In
a Mirror Darkly", and it explores the American
reactions to the attacks, raising questions about our
connection to the events and to our motives for revenge.
The second essay is entitled "Bad
Religion" and it discusses the general evil nature
of reactionary fundamentalist fanaticism--both Islamic
and American Fundamentalist (like Timothy McVeigh).
The latter is expanded upon in the Prophecy
as Policy: The Evils of Apocalyptic
Religion essay and other items included in the Religion
& Ethics subsection of this site.
The vast majority of the links and commentary below was
put together in the first six months following 9/11.
I have added a few links since then, but our media has
been tellingly silent about the situation in Afghanistan
since our attention shifted to oil-rich Iraq. A
tiny portion of the 87 billion dollars is destined for
Afghanistan. [ According
to the White House, the 87 billion will include 1.2
billion for Afghanistan. That's 1.37 % of the amount
going to Iraq. ] The situation there is quite bad,
especially outside of US-controlled Kabul.
Updated October 30, 2005. Links checked September 13, 2004
General Resources for 9/11 Attacks and Afghanistan
On-line
maps of Afghanistan, including: Very
recent on-line map of Afghanistan and a beautiful
map of the Khyber Pass highway leading from Peshawar Pakistan
to Jalalabad Afganistan. Cool site.
What
Now for the Taleban--BBC article from Sept 18,
2005
Q&A
US abuses in Afghan Jails--BBC article from May 2005
US
State Dept Information on Afghanistan--February 2003,
I notice that there aren't any updates since last October
2002. Perhaps the really bad news started to roll
in then.
RAWA Revolutionary
Association of Women of Afghanistan The place to
go see what new atrocities the religious wackos are
perpetrating in the name of Allah. Yet another
"Operation Nothing Accomplished."
Development
Gateway Afghanistan News an interactive site for
information on sustainable development and poverty
reduction, and a space for communities to share
experiences on development efforts.
Helicopter
Gunship Sortie in Afghanistan--News
From Babylon has been serving this disturbing night
vision video for over a year now. The source is
unknown, but it appears to US Military footage from the
attacks on the Tora Bora region. Regardless of the
justice of attacking Afghanistan when a group of Saudis
and Egyptians attacked us, this video raises profound and
unsettling questions about the morality of the new high
tech weaponry. Warning, it's a 160 meg file that
will deeply disturb you.
Democrats.com--
page dedicated to the apparent 9/11 cover-up news.
I prefer to avoid partisan views directly from the
Democrats, being that I don't trust them much either,
however, this page is a good clearing house for the latest
updates on the attempts to get at the truth.
Historical Background Information
To understand the motives behind the 9/11 attack, it is
useful to do what the Bush administration has utterly
failed to do--take a look at Middle East political
history. In particular, the history of Israel.
Look at the supporting materials on my Israel-Palestine
page.
Government Documents
The government of the US received ample warning about
the potential of just such an attack, as indicated in
Jake Tapper's article above. Here are some links
to actual government reports on the threats that were
largely ignored by the current administration.
Recent News Links
Latest
tape of Osama Bin Laden declared by CIA to be
"probably authentic".
October
11, 2003 Fourty-one Taliban prisoners dig tunnel and
escape in Khandahar, Afghanistan. Khandahar is
the Taliban stronghold at this point, as the US controls
little more than Khabul. The thirteen remaining
prisoners decided to stay, for some reason.
Taliban
Kill Seven Bodyguards of Governor of Southern Province
Sept. 28, 2003 Wasn't the Taliban supposed to be
destroyed by all those bombs?
NATO
examines possibilities for expanding control beyond Kabul
Sept. 26th 2003--that means the vast majority of the
country has been handed over to thugs and warlords, not to
mention the invigorated Taliban and remaining Al Qaeda
forces. I'm still hoping that one day the trigger
happy warmongers will figure out that bombs don't solve
problems--they only move things around and cause enormous
suffering for the civilians. They
just took over control in August, so it's taking them a
while to get things rolling on such a low budget
operation.
September
23rd, 2003--Oil Company Puppet President is getting
worried about the incursions of Al Qaeda/Taliban fighters
from Pakistan. The poor guy is having a really
hard time distracting the Bush Team away from their
pitiful attempts to get oil from
Iraq. Judicial
Watch's Klayman is going after Bush because of this
ridiculous policy of selling our souls to one devil to
beat another.
September
8th: Less than 1.5% of the 87 billion in aid for the two
countries Bush has bombed.
September
1 attacks in South-East (near Pakistan, where Bin
Laden and Al Qaeda probably are)
August
3, 2003--Pashtuns in Afghanistan are claiming Pashtun
areas of Pakistan as part of greater Afghanistan.
That means that America's current Middle East puppet
dictator Musharef is really losing control of his
country. If things melt down any further, then I
expect we'll suddenly start hearing stories about what an
awful man Musharef is. Not that I doubt any of these
stories, but it's difficult not to notice that he has been
Bush's buddy up until now.
Pre-Iraq War News
- Sometime before the Iraq war, Bush
promised to turn Afghanistan into a 21st Century Marshall
plan, but the reality (as of 2002) is this:
The 2004 Budget for International
Affairs provides approximately $2.3 billion for assistance
to countries around the world that have joined us
in the war on terrorism. These include Afghanistan,
Colombia, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey. This funding
will provide economic and military support to enable
these countries to strengthen their economies, internal
counter-terrorism capabilities, and border controls.
The President’s Budget proposes
$800 million in the Economic Support Fund (ESF)
for the frontline states, including $250 million
for Jordan, $200 million each for Pakistan and Turkey
and $150 million for Afghanistan. In Afghanistan,
$70 million will be used to fulfill our commitment
to rebuild the Kabul-Kandahar-Herat Highway, as
well as provide for other infrastructure such as
secondary roads, water and sewer projects, and electrification...
The Foreign Military Financing program
will provide equipment, training, and defense services
to countries for programs that counter terrorism
and develop institutions to prevent the emergence
of terrorism. For example, the President is requesting
$150 million in Foreign Military Financing as well
as $20 million in the Peacekeeping Operations account
as part of the ongoing efforts to train the Afghan
National Army, to maintain internal security and
prevent the country from again becoming a terrorist
haven. This aid will be supplemented by donations
of equipment and training from other countries allied
in the effort to reconstruct a viable Afghan state.
The State Department’s Anti-Terrorism
Assistance (ATA) program will continue to provide
frontline states a full complement of courses, such
as training on how to conduct a post-terrorist attack
investigation or how to respond to a weapons of
mass destruction attack. The budget will also fund
additional equipment grants to sustain the skills
and capabilities acquired in the ATA courses. It
will support in-country training programs in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Indonesia as well. The 2004 Budget
increases the ATA program to $106 million, $42 million
over the 2003 requested level. [edited citation
of full
budget from Heretical
Ideas, a Libertarian blog site]
I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt in
compiling the numbers from other locations that the
total outlay for Afghanistan is $500 million dollars.
Before the hawks and conservatives fall over themselves
patting each other on the back, it's worth noting
that this is one tenth the quantity of the
budget shortfall for the state of Minnesota--not the
total tax income, but the amount that projected spending
exceeds tax receipts. Minnesota was not heavily
bombed, nor did it have a three-year catastrophic
drought. Minnesota did not see a government
of hateful, religious fanatic misogynists in a horrendous
economic depression--unless the 2002 election and
AM talk radio succeed in turning Minnesota into the
Alabama of the North.
A proposed $70 million highway in Afghanistan is
included in that 500 million, and it's not likely
to have more than two lanes. The remaining
$80 million is supposed to keep the Talibanesque goons
from coming back to roost? Why do Jordan, Pakistan
(a real source of weapons of mass destruction)
and Turkey (avowed perpetrators of genocide against
Kurds) get more than Afghanistan? Also,
when you remember that the distinction between aid
in the form of guns, bombs and soldiers is not always
clearly distinguished from aid in the form of medicine,
doctors and food, even these meager numbers begin
to shrink. This is absolutely nuts.
-
Hamid
Karzai is complaining about the lack of money to carry
out any large and meaningful projects. Given
the obvious and massive investment of American money,
power and public interest in Iraq, it's not hard to
understand why Afghanis are reviving the Taliban.
-
SPINPOLDAK, Afghanistan March 19,
2003, 10:31 PM EST (AP news wire)
-- Taliban soldiers ambushed a government post in
southern Afghanistan killing three Afghan soldiers,
a security official said Thursday.
The soldiers at Sherabik post, near the Pakistan border,
were ambushed early Wednesday and stabbed to death
by attacking Taliban, Abdul Razzak Panjshiri, security
chief of Spinboldak said. Five Taliban attackers were
arrested, he told The Associated Press.
Attacks in southern Afghanistan, the former spiritual
headquarters of the deposed Taliban regime, have been
on the increase in recent weeks.
- Bush's
Afghanistan Disgrace (Alternet) -- Finally, some
honest reporting on the bizarre nation building project
in Afghanistan. The White House rejected Congress'
attempt to add 200 million dollars to funding for Afghanistan,
and the total number of US soldiers stationed in that
geographically divided and isolated country will be
340. 340?? That means that most of the money
and soldiers are in Kabul. It costs money to build
plush offices for entrepreneurs and bureaucrats.
1.4 billion will be coming soon, but most of it won't
get to the countryside. No wonder warlords and
famine dominate the rest of the country today.
So, he's proud that he has poured 1/20th of the amount
he spent on his own presidential campaign into a fund
for Afghan children. 10.5 million dollars?
That's not even enough to build a sports arena.
Kabul might be looking good, so close to the Pakistan
border. Venture a little ways out into the mountainous
desolation where terrorists and warlords still control
the situation, and it's worse than when the Taliban
was in control.
- John
O'Neill--The Man who Knew--(PBS) the story of the
FBI man who tried to stop Al Qaeda, and was shut down
by the FBI. He also died in the World Trade Center. This
story is shocking. Factual. Well-documented.
Damning. This is the story of how the FBI quite
willfully failed to prevent 9/11 by impeding every effort
of O'Neill, and preventing information from field offices
to get to him or Clinton. After watching this
show, I really wonder how Louis Freeh can sleep at night.
Colleen
Rowley's memo to Robert Mueller. This
New
Yorker article summarizes John O'Neill's story.
Basically, after being forced out of the FBI by people
who obviously didn't like him snooping around Al Qaida
and Bin Laden, he took a job as security director of
the World Trade Center. He moved into his new
office on September 10th, and died the next day. This
story is an absolute must-read. I recommend checking
other resources and background to the story as well.
- The
CIA is cleaning out its 9/11 closet now too.
- Insider
Trading for September 11th? Seem too awful to be
true?
- CIA
visits ailing Bin Laden in hospital with Saudi dignitaries
on July 4th, 2001. It would have been an opportune
time to assassinate an FBI fugitive international terrorist.
Instead, they apparently brought him flowers and had
a meeting. Naturally, everyone important is denying
it, and the source is the French newspaper Le Figaro.
This could be French disinformation, but it presents
an essential component in the evolving narrative of
Bin Laden told outside of America. Some credibility
is leant to this conspiratorial portrait by the unpleasant
story of John O'Neil and his incredible experience at
the FBI. Whether or not the CIA was there, it's
clear that George
Bush Sr. and the Carlyle Group had deep ties to the
Saudi royal family and the Bin Laden family.
The boundaries between government and corporations are
thinner than ever these days. There is more evidence
that top administration officials were ordering the
CIA and FBI to back off of investigations of Bin Laden
family members. And then there's the Visa
Express Program that got 3 of the highjackers quick
and easy, almost anonymous visas to America three months
before the attack, in spite of all the terrorism alerts
and warnings. Even
the Taliban warned us that Al Qaida was planning
to attack us
- Keys
to 9/11--Michelle Mairesse connects the intelligence
dots that ought to have led the CIA, FBI, ATSB to prevent
four planes from being used quite effectively as weapons
of mass destruction. This is based on lots of
public information, but the media refuses to connect
these dots for us. The picture that it draws is
simply too terrifying to behold. How did the FBI
have a list of 19 hijackers in 3 days, considering that
they were also conducting undercover surveillance of
flight schools based on overwhelming evidence that a
plot like this was in the making? Why are 7 of
these 19 actually still alive? Why doesn't the
media tell us this? Why aren't we hearing what
Moussaoui has to say?
- Pipelineistan--the
story of Cheney's attempt to build a pipeline across
Afghanistan. This kind of helps explain why the
Afghanistan war was more directed at the Taliban than
at Al Qaida.
Afghanistan itself has some natural
gas in the north of the country, near Turkmenistan.
But above all it is ultra-strategic: Positioned between
the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia, between
Turkmenistan and the avid markets of the Indian subcontinent,
China and Japan. Afghanistan is at the core of Pipelineistan.
The Caspian states hold at least 200 bn barrels of
oil, and Central Asia has 6.6 tcm of natural gas just
begging to be exploited. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
are two major producers: Turkmenistan is nothing less
than a "gas republic". Apart from oil and
gas there's copper, coal, tungsten, zinc, iron, uranium,
gold.
It's enlightening to note that all
countries or regions which happen to be an impediment
to Pipelineistan routes towards the West have been
subjected either to a direct interference or to all-out
war: Chechnya, Georgia, Kurdistan, Yugoslavia and
Macedonia. To the east, the key problems are the Uighurs
of China's far-western Xinjiang and, until recently,
Afghanistan.
What I've tried to do today is make
the policy case against sanctions. They don't
work. And as long as they don't work I think it is
important for us to continue to remind people that
we need to have some concern for the efficacy of policy
before we advocate it as something the United States
ought to pursue. I think it is important for us to
recognize as a nation the enormous value of having
American businesses engaged around the world. To recognize
that engagement does more to encourage democracy and
freedom, to open up societies, to create opportunities
for millions of people who up until now have not been
able to participate, than just about anything else
we can do. We should look upon the capacities and
capabilities and the desire of American businesses
to be involved around the world as a valuable asset
and not as a club that we can use to punish those
who disagree with policies or goals or objectives
of the United States.
- Beating
the Russians to the Oil: Robert W. Gee of the Department
of Energy, Professor S. Frederick Starr, Johns Hopkins
University and John J. Maresca of the Unocal Corporation
(who also employed Hamid Kharzai) testify before the
House International Relations Committee in 1998 on US
economic/imperialistic interests in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (not to mention
Afghanistan).
- Connecting
the Energy Dots to Afghanistan (AlterNet).
Further proof that there isn't even a shred of integrity
in our battle on Iraq. No wonder Bush built his
cabinet out of all those oil executives. This
piece is guaranteed to make you want to puke and strip
the flag sticker off your automobile. The article
neglects to deal with the other half of the equation:
Afghanistan is the world's largest manufacturer of opium
and hashish. In other words, now that they have
an oil man leading their government, and that government
is subject to frequent and savage terrorist attacks
from the opposition, Afghanistan is just like Colombia--a
war torn nation where various layers of complicated
internecine violence swirl around oil wells and drug
farms. Under such destabilized conditions, it's
much easier to rob them. Three jeers for globalization.
- So,
did the American oil companies plan the attack on the
Taliban before 9/11?
- The
US Government sold the World Trade Center to a real
estate investor in July 2001 (document has moved
now, and I can't find the new location). It was the only
time the WTC was ever sold. He's still struggling
to collect insurance money for it. That's right
about the same time John
Ashcroft announced that he would no longer be flying
on commercial airplanes because of terrorist threats.
- Neil Mackay's
article on the trail of the 9/11 attacks.
- Taliban
in Texas in 1997 to negotiate the pipeline.
- Center
for Applied Linguistics 9/11 page: Useful educational
resources focusing on culture, language and linguistic
issues related to the 9/11 attacks and the war on terror.
- Poynter.org
9/11 Archive Wide range of articles and images.
- After
Bombing: Ground Troops, Nation Building or Walking Away?
Jason Vest, AlterNet
October 7, 2001
- Hamid Kharzai: here is some biographical material
on America's chosen temporary dictator of war-torn Afghanistan.
The UNOCAL
oil company connection, and the Islamic
anti-American perspective, which sees him as a puppet
of America. Basically, Kharzai worked as a consultant
for UNOCAL on plans to build a pipeline across Afghanistan.
It makes perfect sense that they would want this guy
to be dictator, doesn't it?
- Lead
Hijacker Mohamed Atta's biography.
- An
attempt was made on Hamid Kharzai's life in August
in Kabul, indicating that even under the intensive control
of an American puppet government with strong US military
support that they can't keep Afghanistan safe.
Instead, we have a new Colombia--complete with revolutionary
terrorists, oil reserves & pipelines, and vast drug
production (opium & hashish).
- The
Rogue State: John Pilger on America's bid to control
the world. From the July 10, 2002 on-line
edition of Left-Turn.org radical article from England.
This is a very harsh criticism of the Afghanistan war,
and an urgent call to resist the war on resistance to
fascist domination by the crony capitalist war machine.
Whether you agree or not with the disturbing observations
he makes, this piece is thought-provoking commentary
on quite solid facts. It is an excellent summary
of the public opinion that is boiling around the world,
completely suppressed by the "liberal
media" here in America. No wonder both
Clinton and Bush refused to accept the terms of the
War Crimes Tribunal accord. No wonder foreign
investors are pulling out of American markets so quickly.
- Saudi
Arabia might fall to Al-Qaeda? the media here and
in Saudi Arabia does not want you to know anything about
the massive protests going on because of the monarchy's
overt pro-Western policies. The people and many
government officials are apparently headed toward overthrowing
their government, which would severely undermine the
"war on terrorism" and the rumored war on
Iraq.
- US
Military considered using unarmed jet fighters for kamikazi
attacks on the second jet that hit the WTC.
However, the four aircraft, which were the only ones
ready to defend the East Coast at the time, were not
armed with air-to-air missiles, nor were they scrambled
in time to reach their destination. This is on
BBC News. I suppose they keep this out of the
American media because it shows how insufficient and
ineffective the military was at that time, and because
it suggests that the military would have killed the
innocent passengers and crew if they had been armed
and ready. The latter seems to me an egocentric
tantrum disguised as idealism. The former suggests
a much more problematic issue in regards to military
accountability and/or government support for the military.
(Not to mention all my more left-leaning questions about
why these people would feel that God is proud of their
martyrdom.) Government tax dollars have been happily
poured into the pockets of Cheney and the various Carlyle
Group contractors who outlandishly over-charge for their
military hardware. The Pentagon gets equipment
that is impressive, but useless, and then can't account
for billions of dollars that just vanished. I
mean no aspersion to the soldiers who actually have
to do the dirty work for these incompetent bureaucrats,
businessmen and politicians. On top of the
intelligence failures of the FBI on 9/11, all of this
really makes me question the lavish tax dollars
that we spend on quickly obsolete, or already obsolete
and ultra-expensive gear and programs that can't even
stop 19 screwed up religious nuts with coach class seats
on four commercial planes, armed only with box-cutters.
- Pentagon
did an emergency drill to practice for a jet liner crashing
into the building eleven months before it happened
[ and another
article more closely based on Pentagram (sic)
documents ]--indicating
that they were aware of the possibility of this type
of attack, and should have been better prepared for
it.
- Bill
Moyers speaks out on the war, the state of democracy
and the greedy, corporate goons who are using this tragedy
to ruin America by using patriotism as a sleight of
hand distraction. Highly
Recommended.
- Happy
New Year: It's 1984! The best damned appraisal of
our dismal future under the Bush(TM)
New World Order, by Jacob Levich.
- Still think this mind control and forced conformity
are bullshit? Check
out what Susan Sontag has to say about the media
fascists are doing to her after she criticized the US
approach to the situation.
- Understanding
Osama bin Laden
William
O. Beeman, Pacific News Service
- Bush,
the CIA and the Roots of Terrorism Michael Moore
- Wanted:
Enemy to Justify $344 Billion War Budget Ben Cohen
(written on Sept. 4, 2001)
- George
Bush Sr. and other top Republicans STILL (after Sept.
11) had business connections to the Bin Laden family,
who are under suspicion of supporting their son Osama.
Imagine if a cousin of the Clinton family had such a
connection. Would the media be suppressing that?
(Article from Wall St. Journal, reprinted in Judicial
Watch)
- A
look down the Carlyle Group rabbit hole: Melanie
Warner at Fortune Magazine
- The
wickedness and awesome cruelty of a crushed and humiliated
people By Robert Fisk 12 September 2001
- Hating
the Taliban: An Afghan Perspective Tamim Ansary,
AlterNet September
17, 2001 Very interesting article by an Afghani
immigrant who claims the Taliban is an oppressive, unpopular
regime in Afghanistan.
- "We're
All Israelis Now" a wonderful and biting article
by Mark Levine.
- Commission
warned Bush But White House passed on recommendations
by a bipartisan, Defense department-ordered commission
on domestic terrorism. By Jake Tapper
- The
political roots of the terror attack on New York and
Washington World Socialist Web Site
- A
Bitter Harvest The Economist September 13,
2001 (a pro-capitalist journal says the same thing and
more as the World Socialist site above).
- Who
is Osama Bin Laden? (At BBC news)
- Rethinking
Osama bin Laden By Preston Mendenhall and Robert
Windrem (at MSNBC)
- The
Old Man of the Mountain Netanyahu--an interesting
piece by a Muslim scholar who points out an old parallel
that is profoundly ironic after 9/11. Read also
this article about the details of the story of al-Hasan
ibn-al-Sabbah and his fortress Alamut, where we find
Bin
Laden's historical predecessor. Dating from
~1100 AD, this rich dude bought a fortress in the mountains
of what is now Iran
and terrorized the Christian Crusaders with disciples
he turned into suicidal soldiers known as assassins,
the origin of that word. History repeats itself.
If you are interested in learning more about Islam and
the Koran, Click
here.
There is an interesting multimedia interview/class with
Robert J Lifton, the author of Destroying the World
to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the
New Global Terrorism. Monday, Sept. 17th he
spoke with Bill Moyers about the attack. This web
site provides an excellent look into the psychology of
evil and the effects of terrorism. Berkeley
University "Conversations with History" series.
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