-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/margolis_sep8.html
September 8, 2002 Uncertainties abound in pinpointing the real enemy By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor PARIS -- A year after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, we know remarkably little about the attackers, or about who really organized the complex operation that seems well beyond the capabilities of amateur terrorists. Among the major questions: The suicide attackers were apparently middle-class Saudis, though some identities are still in question. They were quiet, well-educated, "westernized" technical students living in Hamburg, Germany, whose links to the bin Laden Afghan-based al-Qaida remain uncertain. Part of the attack planning was done in Spain. The men who piloted the doomed aircraft were trained at American flying schools. Some may have briefly visited Afghanistan, but none resided there or were known al-Qaida members. Were they sent by Osama bin Laden? Bin Laden lauded the attacks that murdered 3,000 civilians, but denied involvement, though a trail of circumstantial evidence leads to him. Al-Qaida is portrayed by the U.S. government and media as an octopoid, world-wide conspiracy with thousands of members. In fact, Qaida - which began as a guest-house for holy warriors during the 1980s anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan, never numbered more than 1,000 men, and usually much less. Today, there are probably only 300 or so hardline Qaida members, scattered mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Europe. But there are numerous other underground, militant Islamic groups that align themselves from time to time with Qaida, or draw inspiration from bin Laden's fiery preachings. Such fighting groups as Egyptian Jihad, Gamma Islamiya, and Algeria's Armed Islamic Groups, have formed a loose anti-American/anti-Israel alliance of convenience. But other Islamic groups, notably Lebanon's Hezbollah, have nothing to do with al-Qaida. Nor do Iraq and Syria, whose rulers have been targets of bin Laden's wrath for a decade. Taliban and a variety of Muslim resistance groups - Kashmiri independence fighters, anti- communist insurgents from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Filipino Moros, and Uighurs fighting China's ethnic absorption of Eastern Turkestan (Chinese Sinjiang), have all been lumped together as "Qaida." Some of these Islamic International Brigades were trained in old Afghan camps originally funded by CIA. Others went through two service support and commando training camps run by al-Qaida - a sort of Islamic version of Ft. Bragg, home of the U.S. Green Berets. The biggest camps were not run by Qaida, but by ISI - Pakistani intelligence - preparing holy warriors, or "jihadis," for combat in Indian-held Kashmir. Many of the 1,000 prisoners captured and murdered by Uzbek forces of Gen. Rashid Dostam - assisted by U.S. Special Forces - were from the international brigades. President George Bush claimed America was attacked because the assailants "hated" democracy and America's way of life. He describes terrorism as pure evil, unrelated to any specific political events. This is nonsense. The U.S. was attacked because of its deep involvement in Mideast affairs, and total backing for Israel's iron-fisted repression of the Palestinians. In July, Washington agreed to Israel's request to replenish huge amounts of heavy munitions used in crushing the Palestinian intifada. These included $80 million US worth of TOW heavy anti-tank missiles to be fired at buildings, tank shells packed with thousands of razor-sharp flechettes, and Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. Israel reportedly used more heavy munitions against Palestinians in one week last April than it expended in the previous 20 years. American money and weapons kill Arabs, Arabs kill Americans. Bin Laden arrogated to himself the right to champion revenge against the United States for the bloodbath in Palestine. "There will be no peace in America," bin Laden warned, "until there is peace in Palestine." These frightening words were never widely reported in the North American media, which is filled with uninformed commentators explaining why Muslims are inherently bloodthirsty or anti-western. America's virtual military occupation of Saudi Arabia, its punishment of Iraq that caused at least 500,000 civilian deaths, and Bush's planned jihad against Iraq have enraged the entire Islamic world against the United States. There is little doubt more attacks against American targets will be coming. Such is the cost of empire. Did the 9/11 perpetrators foresee the immense damage they would inflict on the United States? Besides the 3,000 Americans murdered, $70 billion in property losses; $10 billion so far of airline losses; insurance rates across the U.S. soaring by up to 300%. 9/11 helped puncture the stock market tech bubble that brought $3 trillion in equity losses that cost 160,000 jobs. The next attack on the U.S. may be designed to cause more economic mayhem rather than kill people, targeting telecommunications nodes, power systems and airports. 9/11 triggered a psychotic episode in the Bush administration, producing a futile invasion of Afghanistan; plans for war against Iraq, and possibly Iran, spurred by the embarrassing failure to find bin Laden or crush al-Qaida. A massive, $32- billion increase to a preposterous $396- billion defence budget - 36% of total world military spending - as the deficit soars towards $150 billion. And Bush's crass rejection of international accords on criminal justice, free trade, environmental protection, disarmament, and human rights has damaged America's good name abroad. The rest of the world, deeply dismayed, wonders when the Bush administration will recover its senses. Eric can be reached by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Letters to the editor should be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit his home page. Know someone who might be interested in this page? Just type in the email address to send them the URL Enter a destination email address: Enter your email address: This site is updated by 5:30 a.m. ET each day and includes stories and columns from the day's print edition of the Sun. Use these links to find the Sun stories you are looking for. For updated news, sports, business and entertainment updates around the clock, we invite you to use the links from our CANOE network. 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