“Nothing can stop you except retaliation in kind…Your religion does not forbid you from killing innocents." Osama Bin Laden*
“U.S. policy should have as its explicit goal removing Saddam Hussein's regime from power and establishing a peaceful and democratic Iraq in its place... It hardly needs to be added that if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction, as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course, the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of the world’s supply of oil will all be put at hazard." Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Robert Zoellick, Peter Rodman, Richard Armitage, Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Kristol, et. al.*
In May 1998, Osama Bin Laden fielded questions from a group of reporters including ABC’s John Miller. Bin Laden made it clear that war had been declared on US international assets but held out the hope that the American people would remove then-President Bill Clinton from office and put into place an administration that would listen closely to Bin Laden’s story and, perhaps, talk with him about it.
“The American government is leading the country towards hell...We say to the Americans as people and to American mothers, if they cherish their lives and if they cherish their sons, they must elect an American patriotic government that caters to their interests…If the present injustice continues with the wave of national consciousness, it will inevitably move the battle to American soil, just as Ramzi Yousef and others have done. This is my message to the American people. I urge them to find a serious administration that acts in their interest and does not attack people and violate their honor and pilfer their wealth..."
During the course of the interview he stated his position and grievances articulately, intelligently and with a firm understanding of US history, particularly its global military and intelligence operations since the end of World War II. That history is one of documented military interventions, orchestrated coups and unflinching (and still ongoing) support for corrupt leadership in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordon and Israel. These are countries that the US need not support. As it is, the US has armed each of them with cutting edge US weaponry and provides billions of dollars a year in foreign aid that could best be spent on US domestic programs.
The US election of 2000 produced the US Supreme Court’s choice to lead “an American Patriotic government" and that was George W. Bush and a group of disgruntled American zealots (the neocons) who would continue the post-WWII policies that Bin Laden and his followers loathed. They would lay claim to the greatest strategic blunder made by a group of Americans holding the reigns of US power:: the invasion and failed occupation of Iraq, and the public lynching of Saddam Hussein.
Dumb and Dumber: Clinton & Bush Administrations
In January of 1998, the same year Bin Laden was announcing his game plan, a group of disgruntled Americans writing out of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC)�"see names attached to quote above--sent a letter to then-President Bill Clinton (later to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott) begging for the US to attack Iraq, remove Saddam Hussein from power and establish a free, democratic Iraq. This would, in their view, pay big dividends to moderate Arab states (the ones propped up by US military and economic largess), Israel and US corporate oil interests. Like Bin Laden, they said exactly what they would do if their demands were not met. Unlike Bin Laden, they would fail to understand history.
Within two months of Bin Laden’s interview, the US Embassy in Kenya and Ethiopia were attacked. Not long after the election/placement of George W. Bush came September 11, 2001. Bin Laden kept his promise of 1998 staging a brilliant attack on “American soil". The result was the complete destruction of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, and significant damage to the Pentagon based in Arlington, Virginia. It was perfect in every way. Two symbols of American economic and military supremacy destroyed/damaged.
Meanwhile, the disgruntled folks formerly holed-up at the PNAC were now in control of the US government and military. Thanks to September 11, 2001, their dream of a retooled Middle East in the image of the US, or at least Israel, could be made into reality quicker and easier. Anyone looking at their plan�"no doubt Bin Laden--had to ask the What If and What About questions: Can Afghanistan be pacified? What about Pakistan and its loyalty to Bin Laden? Will Turkey tolerate a Kurdistan? What if the Iraq occupation fails? What if the Shia take control? What about displaced Iraqis? What effect will displaced persons have on Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Kuwait? What about Iran? What about Israel and the Palestinians? What about the Horn of Africa? What about the economic costs? What about our troops? What about history?
Bin Laden got it right again.
Two post-WWII US administrations ostensibly run by the best and brightest America had to offer could not muster the brain power to think it all through. They would be defeated by Osama Bin Laden--a master in Sun Tzu’s art of war. It’s 2007 and he even has air travelers taking off their shoes before boarding a flight. Irony? Shoes must come off before entering a Mosque.
There’s no questioning the intelligence, or cold calculation, of Bin Laden and his reading of history. And if his past provides any insight, it’s that he is a man who sticks to his word. And that’s very worrisome, particularly when each August 6th and 9th come around.
“After World War II, the Americans grew more unfair and more oppressive towards people in general and Muslims in particular... The Americans started it and retaliation and punishment should be carried out following the principle of reciprocity, especially when women and children are involved. Through history, America has not been known to differentiate between the military and the civilians or between men and women or adults and children. Those who threw atomic bombs and used the weapons of mass destruction against Nagasaki and Hiroshima were the Americans. Can the bombs differentiate between military and women and infants and children? America has no religion that can deter her from exterminating whole peoples. Your position against Muslims in Palestine is despicable and disgraceful. America has no shame. ... We believe that the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans."
Duck and Cover
The time seems ripe for Bin Laden to act again on US soil, particularly since America has no leaders currently capable of reversing the US course to Hell. With the US expanding its military operations and presence in Iraq and the Persian Gulf; the PNAC crowd�"and the US Congress--screaming bloody murder for either a US or Israeli invasion of Iran; the detiorating conditions in Pakistan and Turkey (with the latter’s threat of invasion into Kurdish Iraq); the ongoing destruction of the Palestinians; US military intervention in Somalia; an already grotesquely funded 2008 US election with principals pandering to all interests except those of the American people; a slowing economy and unstable dollar--plus the costs of ongoing global war on everything; Climate Change; the Russians balking at US/NATO plans to surround that country with ABM missiles designed exclusively to humiliate Moscow; world opinion of the US at an all time low; and Americans distrustful of their own government suggests that any type of attack on the US mainland would fracture the country perhaps beyond repair.
Bin Laden’s network/affiliates may have already engineered the deployment of nuclear weapons to US soil. US military and intelligence operatives surely know this. The matter has been discussed by the US security establishment since 1998 and actively monitored through intelligence operations. Nothing has happened yet but now the timing seems about right for an attack. There are far too many instabilities, like those mentioned above, playing havoc with the world’s governments and economies. A devastating blow to a couple of US cities would further weaken the US economy. Following a nuke attack, where would the US strike back? Millions of Americans would believe such an event was the handiwork of the US government like 911. Millions would call for an invasion of some country, any country�"even if innocent.
Crippling two American cities with nukes just might be in Bin Laden’s playbook. That means going for two cities on the Gulf of Mexico that play a key role in US energy production and interstate commerce. Houston and New Orleans are two such cities. Both are in close proximity to US oil refineries. Houston has the 10th largest port in the world and houses companies who lead the energy industry in the development and production of oilfield equipment. New Orleans is home to a port that is the 5th busiest in the USA handling a sizeable share of US exports and imports. Lockheed Martin and Newport News Shipbuilding operate in close proximity to New Orleans. The stability of the US economy depends, in part, on the free flow of goods that traverse the Mississippi River to and from New Orleans.
“In today’s wars, there are no morals, and it is clear that mankind has descended to the lowest degrees of decadence and oppression. They rip us of our wealth and of our resources and of our oil. Our religion is under attack. They kill and murder our brothers. They compromise our honor and our dignity and dare we utter a single word of protest against the injustice, we are called terrorists. This is compounded injustice. And the United Nations insistence to convict the victims and support the aggressors constitutes a serious precedence which shows the extent of injustice that has been allowed to take root in this land. …Americans have committed unprecedented stupidity. They have attacked Islam and its most significant sacrosanct symbols … . We anticipate a black future for America. Instead of remaining United States, it shall end up separated states and shall have to carry the bodies of its sons back to America."
It’s time for some serious conversation with those the US brands as terrorists and rogue nations. Absent that, both sides will continue a fight that may spiral out of control and lead to a global conflagration: just what zealots on both sides want.
But what the Hell, die in a war or die from the effects of Climate Change. Either way, we are all on a suicide mission.
*Interview with Bin Laden from pbs.org *PNAC Letter from pnac.org
And so we join Osama Bin Laden, as he tends the little plot of earth he can call his own, at least, until he is sent off to an unexpectedly sudden meeting with his Allah.
Into the ground he carefully nudges his spade. He examines the divot and does not notice the presence of a surreptitiously planted explosive device. So he reaches into his treasured bag of seeds, bought in a local market by a servant of one of his wives, since neither he nor any of his four subjugated mates can go shopping for fear of being turned in by a checkout clerk in quest of an easy $25 million.
He places a seed caringly in the hole. We won't say lovingly, because anyone who can order the killing of as many civilians as he did, infidels or not, is unlikely to experience anything akin with that tender emotion. It more likely a perverse affection for his hate for the world ? the very sentiment that condemned him to be a spoiled rich kid in the most explosive way.
Now, he drops a sardine into the hole, canned, of course, since he cannot arrange delivery of the fresh finny creatures in his remote location. The oil-soaked remains of the little swimmer from the sea will, he knows, help the plant grow faster ? in this case, an olive tree.
He dearly wants the majestic plant to grow as fast as possible, because he would like to witness the fruits of his backyard hobby, and he cannot help but recall that an olive tree usually takes 25 years or so to produce its first tasty oval.
Thinking twice, he adds a second silvery dab of fertilizer, all the faster to make the tardy tree sprout. Even if he evades capture or an unexpectedly zippy flight to eternity, lasting 25 or so more years, given his health, no doubt made even more shaky by the perpetual anxiety he experiences over his life expectancy, is decidedly a long shot.
Now, he covers the sardine-topped seed with handfuls of earth and caringly pats the fertile compost down.
Just then one of his wives comes running from the house.
"Osama, Osama,!" she calls, holding up the hem of her burka so as not to trip and fall into his arms. She knows he'd be upset, because today is not the day he usually makes whoopee with her. He must give his waning physical prowess to one of his other dearly enslaveds.
"What is it?" he asks, feeling his heart thump in his chest like a bowling ball smacking into the headpin.
"There's a stranger in town!"
Bin Laden stands. "There is?" His throat thickens from tension. "How do you know?"
"How else? The servant I sent shopping for groceries today saw him."
"Him? It's a him?"
"That's what she said."
"Was he wearing a turban?"
"What does that matter? You know the CIA. If they thought wearing a turban would help them get you, they would all wear them. Even Bush would wear one."
"You're right. Did he have a beard?"
"Wouldn't they all grow beards, too?"
"Hmm, right again. Where did she see him?"
"Standing outside of the supermarket. She said he looked suspicious because he didn't seem to have any interest in going in. And who hangs around outside of a supermarket unless he's getting ready to go shopping or waiting for someone to shop with? What should we do?"
"Nothing. The less, the better. Remember what the Prophet said, "He who has lived well has hidden well."
"I don't remember reading that in the Koran?"
"It's not in the Koran. It was said by an infidel named Rene Descartes. But I decided it's too wise a saying to grant to an unbeliever. So remember, from now on, Mohammed said it."
"Yes, dear. I like the way you think."
"Thanks. Now, just go back in the house, and I'll get back to gardening."
Then another one of his devoted wives came running out of the house.
"Osama! Osama!" she called. "There's a stranger at the door."
He swallowed big time.
"At the door?"
"Yes!"
"What does he want?"
"He asked to speak to the sheik."
"The sheik? Hey, that's me! Did he say what he wants?"
"No. What should I tell him?"
"Tell him there is no sheik. You're a widow."
"What about me?" asked the first wife to arrive with the day's most arresting news.
"You, too. You're all widows."
"Oh, don't even say that, Osama!" the first wife wailed. "It makes me think ? "
"? What?"
"Never mind," she replied. "It's too awful even to imagine."
Now, there was an unexpected rustling in his garden of earthly frights. His heart jumped way up past his Allah's Apple. To test if the cause might have been a breeze in the trees, he wet a finger in his mouth and held it up. One side did not grow cooler. He knew the wind had not sounded the alert.
"Who goes there?" he asked, and reached for his AK47, which was propped against a fig tree. He always took the rapid-fire defender with him when he went to garden or anywhere else.
"Hassan," the voice called back.
"Hassan who?" Bin Laden's asked.
"Nasrallah."
"Well, why didn't you say so?" Bin Laden replied, relaxing. "Come on out."
His unexpected visitor popped from behind an ample bush, smiling in his usual idiotic way, and removed his disguise, which consisted only of an enormous plastic nose. He didn't need big black plastic glasses or bushy black eyebrows to go with it, because he already wore such eyeglasses and looked out from under such darkly predictive brows. So he had clipped off those parts of his discount disguise.
"What do you say, baby?" Hassan asked.
"Congratulations!" Bin Laden answered in his forthright way. "That was a great war you waged against Israel!"
"Thanks, old buddy," Nasrallah replied. "Lost a few of my countryment, but, hey, what's war without death?"
He reached out to hug Bin Laden.
Osama returned the favor, while looking at his wives to show he was a bit uncomfortable with the unaccustomed contact, even from the most recent Muslim fundamentalist to become famous by the usual method of killing civilians, not only a certain number of his perceived enemy, but a far greater number of his own mistaken followers and adulators.
"You're almost as famous as I am," Bin Laden conceded.
"Sorry about that," Nesrallah said. "That's why I'm here."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm on Israel's most wanted list."
"You are?"
"Yeah. Numero uno. And some of the Lebanese people, who realize the cost of my misjudgment, are also hot on my trail. So I figured, Hassan, you want to hide out and live on, there's only one place to go. Wherever Osama is. This guy is the master evader of capture. Mind if I join you?"
"You mean, your most active days are over?"
"Are yours?"
"I'd rather not think so. I can still send out audiotapes."
"Guess what?"
"What?"
"I brought a video camera, so now you can upgrade."
"What do you think of that? For a while now, my right-hand verbal cannonade and death-dealing physician, al-Zawahiri, had our only video cam."
"Not anymore, good buddy. Hey, by the way, got an extra spade? Since I'll be here for a while, I might as well dig in."
"Sure, in the house."He looked at his wives. "Go get Hassan a spade."
"Yes, Osama," the first wife replied, and turned to Nasrallah. "Where are your wives?"
"I was just getting to that. Do you mind if they join me?"
Bin Laden's willing chattel would never dare an opinion on such a consequential household question and looked to their husband, who couldn't help shifting his feet before he prevaricated.
"Glad to have them," he said, "but, you know, the house isn't that big. If it was, we would attract too much attention."
"I know," Hassan agreed. "Don't worry. We'll make do. It's bigger than a bunker."
"I can't wait to meet them," Osama's first wife volunteered, and turned to the second wife. "Come, let's go get the spade. I'm sure the men have important things to discuss."
"All right," the other wife agreed.
Then the two proudly obedient ladies departed in the direction of the house, slowed a bit by the weight of their unrevealing garments.
Nasrallah turned back to Bin Laden and, extending an index finger, said, "First there was one."
"Then there were two," Osama joined in, raising two fingers."And sometimes al-Zawhiri drops in. So that would make three."
"Do you think there could be four?" Nasrallah speculated.
"Ahmadinejad when goes on the lam?"
"And Kim Jong-II?" Nasrallah speculated, holding up all the fingers of one hand. "That would makes five. Hey, we'd be halfway to ten!"
Bin Laden wondered, and asked, with a trace of concern, "Is the Korean guy Islamic? As you know, I keep a strictly Islamic household."
"I don't know, but at least the name of his country is spelled almost like the Koran. Just take the 'e' out of Korea and add an 'n' at the end, and there you have it: Koran!"
"Then he can't be all bad," Bin Laden said. "Allah and the Prophet would never allow such a close spelling of any nation to the Koran unless the leader was at least a tolerable guy."
"Right you are."
One of Bin Laden's wives returned with a spade for Hassan.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome," she replied, and said to both, "Have fun."
Then off she went, back to her ancient housewifely duties.
"So tell me about gardening," Nasrallah asked, holding up his unaccustomed implement. "Where do I start?"
Bin Laden thought for a moment about the intricacies of digging in a garden that might contain an occasional object not the work of nature's own hand. "How about if you hold the can of sardines while I plant?"
Nasrallah looked at the greasy tin and sniffed the sun-warmed contents. He agreed with a slight show of reluctance and Bin Laden handed it to him.
Hassan couldn't help counting the slimy residents. He looked up. "Ten."
"What?"
"Little sardines," Nasrallah said.
"And soon there will be none," Bin Laden noted, holding up his trusty bag of seeds.
So a-gardening they went, with a watchful eye and a wary ear, while both found themselves unable to repress a glimmer of the timeless truth that advises us, be careful what kind of garden you plant, because you're likely to spend a lot of time in it.
Both John Stanton & Tom Attea are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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