Read Board 1
Last Updated on June 19, 2004
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Subj: FROWN OF A SENATOR IN CRISIS
Michelle Malkin CREATORS SYNDICATE
What's eating Hillary Clinton?
Her behavior during President Bush's
address to Congress was abominable. At a time when even
the most partisan of her Democratic colleagues stood united with
the president, New York Sen. Clinton shunned patriotism for petulance. She grimaced.
She sighed. She rolled her eyes. She fidgeted
like
a 5-year-old at an opera.
And when Mrs. Clinton mustered enough energy to clap, she acted
as if there were razor blades strapped to her palms.
Although network talking heads refrained from comment, outraged
Americans across the country spoke out. Teacher Kathie Larkin of
Atlanta wrote to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "This is behavior
I would not accept from my sixth-graders listening to a speaker, and
I expected better of an adult from a state ripped apart by terrorist
violence. Hillary needs to grow up."
James Gale of Silver Spring, Md., wrote to The Washington Post:
"She at times seemed bored and uninterested, clapping perfunctorily,
and at other times she was talking during the speech. I thought her
actions were unbecoming a senator at this difficult time."
The Boston Herald, one of the few bold newspapers to take note of
Mrs. Clinton's insolence, editorialized that she "looked like she was
sucking on a lemon." And Karen Gauvreau of Clearwater, Fla., wrote
to the St. Petersburg Times: "She would have been better off had
she stayed home."
Mrs. Clinton's staff claims she was weary from traveling. What
nerve. All she had to do last week was park her taxpayer-funded
backside on a plane seat. Meanwhile, her constituents and volunteers
from across the country pulled 13-hour shifts, sifting through
rubble, sorting body parts, and collapsing on curbsides from
exhaustion and grief.
A few nights' rest didn't seem to cure Mrs. Clinton's unsightly
condition. During last weekend's prayer memorial at Yankee
Stadium, she remained dour and tight-lipped as the tearful crowd
of thousands sang the national anthem. Hiding behind sunglasses -
guess she can't control the rolling eyeballs any more than Al Gore
can control his heaving sighs
- Mrs. Clinton posed for photos with a strange sneer frozen on her
stony face.
Let there be no doubt about whose interests come first for Mrs. Clinton in times of crisis. While New Yorkers mourned, their junior
senator sulked. Then she tried to rip off both President Bush's and
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's coattails by claiming credit for securing
federal disaster aid. The damage-control patrol at the New York
Times ate up her narcissistic spin. A Sunday puff piece, which was
silent on her churlish performances, extolled her "full transition
from a former first lady who happened to hold a Senate seat to
true federal legislator."
The paper reported that "Mrs. Clinton has carefully guided the
Giuliani administration on how agreements are forged between
Congress and the White House" and has "taken on chores like
holding the hands of counselors for families, usually out of the way
of a camera." Gag. As if Mr. Giuliani needed
"guiding." As if grief
counselors needed help from a woman who just two years ago planted
her lips on the cheeks of blood-thirsty Yasser Arafat's wife after
she spewed anti-Israel, terrorist propaganda.
Adversity magnifies deep character flaws that no pair of sunglasses
can conceal. Hillary Clinton's resentful visage and insouciant
behavior this past week reveal that - like her husband - she suffers
from a fatal inability to put love of country above love of self.
In the weeks before the attack, Mrs. Clinton was gearing up to drive
the anti-GOP bandwagon on her path toward greater power and higher
office. She had raised big bucks for fellow Democrats and helped
block President Bush's choice to head the Consumer Product Safety
Commission. The Beltway buzzed with fresh rumors of a possible
presidential bid. "Sen. Clinton is on the rise, moving back
into
public life, enjoying a bit of the spotlight and savoring the fact that
whatever attention she does get is all about her," gushed Time
magazine last month.
That all changed when the Twin Towers came crashing down on
9-11. "I think we were all victimized by this," Mrs. Clinton
said last
week. An expression of sympathy for others
- or a self-pitying lament? The cold, corrosive look in Hillary
Clinton's eyes speaks for itself.
Tim's Take: Related article below. Please do not reelect this woman to the U.S. Senate. Let's get rid of the Clinton's once and for all.
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You sent your four best pilots to
attack us. Two managed to fly into the
windows of the tallest buildings in our largest city and a third into
one of the most distinctively shaped buildings anywhere in the world --
on one of the clearest flying days of the year. With another year's
training perhaps hitting something as small as "the broad side of a
barn" is not out of the question. But, as it stands now, we are not
impressed that only three of your four best trained men accomplished an
aviation feat duplicated by millions of bugs on windshields all across
America - and most of our insects do this at night.
Now consider the flying skills of the nation you have made your sworn
enemy: On July 11, 1969, over 30 years ago, three of our best pilots
planted the American flag on the surface of the moon. Until your pilots
can knock that flag down you have not taken our measure.
So, as you cast your eyes upward to the evening sky searching for that
first crescent of the moon by which you calculate your months and holy
days, know this to be true: Allah has seen it fit that only the United
States of America - alone among all nations - has extended her
jurisdiction to the heavens. Do you really think Afghanistan is beyond
our grasp?
Author Unknown
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Clinton Era Interesting Questions
After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000; President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.
Maybe if Clinton had kept his promise, an estimated 7,000 people in New York and Washington, D.C. that are now dead would be Alive today.
INTERESTING QUESTION:
This question was raised on a Philly radio call-in show. Without casting stones, it is a legitimate question. There are two men, both extremely wealthy. One develops relatively cheap software and gives billions of dollars to charity. The other sponsors terrorism. That being the case, why is it that the Clinton Administration spent more money chasing down Bill Gates over the past eight years than Osama bin Laden?
It is a strange turn of events. Hillary gets $8 Million for her forthcoming memoir. Bill gets about $12 Million for his memoir yet to be written. This from two people who have spent the past 8 years being unable to recall anything about past events while under oath!
Tim's Take: Please visit my USS Cole Tribute Page.
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ACLU: God Bless America Sign 'Hurtful ... Divisive'
In a protest that has many wondering if the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has finally become mentally unhinged the ultra-liberal group has attacked a sign at a school asking that God Bless America, saying it is not only unconstitutional but "a hurtful divisive message" bound to do grievous harm to poor defenseless schoolchildren.
The sign the ACLU finds so offensive is hanging from a marquee in front of the Breen Elementary school, in Rocklin, near Sacramento, California, and to the shock and dismay of the ACLU school officials swear it is going to remain in place,
And most local residents agree. According to the Sacramento Bee some 250 people, "many clad in red, white and blue, gathered to support the message," placed on the marquee after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Incredibly, according to the ACLU the words, made famous by the late Kate Smith in the song of the same name, and chorused all across America in the wake of the September 11 outrage, somehow broadcast "a hurtful, divisive message."
In a letter to the school the ACLU says the message is a "clear violation of the California and United States constitutions, as well as the California Education Code."
The letter from one Margaret Crosby, staff counsel for the ACLU of Northern California, impudently demands that the sign " ...must be replaced immediately."
But Phillip Trujillo, an attorney for the Rocklin Unified School District, insists the words "God Bless America" don't violate any laws on the separation of church and state.
"It's simply not a religious expression," he told the Bee. "It's instead a patriotic expression."
In a letter to the ACLU he described their argument that the words God Bless America represent a "hurtful, divisive message," as simply "absurd."
"I would like to think that the ACLU would not attempt to preclude or inhibit the free expression of patriotism and goodwill at a time when it is most appropriate, helpful or even healing," he said.
Mark Forbes, the president of the district's board of trustees, was more blunt, telling the Bee he was "disgusted" by the ACLU request.
"I would like someone to explain how 'God Bless America' hurts anyone," a bewildered Mr. Forbes said.
ACLU attorney Crosby told the Bee that "this is a time when we need to promote unity among Americans of all faiths. Many schools are flying flags to instill a sense of unity in a time of trouble."
"By displaying a religious message, the Breen Elementary School is dividing its young students along religious lines," Crosby added.
"School officials are hurting and isolating their schoolchildren of minority faiths when they should be supporting them and the values of pluralism and tolerance."
Displaying such a message is not only unconstitutional "but implies only students who share the faith are truly patriotic," she continued.
Continuing their excursion into the outer limits of leftist arrogance the ACLU's Stella Richardson, media relations director for the ACLU of Northern California, said, "It is entirely unprecedented" for a school not to take down a message such as Breen displays."
Terry Thornton, Breen Elementary principal, told the Bee the words on the school marquee reflect a grass-roots effort following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and will remain where they are.
"We are planning on keeping up our message," Thornton said.
God Bless America, and the folks at Breen Elementary school.
Tim's Take: Wake up America. If we don't snuff these sort of people out now they will overrun our country. Most other left wing liberals around the country have "recalibrated" given the war footing we're on. But not the ACLU.
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Afghan Refugees Describe Panicked Taliban, Country on Verge of Anarchy
Friday, October 05, 2001
By Refet Kaplan
QUETTA, Pakistan - Desperate Taliban troops are taking thousands of boys and men from their families and forcing them into the military in an attempt to bolster their thinning ranks, according to recently arriving refugees in Pakistan.
"Eight members of my family have disappeared and been taken away to fight," said Said Anwar, a 40-year-old Kabul resident who staggered into a refugee shanty town here just three days ago. "They were young people, 12 or 13. The older ones, the teenaged boys, are being taken away, too." Anwar and dozens of other refugees have arrived here in the last week telling disturbingly similar stories of how Taliban forces, faced with hundreds of defections, have abandoned the towns, looted the markets and are turning on their own people.
Muhammad Zahir, 22, who traveled to in a Pakistani refugee camp from Kabul earlier this week, said the pattern of forced conscription and harassment escalated sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. "They started grabbing people as soon as the World Trade Center was hit," he said, "and they haven't stopped."
Officials with several humanitarian agencies have also heard such reports, but cannot confirm them because there are no Western aid workers left in Afghanistan. "We have no idea if it is getting worse," conceded one frustrated spokesman. "We know fewer people are coming to the borders. Whether they are being grabbed by the Taliban before they get there, we just don't know."
Anwar Ghazni, who arrived five days ago from Sarangar Province, said he believed the Taliban were panicking, scrambling to train and equip as many fighters as possible in advance of a U.S. attack. "It's because they are terrified of America. They are taking people and doing whatever they want with them. The situation is out of control. "Several of my relatives were taken away," he said, including two brothers, aged 18 and 24. "Others have run off to join the Northern Alliance. They are so sick of the Taliban they want to stay and fight. But most of us are just so sick of it, we had to get out." Pre-teens as well as older boys and men were being taken, many refugees said.
"They are taking children my age," said 10-year-old Aziz Unrah, who arrived from Bamiyan three days ago. "My friend Ahmad was taken," said Aziz, who described his friend as "like my age." He had no clue where Ahmad was, but said "I think he is going to fight. I do not know." Many refugees said morale and discipline among Taliban troops was also breaking down. Evictions of civilians from their homes is common, the refugees said, as is theft by Taliban troops. Refugees said they did not think the Taliban seizing property were acting on orders from their commanders, but were breaking off into renegade groups or small gangs and grabbing whatever they could.
Ghazni accused the Taliban of torching his grandfather's home north of Kabul when the elderly man refused to leave. He doesn't know if his grandfather survived the attack, or where he may have gone if he had. Refugees also reported that Taliban troops were defecting across the country, from the front lines north of Kabul to the traditional Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Many Afghans were staying in those areas, particularly in Kandahar, as the defections increased.
"Kabul is almost empty. Many people have taken to the mountains and want to leave," said Arif Mir Hussain, who arrived in Quetta on Tuesday. "Those who can get out of the country are doing it. The others wait." Another boy, Tahir, 13, said the Taliban were just "grabbing people off the street" to make up for the defections. He said the Taliban were losing "many of their soldiers. People are leaving them, and that is good," he said.
Refugees also said the breakdown of authority within Afghanistan has sparked wild rumors, many of them unsubstantiated, of U.S., British and even Russian troops air-dropping all over the country and engaging the Taliban in open battles. None of the refugees could say they had seen any foreign forces, however. Kemal, a refugee from the city of Zabul, were among those predicting large numbers of Taliban fighters would not hold their ranks in the face of direct attacks by American or other Western troops.
"Nobody supports the Taliban now," he said. "The only people they have are the ones they are taking from the streets. And how long do you think they will fight when the Americans come?"
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Take Down the Taliban
Dan Frisa
Monday, Oct. 1, 2001
The time is now to take down the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Period.
Their regime of terror over the past five years has victimized their own people and people around the world, up to and including the slaughter of nearly 7,000 people on the 11th of September.
They take financial support from Butcher bin Laden and provide him protection and sanctuary.
4They have two U.S. citizens in custody for teaching Christianity while the U.S. is the single largest provider of humanitarian relief to the Afghan people.
To entertain any further nonsense or bogus announcements from the Taliban is to invite other terrorist states to test U.S. resolve. We must act now to destroy the Taliban government as the first overt military act in our War against Terrorism.
The president enunciated U.S. policy toward states that harbor terrorists, give them sanctuary or provide them support of any kind: They will receive the same justice as the terrorists themselves. This clear policy is a wise one and it must be unequivocally enforced to send a strong and decisive message to other states that sponsor terrorism. The Northern Alliance has a foothold in some 40 percent of Afghanistan, with a force numbering some 20,000. With appropriate U.S. supplies and air cover, the Alliance can do much, if not all, of the legwork on the ground to eradicate the Taliban regime, as they know the terrain and have knowledge of the enemy.
As U.S. forces complete massing in the theater and finalize preparations for action, the time should be soon approaching when offensive operations will commence. Taking down the Taliban should be an integral part of the U.S. operation, and it won't come a moment too soon.
This accomplished, pursuit and destruction of Butcher bin Laden along with his underlings and physical assets will be that much more attainable and will bring the world a step closer to victory in our War against Terrorism.
E-mail Dan: danfrisa@newsmax.com
Dan Frisa represented New York in the United States Congress and served four
terms in the New York State Assembly.
Tim's Take: Dan Frisa, Christopher Ruddy and others can be read at www.newsmax.com. Look for their articles in the right hand margin. Only read this stuff if you're interested in the truth.
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Haig
to NewsMax: Warn Rogue States of 'Devastating' Response
John Douglas Browne
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2001
In an interview this week, Gen. Alexander Haig, former NATO supreme commander, secretary of state and White House chief of staff, said the recent attacks have moved America from "an age of innocence into a new age of reality."
General Haig made several key points:
Interview follows:
BROWNE: What did you think of the president's speech, and how is he doing?
GEN. HAIG: His speech was brilliantly crafted and superbly delivered. He has
grasped the essential issues and is doing very well. Most importantly, he has
set a clear plan for a broad strategy, based on coalitions, to be executed in a
sequence according to priorities, based on intelligence. Unfortunately, some
people find it hard to get their heads around this and urge a 'selective'
response, confined merely to bin Laden.
BROWNE: Do you think he will succeed?
GEN HAIG: I'm very optimistic that he will succeed. His main challenge will
be to maintain political support. We must give him credit and march in
'lockstep' support.
BROWNE: Until now, each country has had to deal with terrorism virtually
alone. It appears that President Bush has changed that at a single stroke, by
declaring a global war on terrorism, based upon coalitions of nations.
GEN HAIG: The success of his whole strategy will depend on this. It is said
that "terrorism floats upon the fear of people." Now countries that
were afraid to act will be emboldened. We must broaden our confidence in success
and not be impatient.
BROWNE: So, this is a revolution in
counterterror?
GEN HAIG: Yes, and it will prove key to success. The Israelis have said that
they were successful only when they shared anti-terrorist sentiments with the
populations of the countries in which the terrorists were hiding. In addition,
the president's strategy is multifaceted. Its measures will include politics,
economics, finance, psychology, culture, religion and military. It is very clear
that military measures will not be exclusive.
BROWNE: How important was Great Britain in forming these coalitions?
GEN HAIG: Vital. If Britain and the 'special relationship' had not been right
up front, the cost would have been immeasurable. In modern times, Britain has
never let us down. Their support was a good guarantee that others would follow
even counties in central Asia, including Pakistan, which we have mistreated
in the past. Progress has been remarkable.
BROWNE: Churchill said, about our alliance with Russia in WW II, that
"adversity acquaints us with strange bedfellows." What do you think of
the U.S. entering into coalitions with those who, until recently, it had branded
as rogue states?
GEN HAIG: The 's' is very important. It is not a single coalition. One should
never look a gift horse in the mouth, so we should not recoil at trying to deal
with any state that agrees to help. However, we must assess their true
commitment. Most importantly, we must ensure that no anti-terrorist alliance is
used by certain countries (former rogue states) as an opportunity to brutalize
certain other countries, such as Georgia. We must not allow them to represent us
as intermediaries. We must deal directly.
BROWNE: Why do you feel that these Islamic terrorists are so
anti-American?
GEN HAIG: I don't agree with those who say that it is because we support
Israel. They are against democracy and the West. It is a throwback to a seventh
century philosophy in an area that was the cradle of modern terrorism, although
Russia aided greatly in its evolution and development.
First, they (the Arab countries) tried feudalism and it failed. Then they tried Pan-Arabism, which also failed. After that, they flirted with the Western culture and were disappointed. Now, they (the extremists) are very frustrated and they (the terrorists) seize upon a seventh century code that they feel justifies them in killing the 'infidel'.
BROWNE: Do you share the view of some that an imminent nuclear, chemical
or biological terrorist threat now exists?
GEN HAIG: Speaking optimistically, I do not think that any terrorist
organization yet has an effective means of delivery. But we should issue a firm
warning in advance that we would retaliate in kind and in a devastating manner.
BROWNE: That should act as a serious deterrent to rogue states.
GEN HAIG: That's right.
BROWNE: Do you see the president's establishment of a Homeland Defense
Department as a major move to strengthen America?
GEN HAIG: Yes, this is needed most urgently. I well remember when I was at
the White House during our war on drugs. All the different government agencies,
departments and even committees that had a finger in that war needed lashing
together in order to get effective action. It was not done. Now the president
has done what has been needed for decades. Don't forget that drugs have played a
major role in the financing of terrorism. This lashing together is very, very
critical, but it will be a very hard job and will require active support for the
president.
BROWNE: It appears that, with consensus in Congress, President Bush could
do much good for the long-term interests of the United States.
GEN HAIG: Yes. If he moves properly, he will achieve miracles.
BROWNE: From this, America could emerge much, much stronger?
GEN HAIG: They say "even an ill wind brings some good." I believe
this latest outrage will result in America passing out of an age of innocence
into a new age of reality.
BROWNE: As you say, the critical element will be the maintenance of
political support.
GEN HAIG: It is this challenge that will dictate success, for in the past,
the democracies have been found wanting. This time, we have been given a good
and clear plan. Now, as Americans and allies, we must show patience, resolve and
loyalty to President Bush in this global war on terrorism.
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Americans Have Fought and Bled for Muslims
Osama bin Laden has called for a jihad against America and proclaimed death for Americans in revenge for alleged U.S. crimes against Islam.
Not surprisingly, a motley collection of bleeding heart left-wing intellectuals in this country agree with him, citing what they see as America's cruel mistreatment of the Muslim people.
One wonders if among America's crimes against Islam was the U.S. mission to Somalia launched solely to stop the starvation and murder afflicting the Somalian people. Americans died in that selfless attempt to help save and feed a solidly Muslim population.
Or perhaps they mean the expenditure of our national treasure and the efforts of U.S. troops who intervened in the bloody fighting in Bosnia on behalf of the Muslim residents in the former Yugoslavian province.
Then there was that other crime against Islam when the U.S. went to war to stop the ethnic cleansing and killing of the Albanian Muslims in Kosovo, feeding and clothing them until we could see them safely back to their homes in that disputed province and stand guard over them as indeed we are still doing today.
Finally, wasn't it the U.S. that led the coalition that went to the rescue of Kuwait, a Muslim nation, when Iraq invaded and occupied that land, in the process protecting Saudi Arabia and the other threatened Muslim nations in the area?
With such enemies as the U.S., the world's Muslims don't need any friends.
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NEW YORK (AP) -- He was, he always insisted, just a regular guy doing a job. He gave no thought to the box of medals awarded to him by the City of New York. George Howard knew he was lucky. Many men pass through life tolerating their jobs. Howard was blessed with loving his.
In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Howard rescued an elevator packed with children -- on his day off. He wasn't scheduled to work September 11 either. And no one asked him to. He just went. And died for it. An ordinary guy doing an extraordinary job.
Days later, Arlene Howard gave her son's most prized possession -- shield number 1012 of the Port Authority Police Department -- to President George W. Bush, who carries it as a reminder, he says, that his work is just beginning.
The president held up Howard's shiny silver badge during a televised speech before Congress last week. On Monday, in the Rose Garden, he cited it again.
"The American people have got to understand that when I held up that badge, I meant it. This war on terrorism is my primary focus," Bush said, announcing plans to choke channels of terrorist funding. Mrs. Howard believes him. She also believes her 44-year-old son wouldn't have liked all this fuss. But when Port Authority officials asked if she'd give George's shield to George W. Bush, she couldn't refuse.
"I told him not to forget everyone who went in there to save people's lives," she said Monday. The Howards buried George last week. His body was found by a detective who saw a gun sticking out of the ruins of the World Trade Center, destroyed in a terrorist attack two weeks ago. The gun was strapped in a holster that was strapped to George's waist. Rescue workers gingerly pulled away a piece of siding and carried him to an ambulance.
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| Howard rescued an elevator full of children following the 1993 WTC bombing. |
Howard had arrived just before the second tower crumbled. When it did, he was killed by the avalanche.
He leaves two sons, Robert, 13, and Christopher, 19. The elder plans to follow his father's career path. The younger isn't so sure.
"I don't know whether he realizes what happened," said his grandmother. "He's going to be lost without his daddy. I don't know how he'll cope after it's over and all these people aren't around."
George's brother, Patrick, is a New York City police officer. The job of delivering the awful news to their mother fell to him. On the day of the attacks, Patrick went to George's office at John F. Kennedy International Airport to see if his brother had checked in after getting to the site.
He didn't have to ask if George had gone there. He knew his brother. He also knew that if his brother were alive, he would have called his bosses to let them know he was on the job.
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| Howard's mother gave Bush his badge during his trip to New York on September 15. |
"I'm trying to be strong," said Mrs. Howard. "And Patrick is the same as me. But you have your moments and your thoughts and your days."
George Howard, a 16-year veteran of the department, was a founding member of its elite emergency services division. He also trained firefighters in search and rescue techniques.
When he was awarded the Medal of Valor for rescuing children trapped in the 1993 Trade Center bombing, he brushed it off with humor. "That's what they pay us for," he told a reporter.
His mother was used to hearing that.
"I'd say, `Well, George, you got this medal.' And he'd say `Yeah, mom, that's my job."
Tim's Take: All across America Policemen and women, Firemen, military service personnel are saying "it's my job". Now it's our job to support them. Send a care package (a book, deck of cards, chocolate, whatever, ...) to a Sailor at sea. Show some respect and cooperation to that Cop that pulls you over. Bear with that underpaid security guard at work. Drop off some homemade cookies at you nearest firehouse. Do your part!
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Afghan
Women First Victims of Terrorism
By Wendy McElroy
If the United States retaliates against the September 11 terrorist attacks by bombing Afghan cities, among the main victims of a U.S. strike will be the innocent women who live in terror under the Taliban government.
In the areas of the country controlled by the Taliban Afghanistan's radically fundamentalist Islamic leadership women are treated as sub-human. (More moderate Islamic governments, such as that of Iran, oppose the Taliban's treatment of women and its interpretation of Islam.) The human rights organization Amnesty International has diligently issued pleas to the international community to take action against the oppression of Afghan women.
In Afghanistan, women are confined to their homes except for government-approved excursions or when accompanied by a mahram a prescribed male member of their immediate family. The consequences of disobedience are dire. In Price of Honor, a book that explores the lives of women under Muslim extremism, author Jan Goodwin relates an incident of a woman who is shot by a Taliban guard when she leaves her home to take her acutely ill child to a doctor.
The woman survived the shooting, but when her family complained, the authorities declared that she had no business being in the street. Even if the complaint had been taken seriously, she would have had little hope for justice. A woman cannot petition the court except by going through a mahram and her testimony is valued at half that of a man's.
Goodwin, who has spent considerable time in Afghanistan, wrote of the Taliban guards: "To insure their dictates are followed, religious police...roam the streets. Often teenage boys armed with automatic weapons, they also carry broken-off car aerials or electrical cabling to whip women they decide are not properly observing the regulations."
Before the Taliban came into power, it is estimated that 70 percent of teachers in the Afghan capital of Kabul were women. Now females are not permitted to attend school or to work outside of the home, with the rare exception of some female medical personnel.
Women are often denied basic medical care because it is illegal for them to visit or speak with a man who is not a close relative. In the city of Herat, guards broke into the dental office of Dr. Nader Sina's and whipped several women who were there for treatment. The dentist was imprisoned and told the clinic would be closed permanently if he cared for women again. The city is reportedly without a female dentist.
Unable to earn a living, Afghani women (especially widows) are turning to prostitution in record numbers. And the punishment for prostitution is death. The punishment for adultery can be death as well. A woman named Sohaila was found guilty of adultery for walking with a man who was not a relative. Her sentence 100 lashes administered publicly was light because she was single. Had she been married, she would have been publicly stoned to death.
Strict dress codes require women to wear burqas large, all-encompassing baglike garb. To dress in any other manner or to show an ankle is to risk a public beating. Women caught wearing nail varnish have had parts of their fingers hacked off.
The deep suffering of Afghan women is becoming a matter of international protest, partly through the efforts of the Pakistani-based Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). RAWA gives the silenced women a voice. One woman wrote, "The Taliban imprisoned my brother because he shaved his face;...they flogged my mother because she did not cover herself head to toe according to the faith....These news [sic] rip my soul off."
Photos of murdered women are posted at RAWA. But currently, the most prominent feature of their web site is a banner reading, "Our mourning hearts go out to the US people."
In any city controlled by the Taliban, the bombs will fall primarily upon Afghan women who huddle in their homes, clinging to their children. The Taliban leaders have already retreated to safer environs. Osama bin Laden is in the Afghan mountains or one of his other havens.
Killing terrorists, like bin Laden, is a measure of pure self-defense, to be applauded. Killing Afghan women is a brutal act, to be abhorred.
Tamim Ansary, an Afghan-American writer, has issued this wrenching appeal:
"When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think 'the people of Afghanistan' think 'the Jews in the concentration camps.' It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They were the first victims..."
As to why Afghans do not rise up in rebellion against the well-armed and disciplined Taliban, Ansary offers several reasons among many. "A few years ago, the United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan [of a population estimated at 20 million] -- a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of widows....The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets [during war]."
The founder of RAWA, Meena, wrote a poem about her journey as an Afghan woman. Entitled "I'll Never Return," it begins:
I'm the woman who has awoken/
I've arisen and become a tempest through the ashes of my burnt children/
My ruined and burnt village fill me with hatred against the enemy.
Do not let that enemy become the United States.
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The
Heroes Amongst Us
© 2001 Dallas
Morning News
By
Ruben Navarrette
At firehouses throughout New York City, men tough as nails and probably not accustomed to hanging on to sentimentality refuse to wipe the names of missing firefighters from the duty roster. If they're worried about preserving a memory, they needn't be. Their friends won't soon be forgotten not by any of us.
Now that the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and 13 other ships of its battle group have set sail, we'll soon be searching for our heroes across the seas. Our service men and women will not disappoint us after all, they've already had a great example set for them here at home.
At "the dig" as the firefighters have taken to calling the pile of concrete and steel in lower Manhattan that swallowed up more than 300 of their comrades officials now acknowledge that the missing are presumably dead. It is time to contemplate, if only for a moment, just what we have lost.
I'm thankful for the footage taken on the ground after the first World Trade Center tower tumbled. A firefighter, covered in dust and ash, had safely made it out and was trying to catch his breath before getting ready to dash back into the still-standing second tower. A television reporter asked the firefighter if he was sure he wanted to do that. The firefighter replied that he had no choice. That was his job, he said, and besides, those were his buddies in there, trapped in the wreckage, and he had to try to save them. And so he marched back into the second tower, pushing against the thousands who were still trying to get out. Moments later, it too fell.
And what were the firefighter's last words to the reporter? "I ain't trying to be a hero."
But he was, and it is no wonder that the kind of people we usually look up to are now, themselves, looking up to the heroes of September 11. In their first game since the attacks, the New York Mets sent their young fans a clear message about who our heroes really are by swapping their baseball caps for ones bearing the insignia of the New York City fire and police departments.
And on Friday, Sept. 21, dozens of stars from sports, television and feature films will participate in a two-hour telethon to raise funds for victims and their families. "America: A Tribute to Heroes" will be simulcast on the four major television networks and a number of cable networks.
The terrorists never expected this. While they were here, they weren't just studying flying and self-defense. They were studying us. And what they learned must have convinced them that their fanatical leaders were right about how we were soft and decadent and materialistic. We would make easy prey.
The bad guys thought that once attacked, Americans would turn inward and just accept the idea that we were no longer the toughest kid on the block. Given their low opinion of Americans, they probably thought that the surest way to defeat us was to kill thousands and terrify and inconvenience millions.
The terrorists were wrong. They saw us in relatively good times they didn't get to see how we perform in bad times.
Here's the difference between Americans and the enemy we confront. Some have marveled that the terrorists lived amongst us for as long as five years, hatching a diabolical plot to inflict enormous suffering on others that they knew would cost them their own lives.
I'm infinitely more impressed that our firefighters, policemen, paramedics and other rescue workers didn't hesitate five minutes before risking their own lives in what may have been a futile attempt to ease some of that suffering.
Nor did the heroes of ill-fated United Airlines Flight 93 hesitate before apparently fighting back, probably saving thousands more innocent lives. Nor have Americans, since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, hesitated to give everything from blood to food to teddy bears and to open their wallets, and their hearts, and contribute more than $100 million to the American Red Cross.
The FBI now warns that the war on the home front may not be over and that dozens of terrorists could still be living among us. If they are, I hope they're paying attention.
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America-bashing U.N Should Get Lost
IT'S time for the United Nations to get the hell out of town. And take with it CNN war slut Christiane Amanpour. Also, short ABC comedian Bill "those bombers were brave" Maher. More on that in a sec.
The U.N. building towers over the East River like a giant middle finger aimed at our shores. The once-shiny beacon of peace has devolved into a cancer, where all manner of anti-American lunacy is hatched. Today, the U.N. functions as an international megaphone through which every Third World dictatorship vents its fury at our way of life. Though technically not on American soil, the United Nations clogs our city like sewage. It lustily sucks up our police, our water, our sanitation services while its personnel jam city streets by parking illegally, and break all manner of traffic and criminal law with a get-out-of-jail-free card known as diplomatic immunity.
Now, the United Nations is serving yet another function: It has become the quietest place on earth. Since two planes toppled the World Trade Center in a fiery blast of terror, the United Nations has been mute. Where are the diplomats we housed and fed, whose transgressions we excused, whose libels we endured, now that the nearby turf is in ruins? Oh, yes, Secretary General Kofi Annan has been on television in a hard hat, grabbing network face time by glancing, moist-eyed, at the ruins of the Twin Towers. But where are the resolutions? The outrage? The deep, heartfelt expressions of regret? Not here. Not now. And certainly not for us.
So, the United Nations doesn't like this nation? Fine. Don't let the door hit you on the butt as you get the hell out. Go home to your police states and smarmy European capitals. "The U.N. provides cover almost the same way the Taliban does," observes Harvey Kushner, an author and terrorism expert. "It serves as the laboratory, the linchpin for legitimizing incendiary rhetoric," Kushner said. Following the initial shock, America-bashing, I'm distressed to report, is going full throttle. And not just in the foreign media - though there's plenty of that - but right here, at home, in the guise of "analysis."
Explaining why the Arab world hates us, CNN's Amanpour spewed her bias in a live conversation with news blonde Paula Zahn: "The issue of the United States' close alliance with Israel, the perception that the United States does not care as much about the suffering of Muslims in Palestine, in what they call Palestine, is a key reason for the anti-Americanism on the rise in the Middle East." I wonder what her Jewish in-laws think.
Short comedian Bill Maher was even more rabid. On "Politically Incorrect," Maher declared the United States cowardly for "lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away" at Iraq. In the next breath, he praised the bravery of the trade center bombers. "Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly," gushed Maher. He later insisted our government is cowardly, not our soldiers. Thanks. The truth is the monsters who attacked us hate not just the United States and Israel. They hate wealthy Saudi Arabia. They hate non-fundamentalist Muslims. They treat women like slaves, children like property, and dream of romping with virgins in paradise. Everyone with a gripe against Israel or America has joined the orgy in the guise of "analysis." Analyze this, you bastards.
Tim's Take: Yea reporters and such should show some neutrality when telling their news stories so we can get unbiased information. But their biased themselves and coming to us from news sources (CNN) where you're not getting the full picture anyways. In a time as this they can follow the example of FoxNews and people like Bill O'Reilly who wave our flag proudly while giving you "fair and balanced reporting." Their Americans first, reporters second.
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This is an e-mail from an Ensign stationed aboard the USS Winston Churchill...
Dear Dad,
Well, we are still out at sea, with little direction as to what our next priority is. The remainder of our port visits, which were to be centered around max liberty and goodwill to the United Kingdom, have all but been cancelled. We have spent every day since the attacks going back and forth within imaginary boxes drawn in the ocean, standing high-security watches, and trying to make the best of our time. It hasn't been that fun I must confess, and to be even more honest, a lot of people are frustrated at the fact that they either can't be home, or we don't have more direction right now. We have seen the articles and the photographs, and they are sickening. Being isolated as we are, I don't think we appreciate the full scope of what is happening back home, but we are definitely feeling the effects.
About two hours ago the junior officers were called to the bridge to conduct Ship handling drills. We were about to do a man overboard when we got a call from the LUTJENS(D185), a German warship that was moored ahead of us on the pier in Plymouth, England. While in port, the WINSTON S CHURCHILL and the LUTJENS got together for a sports day/cookout on our fantail, and we made some pretty good friends.
Now at sea they called over on
bridge-to-bridge, requesting to pass us close up on our port side, to say
goodbye. We prepared to render them honors on the bridgewing, and the Captain
told the crew to come topside to wish them farewell. As they were making their
approach, our Conning Officer announced through her binoculars that they were
flying an American flag. As they came even closer, we saw that it was flying at
half-mast. The bridgewing was crowded with people as the Boatswain's Mate blew
two whistles- Attention to Port- the ship came up alongside and we saw that the
entire crew of the German ship were manning the rails, in their dress blues.
They had made up a sign that was displayed on the side that read "We Stand
By You".
Needless to say there was not a dry eye on the bridge as they stayed alongside us for a few minutes and we cut our salutes. It was probably the most powerful thing I have seen in my entire life and more than a few of us fought to retain our composure. It was a beautiful day outside today. We are no longer at liberty to divulge over unsecure e-mail our location, but we could not have asked for a finer day at sea. The German Navy did an incredible thing for this crew, and it has truly been the highest point in the days since the attacks. It's amazing to think that only a half-century ago things were quite different, and to see the unity that is being demonstrated throughout Europe and the world makes us all feel proud to be out here doing our job. After the ship pulled away and we prepared to begin our man overboard drills the Officer of the Deck turned to me and said "I'm staying Navy." I'll write you when I know more about when I'll be home, but for now, this is probably the best news that I could send you. Love you guys.
Tim's Take: Sounds like the young Ensign has his head on straight. Wish I could be his Chief and keep him on course.
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This was written by a man who
served as a Marine in Vietnam and was wounded rather badly. He has a way
with words.
Cowards... nope.
'Jacking a jet and driving it into a high-rise at 300 knots.... no, not cowards. I wouldn't do it. They don't have an air force so they used our training and our planes, and with great execution... far better that our fiasco in the desert to save the hostages in Iran.
Although glued to the TV for the
last 48, I haven't heard any talking heads speak with anger and outrage. (Try
watching the O'Reilly Factor - Tim) They act like it's
"Columbine" and we have to cope with this "tragedy" with
counseling before resuming our lives. My guess is you don't hear that talk from
blonde air heads in Israeli TV... 'course they have Uzis in their briefcases....
there a nation with some cajones.
This is the picture of America after more than a decade of "sensitivity
classes", of "hate speech"; of training males and females
together in the Army, Air Force and Navy (and thank god NOT in the Marine
Corps); of Shannon Faulkner; of a Navy sub captain crying his eyes out on
national TV after his boat took out a fishing vessel; of the last US President
having to be taught by aides how to salute because as a draft dodger he never
learned; of our TV and motion pictures "heroes" (Rosie
O'Donnel, Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin), vowing to leave the country
because an election didn't go their way ... then not leaving; of having no
draft; of modifying escape and evasion training at the Air Force Academy because
some female threatened a lawsuit (after accepting a $750,000 education courtesy
of the US taxpayer) because she felt "sexually harassed;" of a female,
Army Blackhawk pilot who refused to fly because it was her kid's
"constitutional right" to breast feed ... AND her Army Blackhawk pilot
husband helping bring the lawsuit against the Army; of the meandering definition
of what "is" is; of career military officers getting masters
degrees and PhDs out our expense, yet have no idea how to "fix
bayonets", let alone lead the charge; of Hillary Clinton as a role model;
of the Air Force disallowing the painting of pin-up nose art on the aircraft of
men who might just be required to fly said craft to their deaths -- all because
some lesbian from the National Organization of Gals (NAG) threatened a branch of
the United States Military; of "Bobby Has Two Daddies" and "Lisa
Has Two Mommies"; of a 15 year-old needing parental permission for a
tattoo, but not for an abortion; of our tax money being used to pay an
"artist" to immerse a crucifix in a jar of urine; of American citizens
complaining about the noise military jets make when flying over their house ...
and going to court to get the target runs changed ... and succeeding; of a
citizenry that cannot distinguish between an admiral and a chief petty officer,
or between a pilot and a clerk for that matter.
In short... we have been feminized... not in the Maggie Thatcher, Golda Meir kick-your-ass way... but in the whining, ALCU-get-in-touch-with-your-feelings-men-are-the-enemy kinda way. Before Tuesday we had lost our way, our readiness, both militarily and intelligence--not unlike pre-Pearl Harbor. We cannot, repeat: must not, deploy troops on a large scale to some place like Afghanistan. I am concerned that a generation of regular troops has been misused as "peacekeepers" might have a hard time making the transition to the demands of the brutal war ahead. It only took five years to make the same mistake after WWII... we got soft militarily and as a nation and we paid a heavy price in Korea. This time some of our military (except for our elite units) therefore might not have the fire in the belly required... yet our enemies are clearly fanatical.
And thanks to Bill Clinton and his ilk we have an eviscerated combat force that is top-heavy in wide-bottom, ticket-punching flag officers and short on NCOs willing, capable and prepared to skewer Achmed with a bayonet. We will now pay the piper for electing Bill Clinton twice... and for using the DOD budget as the fatted calf for more than a decade; it will be clear when we mount whatever military response we eventually choose. Smart bombs and Cruise missiles (if we have any left) fired from offshore will only make us look more impotent and less committed. And yet, Clinton will still have his defenders despite the fact that because of him and a lackluster Congress, we cannot defend ourselves in the manner required of the world's only superpower. Too many whiz-bang, pork projects like bombers and attack jets, and far too little for the grunts and special ops people... those who stand the tip of the spear.
And NOW the same people that voted for this moral and physical coward, will be sending our young servicemen and women in harm's way... to pay the price with one arm tied behind their back. Meanwhile, back home their families must supplement their disgraceful, meager paychecks with food stamps. It's been over three decades since I fired a shot in anger in a war we weren't firmly committed to... and yet we were in a far better mind set to do what has to be done today than some of the poor kids we're going to send to do it.
Thank god curbside check-in has been abolished; I'll sleep better tonight.
Tim's Take: Well I couldn't have said most of this better. I suspect since this proud Marine served in Vietnam I was in the service much more recently than him. I know many a fine Officer with whom I would love to serve with again. And I know plenty of fellow Chiefs and Junior Enlisteds, my shipmates, who will do the right thing when called upon. But our Marine Veteran is on the mark elsewhere. My six final years in the Navy were under Clinton and I saw the erosion firsthand. But I think our military will live up to the task.
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Hockey
Fans Demand to Watch Bush; Game Stopped, Then Called Off
21Sep01
Thousands of sports fans decided hockey could take a back seat to national affairs Thursday night, electing to postpone a contest between the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers in order to watch President Bush's nationally televised speech.
The third period of the National Hockey League exhibition game was about to start as the stadium scoreboard announced that Bush's speech to Congress could be watched in the outer concourses. But when the speech was taken off the scoreboard screen, the 19,117 fans booed in protest, eventually erupting into a chant. "Leave it on! Leave it on!" echoed throughout the Philadelphia arena. The protests turned to loud cheers when the speech was restored.
By the time Bush concluded his address 36 minutes later, the teams lined up to shake hands. The game was declared a 2-2 tie "out of respect for where the United States was headed in the near future." In the speech's most dramatic moments, the fans roared - drowning out the applause that could be seen on the screen.
Spontaneous cheers of "USA! USA!" also rang out, and some fans could be seen waving flags. During the moments Bush spoke, however, the arena was silent.
Tim's Take: Thank you Philadelphia, you showed real class and great patriotism. For those who've never been to a NHL hockey game, do yourself a favor, the fan participation just during the national anthems is worth the price of admission alone.
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Hillary
Panned for Sour Demeanor during Bush Speech
Friday Sept. 21, 2001; 9:48 a.m. EDT
Hockey fans at Philadelphia's Rangers-Flyers game Thursday night were so enthralled with President Bush's speech that they actually forced the cancellation of the game's third period to continue watching on the arena's Jumbotron. But seated in the House chamber, New York Senator Hillary Clinton was rolling her eyes, looking bored and remained seated as her colleagues gave Bush one standing ovation after another.
Friday morning her disengaged demeanor was being roundly panned by talk radio hosts everywhere. "You know why she reacted that way," WABC's Curtis Sliwa told his partner Ron Kuby. "She just saw her hopes to run for president next time around go up in smoke."
Down radio dial in New York, nationally syndicated talker Don Imus was even harder on the former first lady. "She was disgraceful," Imus told his partner Charles McCord. "She looked irritable, rolling her eyes and talking." Imus didn't care much for Sen. Clinton's post speech comments either. "I mean, she was going out of her way to point out how she'd spent the entire week down at ground zero, which is not true, by the way. But I think we know what that's all about." Imus then turned his ire towards Mrs. Clinton's husband.
"I just thank God that he's not still the president, that's all, because we didn't have to endure the self aggrandizing display of lip-biting and head wagging and 'I love you' to some bimbo in the balcony."
Tim's Take: This is not the time to fault New Yorkers who voted for Hillary Clinton. But PLEASE do not let this woman get into the Oval Office. Remember this is the First Lady who had the White House Marines change their uniforms for civilian clothes cause they looked too "military". I guess the real reason for her bad attitude was that she saw her presidential hopes flushed away as our President spoke.
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The
Bush Speech: How to Rally a Nation
Friday, Sep. 21, 2001
The President hits a rhetorical high note in telling America to be strong, to be
calm, to be vigilant, and above all, to be patient. It was the best speech of
his life and it had to be.
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George W. Bush, President of the United States at the darkest hour almost any of its citizens can remember, pronounces the word terror "terra." He's helpless with Latin. And he still needs work on waiting out his applause. But Thursday night, in front of the U.S. Congress and the nation, eight months to the day after he took office following an election that was pretty dark itself, Bush delivered the finest, strongest, clearest, several-times-chill-giving speech of his life. Here's how he did it:
Step One: Explain it all
"Americans are asking, 'Who attacked our country?'"
Here, Bush did a smart thing for a president who obviously intends to be at this war against terrorism for a very long time, who will need the patience and sustained support of a populace not always known for that. He mentioned Osama bin Laden only once. He replaced the man with the minions, the villain with the villains, a face with an organization al-Qaida and pronounced it right.
"The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al-Qaida Al-Qaida is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money. Its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere."
Then he set about replacing a shadowy, stateless organization with something Americans are more used to dealing with: the villainous leadership of a country, a leadership we can despise, a Milosevic, a Saddam. Someone we can threaten and if necessary, punish before frustration sets in.
That would be Afghanistan. "These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate."
Two: Distinguish, for the sake of not only peace at home but diplomacy abroad, between the faith and the men
"I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself."
He appeals not only to the West here, but to Muslims themselves around the world. These terrorists are distorting your beautiful faith. They are desecrating your graceful mosques. They are undermining the basis of one of the world's great religions.
Bush then put the terrorists in historical perspective, adding them to a grisly Murderer's Row of history: "We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism." And again, these are battles we have won, not easily and not immediately, but slowly, painfully over time.
And then Bush delivered the kind of line that you give your speechwriter a new nickname for, the kind of line that sends chills down the spine, and this time he was up to it.
"And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies."
Oratorical brass ring.
Three: Get down to brass tacks
"Americans are asking, 'How will we fight and win this war?'"
"We will direct every resource at our command every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence and every necessary weapon of war to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network."
This, of course, is the tough part winning and Bush said about as much as anyone could have said about that right now, and maybe for a long time. He said it straight: it's not going to be like Iraq, not like Kosovo "where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat." (Please, America, remember that part about the casualties.)
More preparation. "Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success." (Nice bit we were spoiled watching the Gulf War on CNN.)
The strategy, necessarily vague, and yet with ultimatums easy to remember, easy to stick on the front pages of newspapers:
"Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." See Colin Powell for details.
Then mix it up some concrete news, a visible, tangible step, a man we can turn to and Bush can delegate to. And as a bonus, a man who centrist, politics-watching America has been rooting for a long time to get a promotion. Tom Ridge, former Marine, former congressman, soon-to-be former governor of Pennsylvania, and the new Cabinet-level Head of the Office of Homeland Security.
Welcome Tom, and good luck it's a thankless job, almost as bad as Drug Czar, which is a sure sign that it's important.
Four: Give the marching orders
"After all that has just passed, all the lives taken and all the possibilities and hopes that died with them, it is natural to wonder if America's future is one of fear Americans are asking, 'What is expected of us?'"
He then answered his own rhetorical question with a line Americans wanted to hear.
"I ask you to live your lives and hug your children."
He could have stopped there a gem of a line, a Hallmark-card-sized summation of the littlest and best things we can do but when American shores are smoldering still, Bush must have realized that more couldn't hurt. Be calm, not scared; be tolerant, not blind; be generous, not selfish; be patient, patient, patient, at airports and skyscrapers and landmarks and hotels and traffic stops and bus stops and train stations and anywhere else it is possible to imagine a public vulnerability, which of course is everywhere.
And for God's sake keep shopping "I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy" and keep praying:
"And finally, please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead."
This is the call of the president beginning a mysterious war. Be very, very patient.
Five: Rise to the occasion
No gathering was too august for this occasion, of course, and indeed this joint session was super-charged, adding Rudy Giuliani and Tony Blair while subtracting Dick Cheney and Dick Armey just in case, though the helicopters circled overhead.
He seemed at one point to know how many of the high notes he was hitting, staring off to his left with a unsmirky beam, and if you were rooting for the leader of the free world to do well on this night it was impossible not to smile unsmirkily with him. He did what he was supposed to do take the responsibility, grab the job with both hands, seize the evening on an evening when America wanted to be seized.
" As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror. This will be an age of liberty here and across the world. Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss.
"And in our grief and anger, we have found our mission and our moment."
George W. Bush's mission, his moment, found him on that terrible Tuesday. And last night, he found his voice.
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Britain
Stands With Us
NewsMax Wires
Friday, Sept. 21, 2001
Remarks by the President and Prime Minister of
United Kingdom Tony Blair
The Grand Foyer
8:12 P.M. EDT, Thursday
THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to welcome my friend, and friend to America, Prime Minister Tony Blair to the White House. I appreciate him coming to America in our time of need. One of the first phone calls I got after that terrible day was from the Prime Minister. He was reassuring to me. He was --he showed to be a true friend, and I appreciate that. I'm so honored you're here. And I look forward to giving a speech tonight. The Prime Minister has kindly agreed to come and listen to it. So I'm not going to answer any questions tonight. I'm going to let my speech be exactly what I want to say. In the meantime, the Prime Minister has agreed to say a few comments, and then take a couple of questions from you.
PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Thank you Mr. President. It's my honor to be here, and also to pay tribute to your leadership at this immensely difficult time. I was in New York earlier today, and it's perhaps only when you are actually there that the full enormity and horror of what happened comes home to you. And I said then, I would like to repeat, that my father's generation went through the experience of the second world war, when Britain was under attack, during the days of the Blitz. And there was one nation and one people that, above all, stood side by side with us at that time. And that nation was America, and those people were the American people. And I say to you, we stand side by side with you now, without hesitation.
This is a struggle that concerns us all, the whole of the democratic and civilized and free world. And we have to do two things very clearly; we have to bring to account those responsible, and then we have to set about at every single level, in every way that we can, dismantling the apparatus of terror, and eradicating the evil of mass terrorism in our world. And I know that America, Britain and all our allies will stand united together in that task. And I give you, on behalf of our country, our solidarity, our sympathy and our support.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, have you discussed what Britain's involvement in any military action might be?
PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Well, of course, we've discussed the full range of issues. Now is not the moment to go into the details of whatever response we make. But I think that you can be in no doubt at all of our determination to act, to make sure, as I say, that those responsible for this event are brought to account. And in the talks I had in Europe before I left, I believe that sense of solidarity is echoed right round the world.
Q: Prime Minister, how are you prepared to go on supporting a full-scale war?
PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: I believe we have to go on fighting terrorism as long as it takes. Because what happened on the 11th of September was, of course, a brutal and horrific attack on America, but it was a demonstration of what these people are capable of in any part of the world. And the important thing to realize is that there is no limit on what they would do that is moral. They have no regard for the sanctity of human life. They don't share the values of democracy or freedom or justice. The only limits on what they do are practical or technical. And that is why it is our duty -- I believe this -- it is our duty to take action to make sure that at every level we can -- how these groups are financed, how they operate, how they move about, the weapons that they acquire -- at every single level, we have to take the action necessary to put an end to it.
Q: Prime Minister, the President said tonight that countries have to choose between being with you or being with the terrorists. How many countries do you believe are making the choice to be with terrorists? And what are the consequences to countries still not sure which side they're on?
PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Well, I just wanted to say this to you in conclusion to that question. I believe right round the world there is support for firm action now. And I believe the coalition of support for that action is growing. It is strengthening; it is not diminishing. And that is the impression that I have had from many of the conversations I've had with world leaders in all different parts of the world. Because this struggle is something that should unite people of all faiths, of all nations, of all democratic political persuasions, and I believe it will.
PRESIDENT BUSH: We've got to go.
END 8:18 P.M. EDT
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Understanding
bin Laden
By John Diamond and Mike Dorning
Washington Bureau, Chicago Tribune
September 18, 2001
WASHINGTON -- Dozens of intelligence reports, academic studies, congressional investigations and academics have tried to understand and explain Osama bin Laden, the shadowy figure known to some followers by his code name, "The Contractor."
Hatred of the U.S. clearly is one of his motives. But the reasons behind last week's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in which he is the prime suspect, may be more subtle and nuanced, with the ultimate goal of attracting more recruits to his organization.
Experts believe the attacks may be part of a planned sequence: Strike the U.S., killing people and damaging symbols of American power; provoke a violent response; use the response to brand the U.S. as an enemy of Islam; and turn that hatred into a magnet for disaffected Muslims. Hard as it might be for Americans to understand, bin Laden's aim may be to gain sympathy for his cause from within the Islamic world by turning the U.S. into an enemy of Islam.
"He says he is waging a defensive war on behalf of Islam," said Yoram Schweitzer, a researcher at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism outside Tel Aviv. "His aim is to protect Islam from being humiliated and annihilated" by Western values. "Since this is a zero-sum game and it's an ultimate war over everything, every Muslim, in order to defend Islam, has to sacrifice everything he has: his time, his property, even his life," Schweitzer said. Experts point to a number of strategic goals of bin Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda, Arabic for "The Base."
Defending Islam's 'purity'
Bin Laden, the 17th of 52 children fathered by a billionaire Saudi builder, portrays himself as defending the purity of Islam against pretenders such as the Saudi royal family and the infidel states that support them, especially the U.S. He has said in formal fatwahs, or holy edicts, that he wants to drive the U.S. armed forces out of the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam.
U.S. officials suspect bin Laden was involved to varying degrees in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the 1996 bombing of U.S. airmen in the Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia and the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Now exiled and believed to be living in Afghanistan, bin Laden also despises Israel and calls U.S. support for that country an alliance of "the crusaders and the Jews."
At the outer limits of bin Laden's wish list may be the ultimate destruction of Western culture and its replacement with a pan-Islamic world. None of those views make bin Laden particularly unusual in parts of the Arab world. But he is set apart by his wealth, organizational ability and utter ruthlessness, and his ability to make those three qualities support one another.
Secretary of State Colin Powell has said bin Laden should be thought of as the head of a holding company, Al Qaeda. "It is not enough to get one individual, although we will start with that one individual," Powell said. "[The campaign against Al Qaeda] will not be over until we have gotten into the inside of this organization, inside its decision cycle, inside its planning cycle, inside its execution capability, and until we have neutralized and destroyed it. That is our objective."
Galvanizing his movement
Before bin Laden can achieve his broad goals, he must meet several tactical ones, including enlarging and uniting his surprisingly small movement. U.S. officials frequently refer to bin Laden's organization as a loosely connected collection of radical Islamic groups. One of his tactics is killing large numbers of Americans. Typically, bin Laden denies responsibility, as he has done in the case of the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks. Those denials provide cover for the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding. As long as bin Laden denies responsibility, the Taliban can refuse U.S. demands that he be handed over.
Bin Laden has made no secret of his intentions. "To kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do," bin Laden wrote in a 1998 fatwah. In a 1999 interview with ABC News, bin Laden said the U.S. troop presence in Saudi Arabia in support of what he regards as a corrupt regime is the reason "behind singling out America as a target."
To the suggestion that his tactics are cruel, he replied, "The Americans started it, and retaliation can be carried out following the principle of reciprocity." Judith Yaphe, a senior research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington, calls it "a resentment of the superpower culture, economy, military presence, everything." As appalling as some terrorist actions are, bin Laden apparently sees them as adding to his prestige and drawing adherents to his cause, much as Afghanistan's resistance to the Soviet Union drew Muslims from around the world, including bin Laden himself, to the region.
Born in 1957 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bin Laden inherited a fortune now valued at about $250 million from his father, Saudi construction magnate Mohammed bin Laden. He used some of that money during the mid-1980s to support the Afghan rebels and then began building his organization. The group is feared, but it also is small: Over 13 years, U.S. intelligence estimates he has trained some 5,000 operatives in a dozen Afghan camps.
Short-term problems
Bin Laden probably does not expect that a major attack on a U.S. target with heavy casualties would cause Washington to abandon Israel or the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Indeed, such attacks cause bin Laden acute short-term problems--the possibility of a U.S. military reprisal, or the risk that he will be apprehended by Afghan or Pakistani authorities. But the risks present opportunities.
"He wanted to make a provocation here," Schweitzer said. "He's trying to solicit a reaction from the United States and its allies that will crystallize the fact that there are two camps" -- bin Laden's believers and the rest of the world.
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Don't
Demonize the Islamics
Christopher Ruddy
Monday, September 17, 2001
America is at war, but we must be careful to define who we are at war with. It is not with the one billion people who adhere to Islam. Both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have stated rather emphatically that America is not at war with the Muslim world or, for that matter, the more than 7 million U.S. citizens who follow the prophet Muhammad.
Most of America's Muslim and Arab population are hard-working, patriotic Americans. Can you remember the last time you read of a Arab-American robbing a bank or committing any crime in your neighborhood? How many Muslim immigrants come here to the U.S. and go on welfare or become a burden to U.S. taxpayers? Probably very few. Instead, visit New York and you'll find them working hard. Take a taxi from Newark or JFK to Manhattan and you'll find, more than likely, your driver is Muslim. He probably has a family, works 80 hours a week, and hopes his son or daughter can make it to college. He wants a part of the American dream. When Abraham Lincoln said that America was the last great hope of mankind, he didn't mean to say just for white people, or just for Christians -- he meant for all of mankind.
This is a war started by religious fanatics that hate Lincoln's view and America. Radical Islamic fundamentalists are people who do not want to live with their fellow man, unless they agree to their brand of religious fundamentalism. Many Americans have the view that most Muslims are religious extremists and suicide bombers. Hollywood, the media, Palestinians sending their children into gun fire and the "Muslim" people who just slammed four American jets against planet earth have helped to solidify that stereotype.
Muslims in America and around the world need to understand the anger Americans have toward them in the aftermath of these attacks. They need to keep their cool. And so should Americans. Americans need to remember that most Islamic countries have had friendly relations with America and many have been strong allies. Turkey, a Muslim country, is aligned with the U.S. and a stalwart member of NATO. Egypt is solidly pro-American. There were no celebrations in Cairo after these bombings. The majority of Egyptians fear the Muslim extremists just as we do. President Mubarak has only staved off assassination by close shaves. Anwar Sadat was not so lucky.
We know that during the Gulf war almost every Muslim country joined America in Desert Storm against Saddam Hussein. (Since then, Clinton's policy of appeasement peppered with random, ineffective bombings against Saddam, has left many Arab allies bewildered.) In the Gulf, countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continue to cling to America for defense. During the Cold War, Saudi Arabia played a pivotal role in defeating communism.
In Peter Schweizer's most excellent book on the defeat of the Evil Empire, "Victory," he details how Ronald Reagan's CIA Director, Bill Casey, devised a plan by which they would cut Russia's money supply. As it turned out, Russia's cash flow that kept its empire and revolutionary machinery at work came from $10 billion in annual oil exports. The Saudis cooperated with Reagan and increased their oil production, cutting prices and thereby putting a stake into the heart of communism. Of course, Israel, America's democratic ally in the Mid-east, remains a serious bone of contention. But most governments in the Mid-East are more worried about their own, radical Islamic populations than they are the Israelis.
And still, most Muslim countries turn to the U.S. for support and leadership. Clearly, Osama bin Laden and his radical backers want a jihad against the West. But bin Laden, and the Iranians, know they can't get Muslim populations to support them precisely because most Muslims like America. Robert Fisk, a British journalist who has interviewed bin Laden, writes in London's "Independent" this weekend that America may be falling for a trap.
Fisk states that bin Laden wants America to declare war on Islam because that's the only way he hopes to stir up resentment among the Muslim peoples against America. As Fisk puts it, the Islamic fundamentalists want a "brutal, indiscriminate assault by the United States" on the Muslim people. This way the Muslim populations would overthrow their pro-American Muslim regimes. America needs to avoid a war against Islam and focus its attention on the Islamic radicals.
We need to go after sources, and avoid front men like bin Laden. Iraq remains in a state of war with the U.S. and Iran is the principal source of Islamic revolution. We should remember that Islamic fundamentalism was a footnote in modern times until Jimmy Carter, in the greatest foreign policy error of the last half of the Twentieth Century, allowed the Shah of Iran to fall in 1979. Since then, Iran has become the breeding ground of Islamic extremism for the whole Mid-East.
Recent State Deparment reports say Iran remains the number one state sponsor of terrorism. The Israelis claim that with the help of Russia it is close to developing nuclear weapons. In the wake on the worst attack on American soil since the Civil War, Americans need to assess what has happened and who really threatens them.
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Only
Way to Win the War
John LeBoutillier
Sunday, Sept. 16, 2001
Do we really want to win the War on Terrorism? Is the administration truly going to "eliminate evil from the face of the earth" - as the president said on Friday - or are we going to go halfway and settle for a cosmetic victory?
Let me give you a brief example of just such a cosmetic solution:
The 'Noriega' Solution:
More than 11 years ago the United States government - in its ongoing war against drugs - claimed - correctly - that Gen. Manuel Noriega was directly involved in running drugs into the U.S. from Panama. After days of house-to-house hunting - and dozens of casualties - Noriega was caught and flown by DEA agents to Miami, where he was tried, convicted and is serving his sentence in a Florida facility. But guess what?
The drug flow increased even after he left. Today more drugs come into the U.S. from Panama now than when Noriega was in charge! Capturing him was a cosmetic victory. Stopping drugs - like stopping terrorism - cannot be achieved by the mere capture or killing of an Osama bin Laden. The problem goes much deeper - and higher.
Are we really going to do what is necessary to "wipe this evil from the face of the earth" - or will we settle for less? What is needed is the following:
1) END STATE SUPPORT: Contrary to what Vice President Dick Cheney said on "Meet the Press" today, it is simply incomprehensible to claim that Saddam Hussein and his government intelligence agencies were not involved in this World Trade Center/Pentagon action - as well as the USS Cole bombing and other anti-U.S. terrorist activities.
It sounds as if the administration - right from the afternoon of the attacks - had Osama Bin Laden as its main target. He is, after all, already under indictment for other bombings including the two U.S. Embassies in Africa. He has been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. What is impossible to fathom is that bin Laden - operating from a tent in Afghanistan using couriers instead of a satellite phone - and his band of fanatical believers have the wherewithal to obtain Top Secret White House/Secret Service codes, not to mention the ability to organize and coordinate multiple simultaneous hijackings from four busy U.S. airports. Such intelligence and spying has all the earmarks of a state intelligence service. The Iraqis, for example, are known to have just such spies here in the U.S. operating under cover and from their U.N. Embassy. Saddam uses bin Laden as his "cut-out" - to provide deniability. Cheney too quickly dismissed Iraq's possible involvement in this - and other - terrorist actions.
2) MONEY: Few are talking today about the lifeblood of terrorism: money to conduct operations. This WTC/Pentagon disaster - simple as it seems - still required many men, years of flight training, language training, housing, travel, food, expenses, communication and other expenses. There are published reports of several of these suicide pilots flashing "thick wads of cash" during their training period in Florida. Where does all this money come from? Some say Osama bin Laden is loaded - that he inherited $360 million from his Saudi family. But Associated Press reports that the Saudi government froze those assets in 1992. Others have reported that rich Arab sheiks - including several who live in Arab states friendly to the U.S. - "contributed" to a "charity" run by bin Laden - and that these funds are what pays for these terrorist operations. The U.S. government needs to intercept the money. We need to go over there and confiscate the money from anyone contributing - either knowingly or "unknowingly" - to bin Laden's "charities." This is going to anger a lot of rich people - and the Saudi government and the governments of other pro-U.S. Arab states such as Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Perhaps these rich sheiks are paying protection money to these terrorists. Or maybe they secretly sympathize with Osama bin Laden. Whatever their motivation, we must cut off the source of money to these operatives.
3) U.S. FORCES OCCUPYING ARAB STATES: We will not win the "war against evil" if we settle for "lightning strikes" into select areas to capture a bin Laden or to wipe out a nest of suspected terrorists. (The Israelis have done this for years - and it doesn't work.) We must do much, much more. We need to remove Saddam Hussein and his Bath Party from power in Baghdad. We - the allies including England, Canada, Japan and Jordan - then need to administer Iraq until a democratic government is elected there by the Iraqi people free of the fear and intimidation of Saddam and his henchmen. Such an action is a huge undertaking - bigger even than the 1990-1991 Desert Shield/Desert Storm activation - but it is the only way to wipe the evil of terrorism from the earth. Once we have cleaned out Iraq, the message to other dangerous nearby Muslim states - Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan - is clear: if you do not prune all terrorist organization and stop all financing from within your borders, we will come into your country and remove your government.
Again, this is the only way to win this war on terrorism. Capturing Osama bin Laden is a good thing. We should have done it years ago. But it is not enough. It is a Noriega-like cosmetic solution to a much deeper and more difficult problem. I fear the administration will not do the hard things. It is up to all of us to support the administration - and to also pressure them to go all the way. No president has ever been given such a blank check from Congress and such unlimited support from the American people to do what needs to be done. This is a unique moment. Let us not squander it by doing too little. We either do it right this time - or in the future we will face even more ghastly acts of terror.
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Even
After the Carnage, New York's Bravest Declare: "It's the Best Job in the
World"
Sunday, September 16, 2001
By James Pinkerton
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. We band of firemen. Thats my paraphrase of the famous battle oration from William Shakespeares Henry V. Unfortunately, Im no Shakespeare. And Im certainly no fireman. But I am a witness. And so I will tell you some of what I heard and saw in Manhattan these past few days.
I was in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. The Pentagon is visible from my window, so I saw the smoke from that plane-crash fire first-hand. But otherwise, I saw the same horrible, memorable, indelible images of the World Trade Center towers collapsing on TV that just about everyone else on the planet has seen by now. So when the news reported that thousands of people were missing and quite likely dead--including 200, then 300, then maybe 400 firemen, I had the same though
