I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised to see the left now crying how the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on our country really wasn’t all that bad. After all, since pretty much right after the collapse of the buildings, the anti-war left has been opposed to defending our nation and morons like Texas Congressman Ron Paul have been steadily blaming the attacks on America.
But this article from Newsweek, authored by a naturalized citizen from the nation of India does surprise me somewhat. Not that he is considered a far leftist, but in that originally, he was in support of the fight against terrorists.
The author, Fareed Zakaria penned a cover article shortly after the horrific attacks, “Why Do They Hate Us?” where he said,
“bin Laden and his followers are not an isolated cult like Aum Shinrikyo or the Branch Davidians or demented loners like Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber. They come out of a culture that reinforces their hostility, distrust and hatred of the West--and of America in particular. This culture does not condone terrorism but fuels the fanaticism that is at its heart. To say that Al Qaeda is a fringe group may be reassuring, but it is false.”
In an April 2003 New York Magazine article on him, Zakaria said of the Iraq invasion,
“The place is so dysfunctional, any stirring of the pot is good. America’s involvement in the region is for the good.”
Yet, within 2 months he was penning articles opposing the very actions he supported and writing articles critical of President Bush criticizing him for the
“failure to conduct diplomacy and attempt, or even pretend to attempt, to build an international consensus for our action in the Gulf.”
By 2007, he adamantly opposed the very surge that has now brought Iraq some semblance of a beginning to self determination. In 2008, he admitted it had been a success.
Now, as we approach the anniversary of that horrific day, he writes What America Has Lost, It’s clear we overreacted to 9/11 where he begins his screed,
“Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat? Since that gruesome day in 2001, once governments everywhere began serious countermeasures, Osama bin Laden’s terror network has been unable to launch a single major attack on high-value targets in the United States and Europe. While it has inspired a few much smaller attacks by local jihadis, it has been unable to execute a single one itself. Today, Al Qaeda’s best hope is to find a troubled young man who has been radicalized over the Internet, and teach him to stuff his underwear with explosives.”
Zakaria impresses me that he would like for all of us to believe only Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are behind radical Islamic terrorism, which is pure folly. Al Qaeda is but one radical group and perhaps with the coordinated attacks of September 11, 2001, the most successful.
Apparently he has forgotten, or ignores, the 2008 Mumbai attacks in his own native India “killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308” by the Islamist militant terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Zakaria originally labeled himself a “conservative,” but it is clear he is now anything but. Troubling in seeking the basis for his views is in reading the New York magazine article linked above where his family is identified as “practicing Muslims” and that “He’s an Indian-born, Yale- and Harvard-educated Muslim.”
Is it possible that he is now in agreement with a take over of America by Islam? One could easily assume that with his article advocating the construction of the Ground Zero Mosque within the shadow of the rubble of the World Trade Center attacked on September 11, 2001 as he says,
“I believe we should promote Muslim moderates right here in America.”
I have my very serious doubts he would really call for the promotion of Christianity or Judaism “right here in America” by calling for the construction of a Cathedral or a Synagogue on the site.
While our First Amendment does grant us freedom of religion, it does not call for the promotion of any religion within America. It only gives individuals equal rights to all to practice their religion.
While Zakaria enjoys the freedom of speech granted by our constitution, he is becoming a dangerous person in that he seems to have joined the voices of those who wish to lull America back to sleep to the all too real threat of radical Islamist groups seeking world domination and the destruction of the west.
Hence, in reply to his comment on “overreaction to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,” I’d like to recall for him,
Nov. 4, 1979 - Iran Hostage Crisis, After President Carter agreed to admit the Shah of Iran into the US, Iranian radicals seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66 American diplomats hostage. Thirteen hostages were soon released, but the remaining 53 were held until their release Jan. 20, 1981.
April 1983 - A suicide car bombing against the U.S. embassy in Beirut kills 63, including 17 Americans.
October 1983 - A suicide car bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut kills 241 servicemen. A simultaneous attack on a French base kills 58 paratroopers.
June 1985 - A TWA airliner is hijacked over the Mediterranean, the start of a two-week hostage ordeal. The last 39 passengers are eventually released in Damascus after being held in various locations in Beirut.
August 1985 - A car bomb at a U.S. military base in Frankfurt, Germany kills two and injures 20. A U.S. soldier murdered for his identity papers is found a day after the explosion.
October 1985 - Palestinian terrorists hijack the cruise liner Achille Lauro (in response to the Israeli attack on PLO headquarters in Tunisia) Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly, wheelchair-bound American, is killed and thrown overboard.
November 1985 - Hijackers aboard an Egyptair flight kill one American. Egyptian commandos later storm the aircraft on the isle of Malta, and 60 people are killed.
December 1985 - Simultaneous suicide attacks are carried out against U.S. and Israeli check-in desks at Rome and Vienna international airports. 20 people are killed in the two attacks, including four terrorists.
April 5, 1986 - A bomb destroys the LaBelle discotheque in West Berlin. The disco was known to be frequented by U.S. servicemen. The attack kills one American and one German woman and wounds 150, including 44 Americans.
April 1986 - An explosion damages a TWA flight as it prepares to land in Athens, Greece. Four people are killed when they are sucked out of the aircraft.
Dec. 21, 1988 - A bomb destroys Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 are killed including 189 Americans, as are 11 people on the ground.
February 1993 - A bomb in a van explodes in the underground parking garage in New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and wounding 1,042.
Nov. 13, 1995 - A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills seven people, five of them American military and civilian advisers for National Guard training. The "Tigers of the Gulf," "Islamist Movement for Change," and "Fighting Advocates of God" claim responsibility.
June 25, 1996 - A bomb aboard a fuel truck explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 U.S. military personnel are killed in the Khobar Towers housing facility, and 515 are wounded, including 240 Americans.
Aug. 7, 1998 - Terrorist bombs destroy the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi, 12 Americans are among the 291 killed, and over 5,000 are wounded, including 6 Americans. In Dar es Salaam, one U.S. citizen is wounded among the 10 killed and 77 injured.
Oct. 12, 2000 - A terrorist bomb damages the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.
And of course, the horrific events of September 11, 2001.
No Mr. Zakaria, we did not over react. The country is losing its will to fight and defend ourselves with your help.
Posts
9 comments:
Excellent post Lew. Zakaria USED to be on my must read list, but no longer and for exactly the reasons you have enunciated. Well Done Sir, Very Well Done.
I use to listed to Zakaria on CNN but lately I have noticed a shift and I now tune him out as he is just annoying me with his drivel.
Overreact????
As the polls suggest, most Americans aren't very concerned with the al-Qaeda threat anymore, and rightly so. The terrorists didn't strike at Cleveland, Kansas City, Denver, Des Moines, or Green Bay. The people of NYC and DC should be as cautious as they find necessary for there peace of mind. Setting up a federal national security state nation wide only serves as an opportunity to coverup government corruption and ineptitude. As your article proves, the vast majority of attacks are against US soldiers in foreign lands. If our government stopped propping up dictators, occupying countries, killing innocent civilians, and profiting from the system as a whole, the threat of dedicated martyrs avenging their people would be nil. Writers such as yourself are among the last to realize this.
It's hard to tell, JT. Are you a flaming liberal or a Ron Paulie?
And yes, most of the attacks WERE against others on foreign soil.
We are hardly a "federal national security state" and I would wager you would be hard pressed to state what liberties you have lost due to security measures.
Oh, and these security measures are tame compared to others I was subjected to.
I am left to believe you agree with Ron Paul that America deserved what it got September 11, 2001. What a shame that a free people might think something as that, not realizing how our freedom is envied and very fragile at the same time.
Oh yes, and as for "Writers such as yourself are among the last to realize this," I assume you did not bother to read the top of the blog.
Been there, done that, bought the tee shirt and came back home.
If you agree with Fareed Zakaria, I actually pity you as you would be willing to give up your freedoms and everyone else's. If you don't agree with him, you sure could have fooled me.
Do yourself a favor and purchase a copy of the book "This Time We Win," revisiting the Tet Offensive, by James S. Robbins.
Try to learn what you are talking about instead of just spouting talking points.
I am most certainly a Paul supporter, and no liberal. If you believe that sending American sons and daughters overseas to be occupiers (note: in the wrong morally) is nothing more than a talking point, it is clear that you have no blood in the battle, right? If a foreign power strong-armed their way into this country, perhaps you would invite them in and ask for a job as a bureaucrat. Surely, you would resent their bases and their oppression, and undermine their every operational objective, right? What if your family was killed in the crossfire, as "collateral damage"? Or is it completely different because America is so good and just?
Believe me, I thought like you did until a few years ago, when the overall corruption of the Pentagon and US government became so clear that the talking points spouted by Rove, Cheney, and the rest made me nauseous. How you can feign outrage at anyone who sees differently is a blind-spot in your conscience.
No blood in the battle? After 8 years, 1 month and 4 days active duty in the U.S. Army, including 18 months boots on the ground in the Central Highlands of South Viet Nam, I'd say I have plenty of blood in the battle.
Not only that, after Viet Nam, I was in Germany for the 1972 Olympics and the rise of the Baeder-Meionhoff Gang, aka the Red Brigade.
Your admission of following that politikook Ron Paul is all I need to hear.
I hate to tell you, but foreign powers are strong arming their way into America and idiots like you turn a blind eye to keeping them out.
Then again, you all would rather see American streets running with blood of American children before even thinking about stopping them.
I actually pity people like you that have drank so heavily of the Ron Paul Kool-aid.
You don't deserve the freedom and liberty others spilled their blood for you to have.
If you served, I feel even more sorry for you as you have forgotten what America stands for.
First of all, I'm talking about blood IN THIS FIGHT - family over there now. This war would go on forever, and we're broke. No soldier should return from battle to a nation bankrupt and in receivership.
My thinking evolved, and Ron Paul speaks truth like none other in the nation's capital. We can go back and forth forever, but despite our differences, I wish we could find common ground (because I'm sure there is alot).
About the national security state: Is it not apparent that Homeland Security, in light of the trillions paid to the bankers through TARP and the destruction to US sovereignty, is in place to protect the government from the people (not al qaeda)? Have you seen the MIAC and DHS documents, that states that if you are pro-life, pro-Constitution, anti-UN, pro second amendment activists, you are dubbed potential terrorists? Just google "protest Pentagon terrorism" where the pentagon states that protest itself is low level terrorism? Did you see any video from the G-20 meetings in Pittsburgh last year, where non-violent students were attacked by riot cops with LRAD sound cannons, and then processed and mocked by army personnel, in a scene that sounded like abu Ghraib.
I'd love to send you tons of links to stories where the Patriot Act is used in non-terror related cases, foretelling an end to Habeus Corpus. Look up the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practices (2 MILLION frisks between 2006-2009), completely desecrating of the 4th Amendment.
How about NORTHCOMM, the Homeland Brigade, ostensibly to respond to a terror attack, but truly for ANY emergency declared by the President. That's 400,000 troops on US streets.
What about in New Orleans, where after Hurricane Katrina, marines went into wealthy, high and dry areas to disarm the citizens. The news reports are on youtube, check it out.
Moreover, there's a huge domestic intelligence apparatus: NSA spying, surveillance drones, fusion centers (and their reports demonizing nonviolent activists).
Knock-and-talks, Sneak-and-peek, civilian inmate labor program (ARMY). Did you hear about tea parties being banned by municipalities, Celebrations of the Constitution banned in the town square? These things are easily verifiable; come on, is this what you fought for?
Well JT, I see you are a typical Paulistinian ready to argue nonsense ad nauseum. I laugh at how you THINK you have become “enlightened,” much like LSD users in the 1960’s. They weren’t either.
Truth is, ya’ll are just another cult.
Oh, sorry to disappoint, but I do have “blood in this battle” too, but prefer to stand on my own experience, not that of others, even though relatives.
Funny thing is, you all cry “this war could go on forever” when what you really mean is we should surrender to the oppressors. Hate to tell you, but radical Islam is hell bent on world domination, have been for centuries and they play on weak-minded people like you Paulistinians to undermine the defenses of those they desire to conquer.
So, our alternatives are fight or surrender as they have no intention of stopping.
You can throw out all of the diversionary rhetoric you desire, but I asked for you to list what specific liberties and freedoms you personally have lost. As usual, you too can list none, just try to indicate others might have.
Paranoia?
I doubt you’ll find too many who agree with what happened in New Orleans, but that is no reason to exaggerate the violations against citizens. It was every day citizens who were violated by Police order. You know, the Police Department that was sued and lost and, last I heard, somehow cannot find many of the guns they confiscated.
Also, the “wealthy” there came under scrutiny for hiring Blackwater agents for defensive measures.
As for “what I fought for,” it sure wasn’t to strip my country and leave it defenseless when we are facing possible the most brutal enemy we have ever faced.
Wake up, there are evil people in the world who mean us harm and will do whatever is necessary to impose their misguided view of a Holy Book on others.
You would do well to stop listening to a whiny cult leader from Texas. The last one down there did not work out too well for his misguided followers.
Oh, and I hardly count edited and manipulative "reports" someone throws up on You Tube as "verified."
Post a Comment