-Caveat Lector-
Certainly not Miss Cleo !!!!
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Kris Millegan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 8:05 AM
Subject: [CTRL] Who Saw It Coming?
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.counterpunch.org/";>Welcome to
CounterPunch</A>
> -----
> September 11, 2001
>
> "Flying Bombs"
>
>
> Who Saw It Coming?
>
> By Alexander Cockburn
> and Jeffrey St Clair
> Tuesday's onslaughts on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are being
> likened to Pearl Harbor and the comparison is just. From the point of view
of
> the assailants the attacks were near miracles of logistical calculation,
> timing, courage in execution and devastation inflicted upon the targets.
>
> The Pearl Harbor base containing America's naval might was thought to be
> invulnerable, yet in half an hour 2000 were dead, and the cream of the
fleet
> destroyed. This week, within an hour on the morning of September 11,
security
> at three different airports was successfully breached, the crews of four
> large passenger jets efficiently overpowered, the cockpits commandeered,
> navigation coordinates reset.
>
> In three of the four missions the assailants attained successes probably
far
> beyond the expectations of the planners. As a feat of suicidal aviation
the
> Pentagon kamikaze assault was particularly audacious, with eyewitness
> accounts describing the Boeing 767 skimming the Potomac before driving
right
> through the low lying Pentagon perimeter, in a sector housing Planning and
> Logistics.
>
> The two Trade Center Buildings were struck at what structural engineers
say
> were the points of maximum vulnerability. The strength of the buildings
> derived entirely from the steel perimeter frame, designed - so its lead
> architect said only last week - to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707.
> These buildings were struck full force Tuesday morning by Boeing 737s,
with
> fuel tanks fully loaded for the long flights to the West Coast. Within an
> hour of the impacts both buildings collapsed. By evening, a third 46-story
> Trade Center building had also crumbled.
> Not in terms of destructive extent, but in terms of symbolic obliteration
the
> attack is virtually without historic parallel, a trauma at least as great
as
> the San Francisco earthquake or the Chicago fire.
>
> There may be another similarity to Pearl Harbor. The possibility of a
> Japanese attack in early December of 1941 was known to US Naval
Intelligence
> and to President Roosevelt. Last Tuesday, derision at the failure of US
> intelligence was widespread. The Washington Post quoted an unnamed top
> official at the National Security Council as saying, "We don't know
anything
> here. We're watching CNN too." Are we to believe that the $30 billion
annual
> intelligence budget, immense electronic eavesdropping capacity, thousands
of
> agents around the world, produced nothing in the way of a warning? In fact
> Osama bin Laden, now prime suspect, said in an interview three weeks ago
with
> Abdel-Bari Atwan, the editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi
newspaper,
> that he planned "very, very big attacks against American interests."
>
> Here is bin-Laden, probably the most notorious Islamic foe of America on
the
> planet, originally trained by the CIA, planner of other successful attacks
on
> US installations such as the embassies in East Africa, carrying a $5
million
> FBI bounty on his head proclaiming the imminence of another assault, and
US
> intelligence was impotent, even though the attacks must have taken months,
if
> not years to plan, and even though CNN has reported that bin-Laden and his
> coordinating group al-Qa'ida had been using an airstrip in Afghanistan to
> train pilots to fly 767s.
>
> Back in the 1960s and 1970s, when hijacking was a preoccupation, the
> possibility of air assaults on buildings such as the Trade Center were a
> major concern of US security and intelligence agencies. But since the
1980s
> and particularly during the Clinton-Gore years the focus shifted to more
> modish fears, such as bio-chemical assault and nuclear weapons launched by
> so-called rogue states. This latter threat had the allure of justifying
the
> $60 billion investment in Missile Defense aka Star Wars. One of the
biggest
> proponents of that approach was Al Gore's security advisor, Leon Fuerth,
who
> wailed plaintively amid Tuesday's rubble that "In effect the country's at
war
> but we don't have the coordinates of the enemy."
>
> But the lust for retaliation traditionally outstrips precision in
identifying
> the actual assailant. By early evening on
>
>
> Tuesday America's national security establishment were calling for a
removal
> of all impediments on the assassination of foreign leaders. Led by
President
> Bush, hey were endorsing the prospect of attacks not just on the
perpetrators
> but on those who might have harbored them. From the nuclear priesthood is
> coming the demand that mini-nukes be deployed on a preemptive basis
against
> the enemies of America.
>
> The targets abroad will be all the usual suspects: rogue states, (most of
> which, like the Taleban or Saddam Hussein, started off as creatures of US
> intelligence). The target at home will of course be the Bill of Rights.
Less
> than a week ago the FBI raided Infocom, the Texas-based web host for
Muslim
> groups such as the Council on Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of
North
> America, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and the Holy Land
Foundation.
> Palestinians have been denied visas, and those in this country can, under
the
> terms of the CounterTerrorism Act of the Clinton years, be held and
expelled
> without due process. The explosions of Tuesday were not an hour old before
> terror pundits like Anthony Cordesman, Wesley Clark, Robert Gates and
> Lawrence Eagleburger were saying that these attacks had been possible
> "because America is a democracy" adding that now some democratic
perquisites
> might have to be abandoned? What might this mean? Increased domestic
snooping
> by US law enforcement and intelligence agencies; ethnic profiling; another
> drive for a national ID card system.
>
> Tuesday did not offer a flattering exhibition of America's leaders. For
most
> of the day the only Bush who looked composed and control in Washington was
> Laura, who happened to waiting to testify on Capitol Hill. Her husband
gave a
> timid and stilted initial reaction in Sarasota, Florida, then disappeared
for
> an hour before resurfacing in at a base in Barksdale, Louisiana, where he
> gave another flaccid address with every appearance of bring on
tranquilizers.
> He was then flown to a bunker in Nebraska, before someone finally had the
wit
> to suggest that the best place for an American president at time of
national
> emergency is the Oval Office.
>
> Other members of the cabinet were equally elusive. Secretary of State
Colin
> Powell, who has managed to avoid almost every site of crisis or debate was
> once again absent from the scene, in Latin America. Defense Secretary
Donald
> Rumsfeld remained invisible most of the day, even though it would have
taken
> him only a few short steps to get to the Pentagon pressroom and make some
> encouraging remarks. When he did finally appear the substance of his
remarks
> and his demeanor were even more banal and unprepossessing than those of
his
> commander in chief. At no point did Vice President Cheney appear in
public.
> The presidential contenders did expose themsleves. John McCain curdled the
> air with threats against America's foes, as did John Kerry, who
immediately
> blamed bin-Laden and who stuck the knife firmly into CIA director George
> Tenet, citing Tenet as having told him not long ago that the CIA had
> neutralized an impending attack by bin-Laden.
>
> Absent national political leadership, the burden of rallying the nation
fell
> as usual upon the TV anchors, all of whom seem to have resolved early on
to
> lower the emotional temper, though Tom Brokaw did lisp a declaration of
War
> against Terror. Tuesday's eyewitness reports of the collapse of the two
Trade
> Center buildings were not inspired, at least for those who have heard the
> famous eyewitness radio reportage of the crash of the Hindenberg zeppelin
in
> Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937 with the anguished cry of the reporter, "Oh
the
> humanity, the humanity". Radio and TV reporters these days seem incapable
of
> narrating an ongoing event with any sense of vivid language or dramatic
> emotive power.
>
> The commentators were similarly incapable of explaining with any depth the
> likely context of the attacks; that these attacks might be the consequence
of
> the recent Israeli rampages in the Occupied Territories that have included
> assassinations of Palestinian leaders and the slaughter of Palestinian
> civilians with the use of American aircraft; that these attacks might also
> stem from the sanctions against Iraq that have seen upward of a million
> children die; that these attacks might in part be a response to US cruise
> missile attacks on the Sudanese factories that had been loosely fingered
by
> US intelligence as connected to bin-Laden.
>
> In fact September 11 was the anniversary of George W. Bush's speech to
> Congress in 1990, heralding war against Iraq. It was also the anniversary
of
> the Camp David accords, which signaled the US buy-out of Egypt as any
> countervailing force for Palestinian rights in the Middle East. One
certain
> beneficiary of the attacks is Israel. Polls had been showing popular
dislike
> here for Israel's recent tactics, which may have been the motivation for
> Colin Powell's few bleats of reproof to Israel. We will be hearing no such
> bleats in the weeks to come, as Israel's leaders advise America on how
> exactly to deal with Muslims. The attackers probably bet on that too, as a
> way of making the US's support for Israeli intransigence even more
explicit,
> finishing off Arafat in the process.
>
> "Freedom," said George Bush in Sarasota in the first sentence of his first
> reaction, "was attacked this morning by a faceless coward." That properly
> represents the stupidity and blindness of almost all Tuesday's mainstream
> political commentary. By contrast, the commentary on economic consequences
> was informative and sophisticated. Worst hit: the insurance industry.
Likely
> outfall in the short-term: hiked energy prices, a further drop in global
> stock markets. George Bush will have no trouble in raiding the famous
> lock-box, using Social Security Trust Funds to give more money to the
Defense
> Department. That about sums it up. Three planes are successfully steered
into
> three of America's most conspicuous buildings and America's response will
be
> to put more money in missile defense as a way of bolstering the economy.
CP
>
> -----
> Aloha, He'Ping,
> Om, Shalom, Salaam.
> Em Hotep, Peace Be,
> All My Relations.
> Omnia Bona Bonis,
> Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
> Amen.
> Roads End
>
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
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