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Posted October 25, 2001
The Big Winner
It is interesting to note, considering that the U.S. military/industrial complex appears to be the big winner from this tragedy, that it has been linked to Osama bin Laden before. I don't remember the source, but I did read, as part of the Cole investigation, where one or more former US soldiers had been found to have worked for bin Laden while they were soldiers. Does anyone have a reference for this information?
The "Backtalk" editor replies:
You are probably referring to Ali Mohamed (See "Al-Qaeda terrorist duped FBI, Army," by Joseph Neff and John Sullivan, The News and Observer, October 21).
Mohamed is a retired US Army sergeant and Egyptian Army major. He served in the US Special Operations Command and the Egyptian Army's special forces. He taught Green Berets at the Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg about the Middle East and Islamic fundamentalism, was an "active source" for the FBI, and claimed to be a CIA agent.
While he was an active-duty US soldier, he fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. While stationed at Fort Bragg, he trained Muslim fundamentalists in surveillance, weapons and explosives – in New Jersey. During his New Jersey sleep-overs, he often stayed in the home of El Sayyid Nosair. Mohamed gave Nosair top secret US Army documents, which were found when Nosair's home was searched in 1990, in connection with the assassination of Rabbi Meier Kahane. Nosair was acquitted of the Kahane murder charges, but was later convicted of conspiracy to blow up the World Trade Center. During the latter trial (1995), Nosair's lawyer claimed that Nosair and Mohamed were part of a US Army training program for Muslim extremists.
Later, while he was in the Army Reserves, Mohamed traveled to Afghanistan (where he probably fought again), Kenya, Somalia and dozen or so other countries. During these travels, he trained Al Qaeda forces, and managed bin Laden's personal security. In 1993, 1994 and 1997 (at least), he informed the FBI of these activities.
Mohamed was secretly arrested in 1998 and has pled guilty (in a sealed plea agreement) to the charge of helping to organize the African embassy bombings.
Introspection
[Regarding Rudy P.'s letter of October 23, "What Will It Take?":]
While I did not lose any immediate family nor have I been to any morgues, I do believe that I do know how I would react if I had. I believe that each of us have had opportunities to test ourselves when we have been "wronged": car accidents that are not our fault, unjustified job firings, divorces by an erring spouse, etc. ...All too often I have witnessed people burning employment bridges and destroying themselves in protracted divorce proceedings. The Bible teaches, "As much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men," and to not be given to "fits of anger."
Introspection is often a healthy activity when one has been wronged: maybe I could have slowed down a bit, maybe I was late on a couple of deadlines, maybe I seldom said "thank you" for a clean house.
I believe we, as a nation, need to examine ourselves; review our policies and activities of the last century; search for our share of the blame; try to understand our adversaries' positions, reasoning, motivations. And also to take the time to look ahead – to see the likely results of any possible course of action.
Maybe, just maybe, our best course of action would be for our President to say:
"After reviewing our foreign policy of the last century, I have come to the conclusion that on behalf of the American people, I must ask the world's forgiveness for all the hurt that we have brought on so many parts of the world. As evidence of our sincerity, I hereby order all of our military personnel to return home to the United States. Further, I hereby request Congress to end all foreign aid and to proceed with discontinuing our membership in the United Nations."
Isn't there a chance that if we stopped meddling in other people's affairs that they might not be motivated to hate and destroy us?
Imagine
[Rudy P., in his letter of October 23, "What Will It Take?," writes:]
"It's easy to write 'protest' articles at arms length unless faced with the destruction in person. I wish every 'protester' would go to the Pentagon or the rubble that was the World Trade Center, or better yet to go to the morgues and see the bodies. See first hand and then imagine if that was your mother, father, wife, or son lying there. Tell me, how loud would you protest then."
I would turn that around and ask
you one question: Have you gone
to Afghanistan and seen the rubble
and the bodies of the people there?
Do you even care? Was it
your family, etc. in those buildings?
The answer is probably no, in which
case you are following the tribal,
media-encited herd mentality to
"get them before they get us."
I am pretty sure the Afghans feel the same way towards Americans who "think" the way you do. And in the end, all that will be achieved is to soak the ground of this planet with a lot more blood, on both sides. It is very easy to cut such "logic" as in this post to shreds, all one has to do is really take a look at hard data, rather than what one is being "fed" as propaganda by the media. And guess who grants broadcast licenses to them through the FCC.
Stage of Technology
Seeing the photo (October 23) of the man hammering out the pail shows me at what stage of technology Afghanistan is at. What really makes me sad is that a country as advanced as we are has to stoop to war with a people at this stage of development.
Seeing the Truth
I
am a Macedonian-American and recently
read some of ... [Justin Raimondo's]
articles and would like to applaud
your work. I myself grew up in Tetovo
and am tired of these KLA terrorists
raping Macedonia and have been fed
up and refuse to read any reports
from BBC, CNN, AP, etc.
...I'm really worried about Macedonia right now because it is in a delicate stage, I think the Albanian terrorists have achieved their goal of intimidating the Macedonians in Tetovo and Kumanovo from returning to their homes, if they were lucky enough not to have them looted and burned. I just don't understand why James Pardew and NATO do not trust the Macedonian forces to return to the occupied areas and return justice and peace, they are not murderers.
...I have family in Tetovo that are police officers, they are the most loving, family people I know. They are disgusted that their kids can't play in peace and have to worry about them being in the wrong place at the wrong time and running over a mine or having a family member being kidnapped and tortured. Maybe you've seen some of the pictures of the road workers that were tortured, initials and symbols carved on their backs with knives ... or the hotel workers in Celopek near Tetovo that were tied to posts, had explosives tied to their bodies and then ignited, their bodies we're dismembered into pieces.
...Why isn't any of this reported on BBC, CNN, AP etc.? ...All I used to see there is (like you wrote) Macedonians that "try" to protect the country by using its laws against criminals are labeled "hard-liners," "nationalists," "radicals," etc.
Thanks
again for seeing the truth and all
that is good in Macedonia
Bash Equally
[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of October 15, "The Peaceniks":]
I'm glad to see that Justin Raimondo for once made fun of liberals. I was beginning to think that Antiwar.com was a liberal site. I mean, you have liberal writers like Alexander Cockburn and every single Justin Raimondo article he ever has written always bashes conservatives. Aren't Libertarians suppose to bash liberals and conservatives equally?
What Are the Sanctions?
What are the sanctions on Iraq? Is it true that our sanctions are killing children? I heard someone say 1 million people have died. Any desired effect on Saddam Hussein?
The "Backtalk" editor replies:
Click here for an assortment of articles on the subject.