Showing posts with label September 11 attacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label September 11 attacks. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Republican Party: Abe To Dope

I don't know how else to put it, but succinctly: the end is near. The Donald reaching for the Republican nomination is a bull moving through the china shop. There is no telling how much damage he will do. To the Republican Party. I am predicting a total annihilation. America will still be a two party system, but the second party will no longer be the Republican Party. As to what will be the replacement, right now I have no clue. But politics abhors a vacuum. Tea Party?

What top company from 100 years ago is still the top company today? Companies are born and face death at a much faster pace, but political parties are no different. They are but conduits for people's democratic aspirations. They have a shelf life. The Republican Party's time has come.

Abraham Lincoln to Donald Trump has been a nice journey for you Republican Party although, I must say, what an anti-climax!


Hillary Has So Turned The Tables Upside Down
Hillary Looks Ready
Trump On The Wrong Continent?
Hillary Clinton And The Global Gender Basics

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Osama Also Asked For "Proof"

English: Muammar al-Gaddafi at the 12th AU sum...
English: Muammar al-Gaddafi at the 12th AU summit, February 2, 2009, in Addis Abeba. Français : Mouammar Kadhafi au 12e sommet de l'UA, le 2 février 2009 à Addis-Abeba Русский: Муамар Каддафи на 12-м саммите Африканского Союза в Аддис-Абебе. 2 февраля 2009 года. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden also asked for "proof." Assad is asking for "proof." When the facts glare in our faces for the entire world to see, Assad wants "proof."

Syria is not a case of sectarian violence. This is a case of a brutal regime slaughtering its own innocent citizens. Some Islamist radicals with Al Qaeda ties might have picked up the gun, but the Syrian rebel forces by and large are native lovers of regime change and ultimate democracy.

This is a liberation struggle being violently suppressed, with over 100,000 innocents killed and counting, the last thousand or so with chemical weapons. It does not getting any more black and white than this.

America should do now what it should have done a year ago. The red line is when a dictator starts slaughtering innocents. I can understand why sending in American troops can get messy and costly and open ended. But no ground troops are necessary. They were not necessary in Libya. A few billion dollars worth of air strikes is all it took to get rid of Gaddafi. Assad has to go. This would be the first serious step America takes against the brutal regime in Iran. That is another regime that mercilessly slaughtered its own people at massive scales in 2009.
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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

The Scary Version

US propaganda leaflet used in Afghanistan.Image via WikipediaI have pushed the thought that elements of the Pakistani army and intelligence played a role in creating and sustaining the safe house for Bin Laden. These are the same elements who attempted to kill Musharraf when he was in power - more than once. These are the same people who got Benazir Bhutto killed.

The Bin Laden Operation

What if that is not true? What if Bin Laden did all this on his own? That would be the scary version.

He picked the right town, obviously. While America spent a decade launching drone attacks in the rugged mountains, he lived his quiet life in a fancy Islamabad suburb. If anything he had shown a knack for out of the box thinking. The 9/11 attack itself was the ultimate act of out of the box thinking. It was so unexpected.

He needed to move money to buy that plot of land, to build himself a fortress. He needed money to safely move in there. And I am pretty sure he had contingency plans in place to get him out of there. If he had had the slightest hint he was being watched, he would have gone elsewhere, somewhere he felt equally safe.

So this guy had resources at his disposal. He had a sophisticated network of well connected people. He had tons of money. He had donors. More than anything else he had his brain. He thought things through. It took America a decade to get him. The mightiest power in human history took 10 full years to zero in on him. You have to give the guy some credit.

And you have to ask, what did he leave behind?

My political instincts tell me the Al Qaeda thunder has rightfully been stolen by the Arabs braving the streets for democracy. I have long advocated draining the swamp instead of just going after mosquitoes. And the military details of this operation are not my specialty, but there is plenty of reason to believe vigilance has to be maintained. All it would take is one attack 1/10th the size of 9/11 to send all actors right back to the drawing board all over again.

Think about it, Bin Laden's final place of hiding was as out of the box and as bold as his most spectacular attack. The guy kept thinking to the very end.

9/11 happened. Madrid happened. London happened. Bali happened. Mumbai happened. It is not like 9/11 happened and that was it. This thing is not exactly over. Vigilance has to be maintained but the best foot forward is to support the democracy movements in the region to the hilt.

The Bin Laden Operation
Barack Said In 2007 He Would Do This
Did Pakistan Know Where Bin Laden Was?
Dead, Dead, Dead
Bin Laden Was In A Huge House
Bin Laden: Dead

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