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The old duffer has a few words to say, all right, about Thom's topic today. 60,000 words in fact, in a book I'm just now finishing, "Derelict Democracy and the War on Terrorism: American's Interlocked Tragedies."
Here are some things we know (documented in 400+ endnotes).
Let's start with the Afghan war. 1. In December of 2000, after th…
The old duffer has a few words to say, all right, about Thom's topic today. 60,000 words in fact, in a book I'm just now finishing, "Derelict Democracy and the War on Terrorism: American's Interlocked Tragedies."
Here are some things we know (documented in 400+ endnotes).
Let's start with the Afghan war.
1. In December of 2000, after the bombing of the USS Cole, the Taliban offered (in a meeting with U.S. officials in Frankfurt, Germany) either to assassinate Osama bin Laden or to turn him over into U.S. custody. A month later George Bush took office. He declined the offer in early February. He did so again in March, once more in June, then again just nine days before 9/11, and for the last time just five days afterward. (In Quetta, Pakistan: this is the meeting Thom refers to.) A "War on Terrorism" isn't possible without an iconic terrorist alive, at large, and in residence.
2. In early August of 2001, after negotiations with the Taliban failed (for a pipeline route across Afghanistan for the Unocal Corporation) the Bush Administration promised them "...military action before the end of October." 9/11 was six weeks in the future.
3. The Taliban offered to surrender unconditionally, to disarm and disband, on December 5, 2001, just two months after Bush invaded, "... effectively ensuring the Taliban could no longer function as a military entity."
(Details here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/08/18/taliban-surrendered-2001) Bush refused the offer, needing his troops to remain in the Mideast--to attack Iraq, his prime reason for the GWOT.
Now the Iraq war:
1. In February, 2003 Saddam Hussein offered to enter voluntary exile, in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt. Separated from his weapons (real or imagined) he could threaten no one. This would give Bush the "regime change" he said he was after, but this offer was refused, as well. Bush needed a "terrorist" alive in Iraq.
2. Almost a year before Congress authorized the attack on Iraq Bush ordered his Defense Department to undertake planning the invasion. (Two sources vary slightly, but it was late in 2001.)
3. In the same time period the State Department was developing a scheme to transfer control of 87% of Iraq's undeveloped oil reserves to Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, Royal Dutch/Shell, and BP/Amoco.
About 9/11:
1. Throughout the spring and summer of 2001 Bush had dozens of accurate and site-specific warnings of bin Laden's intentions long before 9/11, from domestic intelligence agencies and foreign sources in Italy, Israel, Germany, France, Morocco, Egypt, India, Russia, the UK, Argentina, Jordan, and the Cayman Islands.
2. In the files of the national security agencies the details of Project Bojinka are archived. It was a mid-1990's al Qaeda plot to crash hijacked airliners into the Pentagon, the CIA headquarters, the White House, the Transamerica Tower in San Francisco, the Sears Tower in Chicago, and the World Trade Center in New York. Its architect was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who later succeeded with a scaled-down version of his plan on September 11, 2001.
In recent years George W. Bush was awarded six national, prestigious awards for moral courage, international leadership, and for men of "... courage and conviction who have strived to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe." He has received honorary degrees from eleven universities and was named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine. Twice.
And so it goes. (Hat tip to Kurt Vonnegut.)
George W Bush is a murderer