14 Comments

1. joanr16  •  Sep 11, 2008 @9:04 am
   

   Whoa. They think they can rewrite history.

   I know two things about 9/11:

   1) There was a terrible loss of innocent human life; and

   2) It was the best damn thing to ever happen to George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney.

   I reflect on #1 in my own, silent way. Because of #2, I refuse to participate in any outward “celebrations” (for that is what they’ve become). It’s the day my country began making all the wrong choices. It’s a day to mourn our basic decency, as well as all those innocent souls.

2. the talking dog  •  Sep 11, 2008 @9:05 am
   

   Barb:

   Thanks for both posts. I was substantially closer to the zone of danger, being about a block north of WTC that morning (and still work a block from “Ground Zero” these days. I didn’t think your take on that/this day was dark at all. In fact, I think quite the contrary.

   Still, the Bodhisattva vows require that as long as there are those capable of seeing the light, they must continue to strive to enlighten other sentient beings, however dark and unwilling they may seem to be. That this may be especially challenging with our fellow [scared-s***less] Americans, alas, doesn’t excuse us. [I like to think of it as "Bodhisattva job security."]

3. the talking dog  •  Sep 11, 2008 @9:08 am
   

   I should add, of course, that KSM has never been tried, and thanks to our government’s years of torturing him, he may never be tried. (We have, however, tried an Australian for guarding a Taliban tank position, and OBL’s auto mechanic, both of whom were sentenced to terms of 9 and 5 months, respectively.)

   But OBL… KSM… Eurasia… Eastasia…

4. moonbat  •  Sep 11, 2008 @10:53 am
   

   Along the lines of Taigen Leighton’s talk (thank you), I knew something was very wrong when Bush announced his campaign to eradicate evil from the earth. After the Supreme Court decision in Bush v Gore, this utterly infantile proposition was the next big thing that completely stunned me, in seeing how far America had fallen. That millions of my countrymen went along with this inane and bloody project explains everything that has followed.

   Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

5. moonbat  •  Sep 11, 2008 @11:05 am
   

   This will cheer you up.

6. felicity  •  Sep 11, 2008 @12:09 pm
   

   Yeah, the FBI took BinLaden off its most wanted list a few years ago. I’m too spaced, to use Maha’s word ‘dark’ these days to mentally carry through on what an Afghan friend told me recently. Maybe someone else can.

   When BinLaden was ‘our guy’ in Afghanistan during the Afghan/Russian War, the CIA literally built Tora Bora, a fortress of impenetrable caves designed to provide protection for BinL and his minions. The Company did such a good job that any hope of capturing BinL at that location was never more than a wet dream.

   One day a friend, the next day a foe, or has BinLaden ever really been a foe.

7. s  •  Sep 11, 2008 @12:35 pm
   

   moonbat, it cheered me up.
   I would like to shake exVRWC’s hand and say good to know you and your family care for our country. Thanks for speaking out.

8. joanr16  •  Sep 11, 2008 @1:10 pm
   

   Wow, that link moonbat provided was amazing. The diarist actually apologized for voting for Bush in 2004. Again… wow.

9. joanr16  •  Sep 11, 2008 @1:17 pm
   

   Has BinLaden ever really been a foe.

   Felicity, IMO, yeah, he’s a foe. Imagine Jerry Falwell if he had loved blowing people up and didn’t care who knew it.

   I’m still flabbergasted by Dana Perino’s ex post f**kup malarkey. Jeez, Hitler wasn’t technically the “mastermind” of the Final Solution, either, but that doesn’t mean the world didn’t hold him chiefly responsible.

10. joanr16  •  Sep 11, 2008 @1:21 pm
    

    And then there’s Fafblog.

    http://fafblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/moral-of-story.html

    Again with the bees. Look out!

11. erinyes  •  Sep 11, 2008 @8:31 pm
    

    I have always held the opinion that Bin Laden is not the mastermind behind 9/11. He IS the boogie man, the “official’ enemy, the made up for prime time personification of evil, the goulish “chuckie” jack-in-the-box who is credited with the release of videos “from deep inside a dark cave in Afghanistan”. What a line of shite.He blessed the event at best.
    In essence, if you believe the Bin Laden myth, I’ve got some land in Florida I’d be interested in showing you. The asses of evil have lied to us since 9/11, why is this different? Saddam, Usama, Obama…see how it works, keep the gomers confused, not hard to do…
    Afghanistan ain’t about anything but a pipeline route, we don’t give 2 hell fire missiles about freeing women from burkas. It’s all the “New great game”, and the dumb-asses in both parties want to push NATO membership on Georgia and Ukraine to make the pie higher.As Rummy said, “sweep it all up, things related and not….”

12. joanr16  •  Sep 11, 2008 @10:36 pm
    

    The asses of evil have lied to us since 9/11, why is this different?

    I’d say it’s different because the intelligence services under Clinton accumulated a wealth of knowledge about Al Qaeda, its avowed purpose, leadership, basic structure, and international connections when the African embassies were bombed in 1997. I suppose Clinton could be in on it too, but I doubt it. Also, Bin Laden took credit for 9/11. A hired actor? I doubt that as well. A lying megalomaniac? Oh certainly, but vast amounts of pre-Bush (i.e., mostly reputable) intelligence says otherwise.

    Bin Laden was the head of Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks. Bush never wanted to find Bin Laden, because Bin Laden was more useful to Bush still at large. Now that the Bush years are winding down, to distract from this failure, the administration is saying Bin Laden wasn’t the mastermind.

    End of story.

13. felicity  •  Sep 12, 2008 @12:26 pm
    

    joanr16

    BinLaden’s original gripe was the presence of American infidels- primarily our military bases – in Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and Medina and therefore a ‘holy’ place. The Saudi royals, who approved of the bases, kicked BinLaden out.

    Kicked out of the Sudan where he had settled, he went to Afghanistan. He becomes a stalwart friend and operative for America during the Afghan war with Russia. Remember, BinLaden’s gripe was not with America but with the presence of ‘infidels’ in the holy land of Islam and more specifically the Saudi royals who allowed it, so his support of American policies during the War is not necessarily untoward.

    There’s something I’ve thought for years but am reluctant to mention because, well…you judge. Briefly, the Bush family and the Saudi royal family have been like one extended family for years. BinLaden hates the Saudi family for its desecration of the holy land of Islam – in his eyes. Who’s president on 9/11 but a Bush, a member of a family tied to the Saudi royal family.

    I’ve lived in Arabia and a strong trait among Arabs is a profound need for revenge, a need to avenge a wrong that has been done to them, their family, their clan, and depending on their level of zealotry their religion. For BinLaden to legitimately hate the Bush family would be quite justifiable in the Arab world.

    As an addendum, our pitiful misunderstanding, or no understanding of the Arab culture and peoples along with our profound ignorance of terrorism and how terrorists operate is absolutely appalling. We have played right into BinLaden’s hand. He took his revenge, we dutifully reacted big time, he achieved the renown he needed to draw others into his organization. It’s practically a terrorist creed, to be successful remember the three ‘r’s – revenge, reaction, renown.

14. joanr16  •  Sep 12, 2008 @3:13 pm
    

    We have played right into BinLaden’s hand. He took his revenge, we dutifully reacted big time, he achieved the renown he needed to draw others into his organization.

    Felicity, I totally agree with your statement above, but I don’t see how it lets Bin Laden off the hook for 9/11. Sometimes I used to wonder if 9/11 would have happened if Clinton had removed our troops from Saudi Arabia as he should. I believe the fundamentalist fanatics would have found a reason for the attacks in any case. Al Qaeda is, in a sense, the Muslim world’s KKK. And because most of the Muslim world condemns the 9/11 attacks, I don’t see how they can be justified by any moral culture’s standard.

    Also, when it comes to Bin Laden being a “friend” of the U.S., let’s remember it was the Reagan Administration that considered him so. They were constantly backing the lesser of two evils, to our eventual regret. 9/11 should have taught us that the U.S., alone among nations, has gotten into the habit of creating and arming our own worst enemies.