The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, August 18, 2005
A mind wanders: between Bosnia, 9/11, Able Danger, Nicole Kidman, and Sandy "Socks" Berger
You know it is interesting how the mind works. You ponder the news over the last several days, news that US Military intelligence had Mohammed Atta cold, knew he was leading an Al Qaeda cell, knew he was aligned with Bin Laden, (who Clinton had once yucked it up about, saying "heh, heh...we tried to kill him, but we missed him.." Or something along those lines. Well shoot...). And yet information about Bin Laden's right hand being in country never reached the President. Maybe he was just too busy showing Chelsea around Africa or something.
We learn that the reason that this information (reportedly) did not get communicated to President Clinton, was that somewhere along the line before the news got to the "Chief" it was, well, buried, squelched, or lost somewhere in the Pentagon. Kind of like those Whitewater files that had been under subpoena for two years, that one morning mysteriously and suddenly showed up on Hillary's White House coffee table. But I digress.
We also learn that, for some unknown (*ahem*Jamie Gorelick*ahem*) reason, although all of this Atta information was given to the 9/11 Commission, under oath, by a Lt. Col. in Military Intelligence, they chose not to include this information in their report. And we also notice that this was just about the same moment in time (right before the report was made public, in fact), that good old Sandy Berger, Clinton's former National Security Advisor, gets caught stealing classified information from the National Archives by stuffing it down his pants and socks (after the fact, mind you, and after "losing" portions of what he "took by mistake").
Then I get home from work, and I happened across this bit of Clinton trivia from the good old days in Bosnia, courtesy of Doug Hanson, in today's American Thinker (excerpt begins):
I noted that Clinton tried to have it both ways while trying to be the peacemaker during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. He publicly supported sanctions that would stop the importation of weapons and other “aid” into the battle zone, while looking the other way as hundreds of Muhjadeen and weapons from Middle Eastern countries flowed in to help the Bosniac Muslims in their fight for independence.
Naturally, the best of liberal intentions resulted in Bosnia becoming a “one-stop shop” for training and supporting terrorists on Europe’s doorstep. In other words, Bosnia is now a terrorist way-station, where fighters can pick up guns, money, and forged documents. The foundation for this network, of course, was established by the “Muslim foreign fighters” who settled in Bosnia after the war. The US legacy media has largely ignored this story, but now CNS staff writer Sherrie Gossett reinforces what readers of AT had learned in July of last year.
Naturally, the best of liberal intentions resulted in Bosnia becoming a “one-stop shop” for training and supporting terrorists on Europe’s doorstep. In other words, Bosnia is now a terrorist way-station, where fighters can pick up guns, money, and forged documents. The foundation for this network, of course, was established by the “Muslim foreign fighters” who settled in Bosnia after the war. The US legacy media has largely ignored this story, but now CNS staff writer Sherrie Gossett reinforces what readers of AT had learned in July of last year.
Further down in Hanson's piece, after filling in relevant details to document the case along the way, we come to this passage:
Over ten years later, Gossett provides specifics as to who was involved with these Muhajadeen. She quotes Christopher Brown, a research associate with the Transitions to Democracy Project at the Hudson Institute, who said,
“Al Qaeda cells were set up in Bosnia in the early 1990s by Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, and bin Laden was said to visit the area twice in the mid-1990s."
Brown also noted that, “Iran was very involved in supporting the Islamist separatist movement in Bosnia, and Hezbollah was doing training there in the 1990s."
An opposing viewpoint is also presented in the article. Marko Attila Hoare, research fellow at the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge, seems to think that the notion of Jihadist camps is greatly exaggerated. He also thinks that the effort to spread extremist Jihad into Bosnia has been a failure. But defense analyst Frederick Peterson sees in differently:
"There doesn't need to be a majority to be a threat. When push comes to shove, they will identify with the side most like them and either be silent, harbor or abet," Peterson said. "We know that the Mujahadeen in Bosnia were al Qaeda and Iranian-sponsored, and they are still there today." [emphasis added]
In preparation for the handover from the US, the EU and UN had to admit that serious problems with terrorist networks still existed in the region. For this reason, hundreds of US intelligence operatives have had to remain in the Balkans even though our ground troops departed late last year. At least for a few hundred Americans, the Bosnian quagmire continues.
It’s difficult to predict the fallout from the 9-11 Commission cover-ups, and the reaction to these new details on the Balkan terror network. It’s entirely possible that more people who observed, or had a hand in the operations of the Clinton national security apparatus will continue to come forward to expose the true nature of the former President’s deceptions in dealing with terrorists.
This may be the beginning of something big. Brace yourself - it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
After digesting all this and making a couple of other posts, the wife and I watch the action movie "The Peacemaker" that we Tivoed. Excellent film! A Bosnian muslim diplomat steals a nuke from the Russians and smuggles an SS-18 into New York city and starts the timer...but, at least in the movie there was a "happy ending". They disarm the nuke in the nick of time, and then George Clooney actually asks Nicole Kidman out on a date....but I digress again.
If I am not mistaken, the dots are beginning to connect here. A bit of a chronology of what we have just covered:
We learn that the reason that this information (reportedly) did not get communicated to President Clinton, was that somewhere along the line before the news got to the "Chief" it was, well, buried, squelched, or lost somewhere in the Pentagon. Kind of like those Whitewater files that had been under subpoena for two years, that one morning mysteriously and suddenly showed up on Hillary's White House coffee table. But I digress.
We also learn that, for some unknown (*ahem*Jamie Gorelick*ahem*) reason, although all of this Atta information was given to the 9/11 Commission, under oath, by a Lt. Col. in Military Intelligence, they chose not to include this information in their report. And we also notice that this was just about the same moment in time (right before the report was made public, in fact), that good old Sandy Berger, Clinton's former National Security Advisor, gets caught stealing classified information from the National Archives by stuffing it down his pants and socks (after the fact, mind you, and after "losing" portions of what he "took by mistake").
Then I get home from work, and I happened across this bit of Clinton trivia from the good old days in Bosnia, courtesy of Doug Hanson, in today's American Thinker (excerpt begins):
I noted that Clinton tried to have it both ways while trying to be the peacemaker during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. He publicly supported sanctions that would stop the importation of weapons and other “aid” into the battle zone, while looking the other way as hundreds of Muhjadeen and weapons from Middle Eastern countries flowed in to help the Bosniac Muslims in their fight for independence.
Naturally, the best of liberal intentions resulted in Bosnia becoming a “one-stop shop” for training and supporting terrorists on Europe’s doorstep. In other words, Bosnia is now a terrorist way-station, where fighters can pick up guns, money, and forged documents. The foundation for this network, of course, was established by the “Muslim foreign fighters” who settled in Bosnia after the war. The US legacy media has largely ignored this story, but now CNS staff writer Sherrie Gossett reinforces what readers of AT had learned in July of last year.
Naturally, the best of liberal intentions resulted in Bosnia becoming a “one-stop shop” for training and supporting terrorists on Europe’s doorstep. In other words, Bosnia is now a terrorist way-station, where fighters can pick up guns, money, and forged documents. The foundation for this network, of course, was established by the “Muslim foreign fighters” who settled in Bosnia after the war. The US legacy media has largely ignored this story, but now CNS staff writer Sherrie Gossett reinforces what readers of AT had learned in July of last year.
Further down in Hanson's piece, after filling in relevant details to document the case along the way, we come to this passage:
Over ten years later, Gossett provides specifics as to who was involved with these Muhajadeen. She quotes Christopher Brown, a research associate with the Transitions to Democracy Project at the Hudson Institute, who said,
“Al Qaeda cells were set up in Bosnia in the early 1990s by Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, and bin Laden was said to visit the area twice in the mid-1990s."
Brown also noted that, “Iran was very involved in supporting the Islamist separatist movement in Bosnia, and Hezbollah was doing training there in the 1990s."
An opposing viewpoint is also presented in the article. Marko Attila Hoare, research fellow at the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge, seems to think that the notion of Jihadist camps is greatly exaggerated. He also thinks that the effort to spread extremist Jihad into Bosnia has been a failure. But defense analyst Frederick Peterson sees in differently:
"There doesn't need to be a majority to be a threat. When push comes to shove, they will identify with the side most like them and either be silent, harbor or abet," Peterson said. "We know that the Mujahadeen in Bosnia were al Qaeda and Iranian-sponsored, and they are still there today." [emphasis added]
In preparation for the handover from the US, the EU and UN had to admit that serious problems with terrorist networks still existed in the region. For this reason, hundreds of US intelligence operatives have had to remain in the Balkans even though our ground troops departed late last year. At least for a few hundred Americans, the Bosnian quagmire continues.
It’s difficult to predict the fallout from the 9-11 Commission cover-ups, and the reaction to these new details on the Balkan terror network. It’s entirely possible that more people who observed, or had a hand in the operations of the Clinton national security apparatus will continue to come forward to expose the true nature of the former President’s deceptions in dealing with terrorists.
This may be the beginning of something big. Brace yourself - it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
After digesting all this and making a couple of other posts, the wife and I watch the action movie "The Peacemaker" that we Tivoed. Excellent film! A Bosnian muslim diplomat steals a nuke from the Russians and smuggles an SS-18 into New York city and starts the timer...but, at least in the movie there was a "happy ending". They disarm the nuke in the nick of time, and then George Clooney actually asks Nicole Kidman out on a date....but I digress again.
If I am not mistaken, the dots are beginning to connect here. A bit of a chronology of what we have just covered:
- The Clinton Administration (with Berger at NSA and Wesley Clark in Bosnia) took decisive action, when Europe would not, that allowed a Bosnian Muslim regime to win its independence from Serbian nationalists who did not play "nice" with the Islamists who were also trying to kill them.
- The regime resulting from the US intervention then allowed al Zwahiri, Bin Laden's right hand man to smuggle in arms and train "Muslim Freedom Fighters" -- who are now blowing up women, children, and Marines in Iraq. Along with...al Zwahiri! The American intel units who stayed behind knew about this, and so presumably did Clark (commander of the operation) and Berger.
- In 1999-2000, American Military Intelligence in the Clinton Adminisration learns that a man named Mohammed Atta, a trained member of Al Qaeda (run by the man Clinton "tried to kill") is operating a terror cell, and is in the US. No action is taken because the Prez supposedly does not get this informaton. Supposedly...
- Bush gets elected.
- 9/11 happens
- The hearings take place. We keep hearing about this "intelligence wall" that was constructed to keep intelligence agencies from sharing information (I mean, why would any sane person knowingly want there to be sharing of information between the Pentagon and the CIA or FBI that might protect our National Security? Heaven forbid!)
- Right before the report is released (which turns out to be as sterile as a hospital room, we hear that Sandy Berger has been having "adventures" at the National Archives. Apparently some intel information related to the Bosnian conflict...and (perhaps) some 2000 military intel as well. Well only Sandy really knows, right?
- A Lt. Colonel testifies this week that he told the 9/11 commission that he recommended reporting up the food chain the information about Atta in 2000, but was prevented from doing so (By the "wall"? Or by someone's order? And where did that order come from?)
- The Commission admits to receiving the information (also this week) but did not consider the knowledge that US intelligence knew about Atta's cell--a year before 9/11--to be relevant enough to include in its report??? Come again???
- Apparently not, because I sure didn't find that detail in my copy of the report...
- And now we get this really interesting reminder of things that were going on back in Bosnia, also with the knowledge of Clintons Military Intelligence (and let's not forget his good buddy General Clark, who was leading the military effort in the Bosnian theater--the same General Clark who ran in the primaries and ensured that no centrist Democrat got nominated that was strong enough to beat Bush).
It's enough to make one's head spin. Now I don't want to be accused of being like that Mel Gibson character in Conspiracy Theory. But count me in: I think Hanson is onto something when he suggests that this is the tip of what may be a very very large iceberg.
And by the way: two thumbs up on "The Peacemaker". Clooney and Kidman are great. Joe Bob says check it out. But it hits a little close to home after reading all this news lately.
I mean, I cannot even imagine why the Clintons and their cronies would ever want to bury information that showed them asleep at the wheel and knee deep in alligators: basically with Mohammed Atta and al Zarqawi right under their noses. Or why the 9/11 Commission, comprised of people in positions of power at the time, chose to ignore such damning information. Ah, but they took care of that aspirin factory, didn't they?
And, what do you know, Hillary appears to be running for Prez, and has suddenly found religion about "protecting the border" and other sudden "concerns" about our "National Security"? And, my, wouldn't Wesley make an attractive VP... Admit it, don't you really miss the Clintons. They ran such a tight ship on security matters--(so Sandy has a little trouble with classified documents...) So trustworthy--no hint or history of sleaze or scandal. Always shooting so straight with the public. No cover ups (I mean, missing documents show up on coffee tables all the time...). Such "friends" of our fighting men and women...And the band plays on....
But hell, who cares about this stuff? This country needs to know what Cindy Sheehan had to say today-- quick, someone turn on the "news."
Or, on second thought, maybe not.
