On CNN the other day I awoke to the following headline:
Did the U.S. overreact to 9/11?
It's an interview with world renown Islamic fundamentalist apologist and student of Neville Chamberlain's Appeasement 101 course in totalitarianism-enablement, Fareed Zakaria.
Here's what the Zak-Attack had to say on the subject...
CNN: You've written that we've overreacted to 9/11 and al Qaeda. In what way do you think that's the case?Amazing. Al Qaeda is a "diminished" force - so...let's just let it be. He's "surprised" why people don't take that point of view seriously...
Zakaria: I mean it in two senses. We didn't spend a lot of time in the year after 9/11 -- once we had taken it on, once we had started chasing these people around the world, measures which I strongly supported then and still strongly support -- whether that had been effective and whether we had broken up the organization and made it far more difficult for them to operate. And therefore, what was the real nature of the threat going forward?
I think it's clear that al Qaeda is a much-diminished force. It has the power to inspire a series of local organizations around the world, but it has very little power to direct these high-profile terrorist attacks itself. The reaction to my point that al Qaeda is weaker than we think has surprised me only because I've made this point since 2004, and I've made it repeatedly.
CNN: Why do you think many people have not agreed with that point?Oh yeah, that's right - it's the EXACT same thing as the Cold War. Question for you Fareed, how many times did the Soviet Union actually conduct a military strike on American soil? I'll give you a hint, the answer is less than one.
Zakaria: I do think we have a tendency in the United States to underestimate the evil intentions of our enemies, but overestimate their capacity, their capabilities.
What we now know, based on all the declassified documents we have available is that in the 1970s and '80s, the U.S. was massively overestimating the military capacity of the Soviet Union...
CNN: So what should be done now?Right, perfect. Let's just go back to chasing terrorists around the world and leaving it up to the intelligence agencies. Because THAT worked out for us REALLY well during the 90's.
Zakaria: This would be the right time for us to take a look and ask ourselves, in order to combat the actual threat that al Qaeda poses, which is real but which is limited in some senses -- what kind of intelligence apparatus do we need, what kind of homeland security apparatus do we need and how much can we do in terms in reallocating, reorganizing and reinventing these national security agencies rather than constantly piling up layer upon layer.
CNN: Why do you think people have missed the change in al Qaeda's capabilities?EXACTLY Fareed. Why worry? The only really dangerous terrorism is the kind that blows up World Trade Centers (9/11), trains (3/11), tourist resorts (Bali Blast), invades downtown cities (Mumbai) and other massive operations. It's really no big deal if an occasional bus explodes, a shopping mall gets hit or a cafe gets bombed. That kind of stuff isn't dangerous. So if all the "jihadi community" does is go after locals, that's not a big deal at all.
Zakaria: We're not looking at trends within the Islamic world where al Qaeda has been politically discredited, trends that are taking place within the jihadi community, where prominent jihadis have broken with al Qaeda.
The reality is that al Qaeda has been unable to organize a single attack [against a major target in recent years], the reality is that when smaller local groups plan terrorist attacks all they can attack are local targets like cafes or train stations and thus kill locals, further alienating the local population and discrediting and delegitimizing al Qaeda and its associated groups.
Can't you see, everybody? We already won! Nevermind the aftermath. Nevermind the fact that the world is roiling all around us. Nevermind that the Iranian lunatics are about to gain access to nuclear weapons. Nevermind that Egypt and Pakistan are on the precipice of being overrun by fanatics. Nevermind that thousands of lives are lost in Somalia, Darfur and all over the world on a regular basis - in the name of radical Islam.
Go back to bed America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed America, your government is in control again.
Sorry Fareed, not me.
If you ask me we didn't react STRONGLY ENOUGH. 9/11 should have been to us what Pearl Harbor Day was: A date which will truly live in infamy. When the United States was suddenly and deliberately sneak attacked by the forces of an imperialist, expansionist enemy whose tentacles surround almost the entire world. An enemy who has grown stronger as we have exposed our weaknesses by refusing to unite against it and make the necessary sacrifices to defeat it - as we did during World War II. An enemy who is on the precipice of achieving nuclear power.
So what if al Qaeda is "diminished" ? What about Iran? Hizballah? Hamas? Islamic Jihad? Taliban? Kashmiri Liberation Front? Chechen Mujahideen? Sudanese Janaweed? What about the unaffiliated terrorists who work and train together in a loose confederation? What about the underwear bomber? Nidal Malik al-Hasan? The attempted Time Square Bomber? Doesn't Fareed (and everyone else that wants to go back to the good old days of burying our heads in the sand) realize that the ONLY REASON we haven't had two more catastrophic attacks in the past year ALONE is because of sheer luck? Don't these people realize that these instances have gone UP since we've adopted a kinder, gentler, scaled back operation?
I haven't forgotten. Nor will I. I know what these people are capable of. I still remember.
I still remember how I felt this morning...every time I watch a movie from the 80's or 90's that these buildings appear it stings a little bit.
And no amount of ridiculous conspiracy theorizing or threat minimization will ever change that.
The lessons of 9/11 live on as long as Islamic totalitarianism continues its attempts to expand and envelope the globe in its backward despotism. Whether it calls itself al Qaeda, Taliban, Hizballah, Islamic Jihad or something else.
The saga continues...whether we want it to or not...
NEVER FORGET
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE
NEVER GROW COMPLACENT
As in the past, here are the top trending news headlines for this year's 9/11 from CNN:
1. Florida reverend calls off Quran burning
2. Nine years after 9/11, photo provides peace
3. 'Prince of pot' gets 5 years in U.S. prison
4. Bodies ID'd in San Bruno explosion, fire
5. Actor: Stabbing girlfriend was a mistake
6. Police arrest man, then give him bike
7. 'Manhattan' ice island splits in two
8. Igor likely to become hurricane
9. 85 inmates escape from prison in Mexico
10. Utility also involved in 2008 gas explosion
And as in the past 9/11 is still taking a backseat to all kinds of nonsense...
More to come.
That's what I think...what's YOUR reaction?
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8 comments:
I like those pictures of the WTC, especially the one at night.
I'll grant you that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it's awfully hard to tell which ones are and which ones aren't.
NEVER FORGET 9/11/2001!
Hi TARNS - good to hear from you again.
I wasn't kidding about it still stinging when the towers appear in movies. I was watching Ghostbusters on TBS or Encore the other day and the scene where Ray and Winston are driving at night (toward the end of the movie)...they go over the Brooklyn Bridge and the camera pans out to a shot of the Twin Towers (not all that different from this picture although the angle is different). All I could think of was how upsetting it is that these buildings aren't there anymore.
Everytime I drive to the Lincoln or Holland tunnels, on the approach to NYC...there is a very clear gap where the towers stood. For people who grew up in this area it's impossible not to feel like something is just...MISSING...from the landscape every time we see the skyline.
To me, it's just incomprehensible sometimes that these buildings that stood over our lives...the people that worked in them...businessmen/women, waiters, chefs, tour guides, secretaries, delivery people, people who yelled at you to buy pictures of yourself on the observation deck...all the life and energy that existed within them...it's all gone.
And it's not an earthquake or hurricane or tsunami that made it disappear...it was PEOPLE. Awful, terrible, crazy, evil people. On a terrible, chaotic day that - especially for people within sight of the towers - literally felt like the end of the world was starting.
I unfortunately go back to that day - those feelings - on a regular basis. Which is why it is so frustrating when people act as if it was just an isolated criminal act...that we "overreacted" to.
Stupid naive idiots...
And here, look at this idiot:
Michael Moore: Build Islamic center on Ground Zero
Another fathead, loudmouth jerk with no concept of reality. My God am I sick of this stupidity already.
It's good to hear from you, too.
That Michael Moore came out in favor of the mosque doesn't surprise me. The twerp adores Cuba. (Now if we can just get him to move there.)
Sick of the stupidity, eh? Tell me about it. The media went on and on for weeks about about that dumb Victory mosque. I about went nuts. All we ever got was how the Muslims need a place to worship and we have to be respectful of thier right to worship and yatta yatta. No one builds a place of worship in business district except to commemorate thier victory!
Then a church wants to burn Korans and the media just screams. Where's the protection of that freedom of religion now?
I never saw the actual towers. Not until 9/11 when they were engulfed in smoke and flame. And now I'll know what they were only through pictures.
Sorry, I that line to say that the twrep adores Cuba and hates the US so what can we expect? (Now if we can just get him to move to Cuba...)
Good work Ron.
Meanwhile, here in Israel, our dhimmi Government is closing the deal with the Palestinazis that will ensure a massive dislocation of Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria.
Mikal Oren, who suited up and helped yank Jews out of their Gaza homes, wrote an op-ed for the LA Times where he flat-out lied whe he said the majority of us in Israel support "the peace process".
Thanks Bob! How are you? How are things in Sderot? I saw a pretty serious rocket attack barrage recently. Obviously they're all serious but this was the biggest attack in a while I think...
Hi Ron,
I stumbled across your blog a few days ago and have been browsing on and off (your patience in dealing with the 9/11 conspiracy theorists is really amazing).
But I have a naive question: you say "we didn't react strongly enough." What do you believe is the concrete course of action to take? Is the display of more military power really going to keep young disgruntled Muslims from fantasizing about death and destruction? What is the criterion for the "war on terror" having been won?
Another, not completely unrelated question: although it may be true that many (if not the majority) of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are caused by local violence, the number of civilians killed by US and "coalition" troops is monstrous. Now it may be that human life has an "objectively" lower value in those parts of the world (read: people have fewer qualms about killing each other), but does that entitle us to apply "their" value judgment instead of ours when dealing with them?
Modern society has succeeded in hiding the human (and moral) cost of violence behind a screen of technology. (Do the following though-experiment: who do you feel is more blameworthy as an individual - a F16 pilot pushing a button, thereby killing a family he has never met nor seen, or a man breaking into the family's home and beheading them with a machete? Instinctively, your feelings about the second man are much more negative. But is that really morally justifiable?)
I'm well aware there are no easy answers to those questions, but I'd just be interested in your thoughts.
Best,
yellowleaves
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