The Times Online’s account of the offensive against the insurgent strongholds in Mosul entitled “Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda” captures one part of the Coalition’s efforts to shape the battlefield in the final months of the Bush administration’s tenure. Readers may recall that when General Petraeus briefed Congress on the situation in Iraq in April, 2008 he produced a map which contrasted al-Qaeda’s Iraqi network in December, 2006 and compared it with the situation in March, 2008. Steady effort had chopped the continuous network of infiltration routes which once led from the Syrian border down the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to converge on Baghdad into disconnected segments. But like a snake severed in pieces by a hatchet yet still spitting venom, the largest remaining piece was centered around Mosul, still clinging tenuously to ratlines anchored on the nearby Syrian frontier. It was that last al-Qaeda redoubt which was the subject of a furious attack by Iraqi forces codenamed “Lion’s Roar”, according to the Times Online.
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.
A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
The Times correspondent wrote that while progress in the north was palpable, al-Qaeda was still hanging on by its fingernails. “Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes,” and that Al-Qaeda had been reduced to “hit and run operations”; that while “American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.”
Meanwhile in the south, another drama was unfolding, this time against the battered forces of Moqtada al-Sadr. Bill Roggio reported the arrest of senior Mahdi army leaders by Iraqi security forces in its former sanctuaries in Sadr City. It was part of larger and continuing campaign to dismantle the Iranian-supported militias in the south. “Clashes broke out in the Sadr City district in northeastern Baghdad after Iraqi forces detained a senior Sadrist leader, an Iraqi news outlet reported … The move in Sadr comes one day after Iraqi soldiers closed the Sadrist office in the neighborhood of Shula, where the Sadrist maintain a strong presence. This is the second Sadrist office to be closed in Shula since May. … Iraqi and US forces continue to target Mahdi Army leaders in Baghdad and the wider South. Coalition special operations forces captured “senior member of Iranian-trained Special Groups leadership” in the Karadah district in southeastern Baghdad. ”
But like al-Qaeda in the the north, Sadr’s Army, while reeling, was still not down for the count. A car bomb attack in the Sha’ab neighborhood in northern Baghdad which targeted a police patrol and killed six Iraqis was a reminder of that. The fight against the proxy armies like the al-Qaeda and the Shi’ite militias are protracted and painstaking affairs. It was like fighting a chronic disease; it might be under control and its victims might even lead normal lives. But danger was never far away.
The difficulty of the process was underscored by the long and arduous fight against the biggest proxy army of all: Hezbollah. The Small Wars Journal looks how both sides of the decades-long struggle were seeking a truce in the form of the Syria-Israeli peace talks now under way. Both sides might have had enough; at least for the present. David J. Haimsky writes in Small Wars Journal that while Syria has failed to regain the territory in 1967 despite decades of support for Hezbollah, Israel had been unable to land a knockout blow against it. This inconclusive struggle might drive both combatants to consider calling a time out. But while the main effect of a peace agreement between Israel and Syria would be to reduce Syrian support for Hezbollah in Lebanon it would also have the side-benefit of further draining away logistics for al-Qaeda in Iraq. Because there was always the danger the al-Qaeda snake would regenerate once US forces drew down, diplomats were anxious to salt the stumps of its connections with Syria now.
Syria, being one of the main entry points of foreign fighters to Iraq, has created numerous obstacles for the US during the course of its counterinsurgency efforts there. Notwithstanding the fact that al Qaeda in Iraq is currently in decline, the battle is far from over and the revival of this terrorist network remains a real possibility. If Syria is to be compelled to cut its support to extremist organizations and crack down on their activities within its borders as part of a comprehensive peace deal, al Qaeda in Iraq would be further isolated, thus, improving the capacity of the US and Coalition Forces to stabilize the country. The anticipated draw-down of US forces in Iraq will constrain the Coalition’s ability to root out al Qaeda, which further magnifies the importance of this measure.
Whether or not an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement can be concluded before the end of the Bush administration remains to be seen. Also uncertain, but less so is the fate of the status of forces negotiations between the United States and Iraq. That agreement will determine the extent of long-term US presence in Iraq and the authority of the host government over US forces and operations there. The negotiations have alternatively been reported as dead in the water, in progress or a done deal, depending on the source. Barack Obama’s recent walkback from his promise to abandon Iraq may be aimed, in part, at keeping the parties from closing out of a fear of what a possible Obama administration might do.
Taken together these developments provide a rough, but fairly probable picture of what the situation will look like when the Bush Administration leaves office. Domestically, Al-Qaeda will probably have been reduced to insignificance, but remain dangerous within its dormancy. The Iranian militias will likely have been reduced to a shadow of their former selves, but still capable of occasional mayhem. On the international front, Iran will enter 2009 still unbeaten but Teheran will be casting an anxious eye at its protege, Hezbollah, which the US and Israelis will be trying to strangle. The Ayatollahs will look warily at the new Iraq, not only for the reasons of traditional geopolitical rivalry but also because the Iraqi Shi’ite south could be a sanctuary for political subversion against it. Most of all Teheran will be closely watching the United States bases in Iraq, knowing their utility goes beyond preserving Iraqi sovereignty but also as points from which the US can exploit any weaknesses in Iran.
All in all, the incoming administration will inherit a winning, but not a won hand in the region. Whether it holds up or folds up is up to them.
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37 Comments
1. Jamie Irons:Terrific analysis, as usual.
What is truly remarkable is how, in a few months, the news about Iraq has shifted, in the international press to an occasionally almost hopeful tone, as in the article cited here, and in the domestic press to (stunned?) silence.
That B.H.O. is already executing the first part of his pirouette betokens real “change,” –unlike that which preaches, however.
Jamie Irons
Jul 6, 2008 - 9:45 am 2. Lifeofthemind:Personally I always thought that the road to Baghdad went through Damascus rather than the other way around. There are historical arguments for both approaches. Given the suspicion that the public would not support a WW-II style series of operations it made sense to invade the center of the problem to change the regional dynamic and threaten both Iran and its proxy Syria. The Iraq operation also gave us a strategic cover over the Gulf which would have been very exposed to Iran and Iraq if the US had struck due East from Lebanon. The Syrian would however have had other benefits that are now obvious. Allowing a stronger bastion for the long haul, particularly if Bush had been able to push straight into Anbar. Given the French interference that kept the 4th Infantry Division from invading out of Turkey we had 5 years of turmoil that are only now being resolved, at great cost in life and treasure. An assault from the East when the North was denied would have helped.
Jul 6, 2008 - 10:19 am 3. Gordon:LOTM–
What was the French influence that you referred to re Turkey? I thought it was Turkish internal politics.
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:03 am 4. Kelly:The bare majority in the Turkish parliament that rejected an invasion path out of Incirlik was an odd coalition of Islamists and Westernizers, the latter persuaded by the French that Turkey’s EU status depended on it. Without either faction, the government would have been able to push though an approval. I
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:43 am 5. heather:thank you, Mr Fernandez, for your analysis; and thanks for moving over to Pajamas Media.
Jul 6, 2008 - 12:04 pm 6. Herb:“Both sides might have had enough; at least for the present.”
Hudna is a tactic or strategy depending on your timeline.
I read here (actually the other place or is that Internet-relevant?) that part of the strategic choice of Iraq with Afghanistan was to surround the mullahs. I believe we have operating bases in Turkmenistan and in Uzbekistan. Hmmm.
I also find it curious that for all of the upset and grief we have in the Pak NW frontier that the Afghan NW frontier is never heard from. Maybe they dont want to poke the cat.
A winnable hand indeed.
Jul 6, 2008 - 12:58 pm 7. hdgreene:Perhaps it has occurred to the Syrian regime that those rat lines run both ways. No doubt Sunni Syrians and Kurds might want some of the Autonomy they see developing in Iraq. In many cases the smugglers are Sunni tribes and the US has recently been making buddy-buddy with Sunni tribes. The Sunni world is suspicious of the Syrain alliance with Iran. That alliance would likely make Iraq’s Sunnis nervous, too.
The Syrians reasoned that the more (discreet) trouble they caused the U.S. in Iraq, the less of a threat we would be to them. The Iraqis might now play the same game in reverse: Keep the Syrians so busy fighting an insurgency that they cannot threaten Iraq.
Maybe having the US stick around — to make all the players feel a bit more secure — may have suddenly become Syria’s plan B. Besides, they can play Iran off the U.S. They are quite good at that game.
Jul 6, 2008 - 1:31 pm 8. John Samford:“What was the French influence that you referred to re Turkey? I thought it was Turkish internal politics.”
Several of the US Diplomats stationed in Turkey at the time were put on administrative leave. It seems that the NSA’s watch on the EU banks and the flow of monies to and from the terrs also stumbled across payments from a French bank ( the same one involved in the ‘Oil for Fraud’ scam) to certain US Diplomats. Who just happened to be responsible for getting the Turks to approve stationing the 4ID in Turkey to use as the other half of a pincers movement. The US Army has an almost sexual fixation on pincer movements.
Anyway, the evidence was not clean enough for a court of law ( no warrant) so they couldn’t arrest the diplos and charge them with treason. So they (diplos) are on administrative leave pending review. Until the end of time, as the song says.
That is what the French had to do with Turkey and OIF.
The French army is just as amused by the US Armie’s carnal urges about pincer movements as everyone else is, so they had figured that by stopping the US pincer, they would stop the US Army. Which is what Saddam was paying them to do.
Two facts need to be placed in here somewhere. NOBODY can defeat the US Military on the battlefield. There are no invincible armies, navies or Air Forces. Mutually exclusive facts? I think not. The invincible army is defeated by politics or thru treachery.
Saddam tried the latter to induce the former. We see how that worked.
They all forgot about the US Marines, who like things like pincers, but don’t NEED them. The Marines WERE going to Baghdad. They were willing to let the Army tag along, but they DIDN’T NEED THEM.
The Iranians are trying the same thing, and hoping for better results. Religious fanatics CANNOT quit. If they could, they wouldn’t be fanatics. So the Mad Dog Mullahs are going to try and defeat the US politically, with as much treachery thrown in as they can get away with. I don’t thinnk they will be able to us the French as Saddam did. They do have the Russians and the Chi-Coms in their pocket, so they really don’t need the French.
The upcoming Olympics will have a huge affect on the GWoT. If it works out for the Chi-coms, then they will have a chance to move the middle kingdom into the world of nations, not in it’s rightful ( to them) place as the center of the universe, but withing reach. That will mean doing civilized things like supporting the GWoT. If it goes bad, it’s not impossible, although extremely unlikely that we will see another war states period in what was once China. The Terrs would like nothing better then a collapse of China. Far any despot willing to fish in troubled water, a warring states period would be a blessing.
Jul 6, 2008 - 1:31 pm 9. NahnCee:Fortunately, terrorism cannot function in a police state. Unless of course, it’s the police state that is supporting the terrs.
Interesting analysis. Wht would the Chinese see as “going well” vs “going badly”? I have a feeling it’s not the same thing as the White House would see it as, and certainly not as an athlete/fan.
RE: Wretchard’s comment about America’s next administration, “Whether it holds up or folds up is up to them” I’m quite confident that once Obama has won White House (if he’s allowed to do so), he will the very next day pirouette back to “retreat immediately” mode and withdraw American troops from Iraq. He may even go so far as to station them in Okinawa, per advice from his fellow Democrats.
Obama is trying good old Muslim taqqiya now, lying and saying that he’s rethinking his stance on withdrawal, but I really believe that his personal moral imperative (and that of his wife, Michella deVille) is the progressive, liberal cowardly way of opportunism and flight.
Jul 6, 2008 - 1:44 pm 10. Pajamas Media » A Lion Roars: Al-Qaeda is Purged:[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]
Jul 6, 2008 - 2:00 pm 11. cedarford:Obama is trying good old Muslim taqqiya now, lying and saying that he’s rethinking his stance on withdrawal
Obama’s long-time sugardaddies and sugar mommas, and he and particularly Michelles, given her part-time executive jobs U of Chicago patronage jobs they control – have been Jewish billionaires (The Crowns, The Pritzkers) and near-billionaires (Klutzniks). All are Lefty, but pro-Israel. They would not have put up with a secret Muslim who could harm Israel.
Jul 6, 2008 - 3:43 pm 12. Nordac:Gee, sounds like itz all over.
Jul 6, 2008 - 4:19 pm 13. Forest Gump:Wowwee Batman, I just knew one hard rap would make that monkey fall out of the tree.
Whatz next – Iran surrenders?
California dreamin’ dudes.
“Whether it holds up or folds up is up to them.”
Actually, I would like to think it’s up to us, the voters in November.
And we all know who plans to “fold up” if elected, or at least we thought would but now he’s not so sure…! How reassuring….NOT!
Jul 6, 2008 - 4:30 pm 14. Lifeofthemind:Thank you Kelly and John for putting the point across. The money trail from Saddam to Elf Aquitaine to Chirac to the Turks to ….? is a gift that may keep on giving or to torture another analogy the old carpet of the left may keep unraveling. Do dots connect Chirac’s greasy eminence de Villepin to Chavez to the captors of Betancourt?
Jul 6, 2008 - 4:54 pm 15. lc:I think its a crap shoot what BHO will do if he’s elected (yikes); makes me think it will be the mother of all yard sales on the Potomac. It’s a good bet what McCain would do, whether he would do it well is another matter. What will I do? I don’t know, its either go to city hall or to the gun and bible store.
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:02 pm 16. Helen:While Obama schmoozed his rich lefty Jewish patrons, he sat at Jeremiah Wright’s feet for twenty years and inhaled anti-Semitism. Never once did he condemn Wright for his hatred of Jews. Never once did Obama condemn Farrakhan; instead, he marched with him.
Taqqiyah? Apparently the Crowns, Pritzkers, Klutzniks and others bought Obama’s spiel hook, line, and sinker. As a result, Obama’s agenda has been advanced. That is the essence of taqqiyah.
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:11 pm 17. Sissy Willis:Gentlemen. There are ladies present
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:29 pm 18. fred:C4, how can these Jewish billionaires who fund socialist candidates also be pro-Israel, when the Left is virulently anti-Israel? You’re always trying to cram facts into templates that don’t fit them.
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:33 pm 19. ZEITGEIST:[...] RICHARD FERNANDEZ on the Mosul operation. [...]
Jul 6, 2008 - 5:39 pm 20. honestjoe:@John Samford
You said; “Several of the US Diplomats stationed in Turkey at the time were put on administrative leave. It seems that the NSA’s watch on the EU banks and the flow of monies to and from the terrs also stumbled across payments from a French bank ( the same one involved in the ‘Oil for Fraud’ scam) to certain US Diplomats. Who just happened to be responsible for getting the Turks to approve stationing the 4ID in Turkey to use as the other half of a pincers movement.…..Anyway, the evidence was not clean enough for a court of law ( no warrant) so they couldn’t arrest the diplos and charge them with treason. So they (diplos) are on administrative leave pending review. Until the end of time, as the song says.”
Are you aware there were some other investigations which helped to influence Turkey at that time?
Both the CIA and the FBI were hunting for the foreign intelligence agents that had enlisted US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions. The FBI was running a counter-intelligence operation against the Turkish diplomatic community, the American Turkish Council (ATC) and other groups such as the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (A.T.A.A.), while at the same time the CIA was running an investigation into a nuclear smuggling ring through the cover company Brewster Jennings.
One group of Turkish agents who had come to America on the pretext of researching alternative energy sources was introduced to Brewster Jennings through the Washington-based American Turkish Council (ATC), a lobby group that aids commercial ties between the countries. The FBI says the Turks believed Brewster Jennings to be energy consultants and were planning to hire them.
But Brewster Jennings was dismantled due to the FBI discovering through communication intercepts that the CIA front had been exposed by a State Department official. According to the FBI a State Department official found out about the [proposed Brewster Jennings] arrangement and then contacted one of the foreign targets and said “you need to stay away from Brewster Jennings because they are a cover for the government.”
The target immediately followed up by calling several people to warn them about Brewster Jennings. At least one of them was at the ATC. This person also called an ISI person to warn them. When the ISI was made aware of the CIA front company [Brewster Jennings], it also caused serious damage into the investigation into the activities of Khan. Plame’s cover was also compromised, Shortly afterwards, Plame was moved to a different operation.
Shockingly (to me) Wilson had business interests with the ATC, and he was friendly with ATC Chair Brent Scowcroft, who was also a target of these investigations. The idea of a CIA agent dating, then marrying, someone so closely aligned with a target also gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.
But anyway it appears that a deal was struck with Turkey to keep this information from public/court (no warrants) in exchange for the army’s ability to apply “the pincer movement”. This deal also worked well in that it kept America from having to expose some dirty laundry (treason).
Phillip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, said: “It’s pretty clear Plame was targeting the Turks. If indeed [Grossman] was working with the Turks to violate US law on nuclear exports, it would have been in his interest to alert them to the fact that this woman’s company was affiliated to the CIA. I don’t know if that’s treason legally but many people would consider it to be.”
A deal with Turkey would explain why the US government has taken some extreme measures to keep the information from going public/court concerning the involvement of US, Israeli, and Turkish officials in supplying the nuclear black market.
The US Government demanded that the Swiss government destroy all evidence – all 30,000 pages of it – related to the pending prosecution of the Tinner family. The Tinners were “very key suppliers” of AQ Khan’s nuclear proliferation network, but their court case is unlikely to proceed, given the destruction of the evidence.
That kind of like how they did with Sibel Edmonds who blew the whistle about the intersection of the nuclear black market and heroin trafficking as well as the systematic, long-term, for-profit, looting of US nuclear secrets by criminal organizations who then sell the nuclear technology to the highest bidder(s) – including terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda even before and right after 9/11.
When her case went to the appeals court, they excluded the press from the court, and they excluded even Sibel and her attorneys from the court — even though they were supposedly hearing their case — they wouldn’t let her defense attorneys hear what the prosecution was going to say — so it’s a bizarre use of this privilege, not just to take a piece of information out of a trial, but to kill a trial entirely.
One of the things Sibel Edmonds is talking about is that people in our government not only knew about Al-Qaida before 9/11 but even gave them intelligence and logistical support as well as sold them weapons and not just any weapons but even nuclear technology and this was being financed through the drug trade which was protected by the US government.
Her case is not allegation, it’s not a case that needs to be investigated, that has already been done. Even the Dept of Justice’s own Inspector General’s Office has put out a report vindicating the case. We have had bipartisan congressional statements saying that this is credible, and absolutely confirming it. So this is not taking something that is unknown.
Now two more FBI whistleblowers confirm and support Sibel Edmonds but the actions were covered up by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s office.
If you research the evidence and yes there is ALOT of hard evidence! Documents, wiretaps, and a bunch of agents who were in charge of the counter-intelligence operations who are willing to testify.
And if that’s not enough, this has all been investigated and proven already in multiple forums.
The evidence has been deemed credible by Senators Grassley and Leahy, Congressman Waxman and the Inspector General.
Near 40 civil liberties and whistleblowers organizations have joined Edmonds and NSWBC in urging congress to hold public hearing on Edmonds’ case, including the supporting cases of SA Graham and other FBI witnesses.
Clearly this had a major influence on Turkey’s foreign policy in regards to “US” and I think these cases are another form of the “pincer movement” but in this case it was used against Turkey without the military. It was an excellent victory for the US against Turkey and others in a complex game of espionage.
Jul 6, 2008 - 7:06 pm 21. rotwang:Rich lefty Jews supporting a Jew-hating Black candidate who’ll surrender America to al-Qaeda and abandon Israel.
Why, that’s mo crazy IT MIGHT JUST WORK!
Conservatives must spend entire days trying to remember who they hate, who they fear, and who stole the strawberries.
Jul 6, 2008 - 8:15 pm 22. John Samford:“One of the things Sibel Edmonds is talking about is that people in our government not only knew about Al-Qaida before 9/11 but even gave them intelligence and logistical support as well as sold them weapons and not just any weapons but even nuclear technology and this was being financed through the drug trade which was protected by the US government.”
I have heard this and while I don’t know if it’s true, I do think it’s accurate.
I consider the CIA to be a rogue agency, one that needs to be put down. Moving it from a cabinet level bureaucracy to a branch on the Homeland security tree was a good thing….IF the Secretary of Homeland security keeps his eye on the ball.
I think that a small group of CIA people are aiding Al Qaeda. I think that Osama is being hidden by them and the cave in Pakistan is a hoax. The CIA didn’t intend for 9-11 to happen, but it did. It was blowback from some other operation. Now they are stuck with trying to keep all the balls in the air until the game is over. The game will be over as soon as a President that is willing to declare victory and stop fighting moves into the White House.
That is why the CIA has done what ever they could get away with to remove PRESIDENT Bush from office.
Obama is an innocent, the CIA will eat him alive. Plus Soros owns him, so he would be the perfect candidate for the CIA and State. He will do just what they tell him too. Another Truman or Carter.
Did the CIA plan and execute the WTC attack? No. AQ did use CIA assets to carry out the attack. The CIA was a dupe, an unwitting accomplice. They got rolled is the term used in the spy business.
Jul 6, 2008 - 8:34 pm 23. Gary Rosen:You’re still weaseling, C-fudd, you won’t own up to your fawning admiration for Samir Kuntar and his Hezzie buddies. Don’t you have the guts to come clean?
And don’t make us all laugh again with that “likability” baloney. That’s a riot coming from someone like yourself who’s been booted off numerous blogs for your sweaty, compulsive, pathological antisemitic personality disorder. Besides, I’m not really interested in being “liked” by a nitwit and born loser like you.
Try to come up with something different, if you can grunt it out. But it will be just as lame because you are stupid and weak. That’s why you live to adore bloody savages who get their kicks smashing the head of a 4-year-old Jewish girl against a rock. It’s the only way you can get off.
Jul 6, 2008 - 9:13 pm 24. Gary Rosen:rotwang:
C-fudd’s one of your boys:
Against the war in Iraq? Check.
Hates Israel? Check.
Supports a command economy when politically convenient like his idol Buchanan? Check.
Makes any excuse he can for Islamofascist savages terrorizing Jews? Check.
You lefties have the antisemitic whack jobs now. Have fun with them.
Jul 6, 2008 - 9:17 pm 25. honestjoe:@John Samford
“I have heard this and while I don’t know if it’s true, I do think it’s accurate.
I consider the CIA to be a rogue agency, one that needs to be put down.”
I could not agree with you more.
“Moving it from a cabinet level bureaucracy to a branch on the Homeland security tree was a good thing….IF the Secretary of Homeland security keeps his eye on the ball.”
Personally I think HLS is bureaucratic nightmare who’s bad far out way its good.
“I think that a small group of CIA people are aiding Al Qaeda.”
Unfortunately it appears that is a very real possibility.
I have often tried to justify some of their actions by considering that when you get into such dark dealings as espionage you have to realize that some agents are merely pawns who may be giving aid only to build trust with the enemy and in some situations may even have to give up valuable state secretes (secretly with permission) in order to appear as though they can be trusted by the enemy (instead of double agents they are triple agents).
Its a dirty business what they do and I hate trying to justify much of their acts. Maybe I should face the facts and stop trying to explain actions that seem clearly to be inexcusable.
It is much simpler to just recognize that like you said there is “a rouge element” and when applying occam’s razor it does seem to fit much better than the elabrit explanations I have had to give so as to justify what the CIA have and in some cases haven’t done.
“I think that Osama is being hidden by them and the cave in Pakistan is a hoax.”
I have read so many reports and listened to so many different intelligence annalists that I have no idea anymore. I unfortunately have to admit (as much as I hate to) that what you suggest seems quite possible….actually makes more since.
“The CIA didn’t intend for 9-11 to happen, but it did.”
I think they intended to wait and gain as much intelligence as possible so as to be Americas savior at just the last minute with only little damage and little loss of life. But they were double crossed (some of which was irrefutably buy Saudi Arabia) and 9/11 spiraled out of control to were it became impossible to stop.
I am absolutely convinced that we were set up by the Saudis. They placed us in such an embarrassing position that we had to protect those most responsible (the Saudis) in order to protect the county from the public out cry that would have happened if the true cause of the intelligence failures came to light.
For example The FBI’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission revealed that the largest overseas money transfer the terrorists received had come from the UAE, for $70,000 to Mohamed Atta but the FBI didn’t point out to the Commission the significance of the address where the money was wired to: 201 Nokomis in Venice, the address of the Kwik-Check owned by “Makram Chams” a consultant for an American defense contractor and an FBI informant. The Kwik-Check was where many of the alleged hijackers and even Zacharias Moussaoui would visit according witnesses for the FBI.
(The $70,000 wire transfer receipt was shown during the 9/11 commission’s 12 public hearing. The video can be found by clicking the panel 2 statement on Wednesday, June 16, 2004. 38:40 into the clip.) http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/archive/hearing12/index.htm
Also according to the FBI Atta and his fellow terrorists also availed themselves of a second floor apartment Chams rented in a building across the street from the convenience store. The apartment was occupied by his sister, May Chams, and her husband, an Indian Muslim named “Khal” who disappeared from Venice in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack.
Even Zacharias Moussaoui, whose presence in Venice, was confirmed was seen at Chams’ apartment and according to witnesses like Local Venice Yellow Cab driver Bob Simpson (whose testimony about Atta’s local associates was used by the FBI to apprehend a half-dozen Saudi nationals in Venice after the attack) says he picked up Mohamed Atta and his bodyguard Marwan at the apartment in his cab on several occasions, and taken them to the Orlando Airport.
The defense contractor—convenience store owner—FBI informant (Makram Chams) who abandoned the mini-market on 9/11 (it has stood vacant since) now works in Saudi Arabia where he landed a $5 million contract in Riyadh for Surebeam with the Saudi Bin Laden Group.
(You see that Titan reported that Makram Chams had filed a $21 million lawsuit against them in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for work he did just before 9/11 while he owned the Kwik Check store located at 201 Nokomis in Venice, that he abandoned on 9/11 after having been wired the largest overseas money transfer the terrorists received (according to the FBI).
http://sec.edgar-online.com/2005/11/23/0000950136-05-007545/Section25.asp
He has since been paid by Titan.)
Chams received a six-figure payout from Surebeam which, in the aftermath of the anthrax scare, (the most devastating and horrific biological attack against the US in the history of its existence), had been the lucky recipient of a big windfall (of your tax dollars) from the U.S. Post Office.
Surebeam announced in a press release that the post office “would use Surebeam’s electron beam systems to eliminate the threat of anthrax in the U.S. mail system.”
Despite there being not the slightest hint of scientific evidence that the company could perform as advertised, the firm was awarded a $40 million contract to set up machines to detect and kill anthrax spores. Don’t you feel safe knowing that the bin ladens received your tax dollars to protect you from a biological attack?
The consultant for the defense contractor–convenience store owner–FBI informant was also partners with terror flight school owner Wally Hilliard whom owned a casino boat.
A casino boat that some of the hijackers had been identified as having visited owned also by Jack Abramoff.
Jack Abramoff whom owned the casino boat with terrorist flight instructor Wally Hilliard and his terrorist befriending partner Makram Chams was also a Tom Delay appointee and was the CEO of the firm that claims to specialize in counter-terrorism called Surebeam! The same Surbeam that paid Makram Chams $5 million for landing contract in Riyadh with the Saudi Bin Laden Group.
Guess what the address was for Surbeam (it has since gone bankrupt in part for their failed machines that could not do what they claimed)?
If you guessed at the Venice Airport in a hangar owned by terror flight school Huffman Aviation the very same address the hijackers trained at then your correct.
And thats not the only company that listed the terrorist flight school’s address another company that also specialized in counter-terrorism called Skyway used it AT THE SAME TIME.
And SkyWays planes are panted so as to EXACTLY impersonate official U.S. Government aircraft from the Dept of Homeland Security, complete with an official-looking Seal.
How do I know? Because SkyWay’s DC9 (N900SA) caught carrying 5.5 tons of dope destined for the U.S. at an airport in Ciudad del Carmen.
James Kent (President of SkyWay) had been involved with Air America working for the CIA in Vietnam and so was the very same plane DC9 (N900SA) which according to congressional records was also involved in the Iran Contra drug/weapon running.
But according to SkyWay SEC filings, Kent “served in various government contract management positions supporting projects of the Department of Defense, National Security Agency, and Department of the Navy.” http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:fSlGEbKkX64J:sec.edgar-online.com/2003/06/03/0001213900-03-000046/Section3.asp+%22jim+kent%22+AND+National+Security+Agency&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
As far as the drugs go maybe that was why the DEA were secretly conducting an investigation of drug smuggling from the same apartment building that Atta was staying at which was located right by the flight school.
The same month after Mohamed Atta arrived to attend his flight school in Venice, Huffman Aviation, the owner of that flight school, Wallace J. Hilliard, had his Lear jet (N351WB) confiscated on a runway at Orlando Executive Airport by DEA agents who found 43 pounds of Bin Laden’s best uncut Al Qaeda heroin on board. (It was, said the Orlando Sentinel, the “biggest drug bust in Central Florida history”)
That jet that belonged to terror flight school owner Wally Hilliard’s company Lear (N351WB) was leased to Jeb Bush (who was intentionally placed in a compromising position) for FREE. (It has since been used for rendition flights)
And speaking of free, the pilot and every one else got off scot-free just as they did in the DC9 (N900SA) caught carrying 5.5 tons of dope that was painted to impersonate official U.S. Government aircraft from the Dept of Homeland Security.
I guess if you you the address of the terror flight school then you have a green light to ship drugs.
Sibel says:
“For years and years, information and evidence being collected by the counterintelligence operations of certain U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies has been prevented from being transferred to criminal and narcotics divisions, and from being shared with the Drug Enforcement Agency and others with prosecutorial power. Those with direct knowledge have been prevented from making this information available and public by various gag orders and invocation of the State Secrets Privilege. Why?”
Some of the wiretaps relate to drug trafficking, some relate to the nuclear black market and other weapons trafficking, and some refer to terrorist activity – including 9/11.
Sibel says:
“The Department of State is easily the most corrupted of the major government agencies….
In some cases where the FBI stumbles upon evidence of high-level officials being involved in drug-smuggling, they’re even prevented from sharing it with the DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency]. The Department of State just comes in and says, “Leave it.””
Sibel Edmonds said;
“Essentially, there is only one investigation, a very big one, an all-inclusive one… But I can tell you there are a lot of people involved, a lot of ranking officials, and a lot of illegal activities that include multi-billion-dollar drug-smuggling operations, black-market nuclear sales to terrorists and unsavory regimes, you name it… You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people.”
Afghanistan supplies almost 90% of the world’s heroin, and most of that goes straight to Turkey where it is processed, packaged, warehoused, and then re-exported to other countries for final consumption. Turkey supplies approximately 80% of Europe’s heroin, and 15% of heroin in the US – worth approximately $40 billion at street prices.
Heroin trafficking is also the main source of funding for the al-Qaeda terrorists. A Time Magazine article reported that al-Qaeda has established a smuggling network that is peddling Afghan heroin to buyers across the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, and in turn is using the drug revenues to purchase weapons and explosives.
Maybe the funding of the 9/11 operation should be looked at rather than ignored. And Saudi people need to be liberated and their oil made secure so that its revenue can be used to repay the damages caused by the crime committed by the Saudi Government on 9/11.
Jul 6, 2008 - 11:46 pm 26. HillaryforPresident:Hillary generally believes in McCain’s strategy as it is forceful and practical.
McCain stands against the inefficiency of CIA, Pentagon all spewing wrong signals to Bush.
I therefore stand with McCain’s principles…. ensure the success of the war in Iraq.
When the Congress gave Bush the mandate to go to War, that indicated American people as a whole. In this respect, I disagree with Pelosi.
Now, that we have spent lives and resources to the War… let McCain win Iraq for American people. Let McCain vindicated American people to the Iraqis that we did not really mean harm. We really want a better lives for Iraqis and the rest of Middle East.
Having invested so much in Iraq, might as well ensure that Iraq’s democracy succeeds and be a fitting model to all Arab nations that we are not Muslim haters. We want peace throughout the World.
I will vote McCain for President not as a republican, not a conservative, not as a democrat… but President of all American people! This two-party system has become too Anti-American and divisive.
BUT NO ONE CAN FORCE ME TO VOTE FOR SOMEBODY WHO IS CONFUSED AND UNDECISIVE EVEN ABOUT HIS OWN IDENTITY.
Jul 7, 2008 - 2:40 am 27. savvy:Alan Keyes reminds us it is not the Iraq War, rather the Iraq front in the WAR on TERROR.
Thanks for making that distinction clear.
Vote Alan Keyes for President 2008
Independent Candidate
http://www.alankeyes.com
America’s Independent Party National Committee … a new party and home for all true patriots … and the 3rd largest political party in the nation based on voter registration.
Jul 7, 2008 - 6:06 am 28. Solon:http://www.SelfGovernment.US or http://www.aipnc.com
Maliki seems to think that its time for the US to leave . . . soon. Thoughts, Wretchard?
July 7, 2008
Iraqi Talks of Withdrawal Timetable
By REUTERS
Filed at 10:54 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington.
It was the first time the U.S.-backed Shi’ite-led government has floated the idea of a timetable for the removal of American forces from Iraq. The Bush administration has always opposed such a move, saying it would give militant groups an advantage.
The security deal under negotiation will replace a U.N. mandate for the presence of U.S. troops that expires on December 31.
“Today, we are looking at the necessity of terminating the foreign presence on Iraqi lands and restoring full sovereignty,” Maliki told Arab ambassadors in blunt remarks during an official visit to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.
“One of the two basic topics is either to have a memorandum of understanding for the departure of forces or a memorandum of understanding to set a timetable for the presence of the forces, so that we know (their presence) will end in a specific time.”
Maliki was responding to questions from the ambassadors about the security negotiations with the United States. The exchange was shown on Iraqiya state television.
U.S. officials in Baghdad had no immediate comment. Last month Maliki caught Washington off guard when he said talks on the security deal were at a “dead end” after he complained Iraq’s sovereignty was being infringed by U.S. demands.
Jul 7, 2008 - 5:48 pm 29. NahnCee:Solon – you’re actually quoting and believing something that Reuters put out? Silly Solon.
Jul 7, 2008 - 6:08 pm 30. John Samford:“All are Lefty, but pro-Israel. They would not have put up with a secret Muslim who could harm Israel.”
No more then Stalin would have sold Hitler the wheat to fill the bellies of Nazi Stormtroopers.
I think ones definition of ‘harm Israel’ is pretty much critical to this discussion.
There is a small part of the Jewish body politic that see Israel as a Zionist experiment that needs to be abandoned. They see what we would consider the destruction of Israel as the removal of a stain from the Jewish soul. They feel that Jews are REQUIRED to be victims as atonement for abandoning god and that Jews fighting back is ‘unjewish’.
To this subset of Jews, Isreal being overran is a good thing.
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/03/13/neturei_karta/index.html
The world is full of wackkos. Why shouldn’t rich wackko Jews have a seat with the other rich non-Jewish wackkos?
Meanwhile, back at the election. Ohhhh…..BAMA IS NOT BLACK. His father was about 87.4% Arabic, which the US government classifies as white for entitlement purposes.
If Ohhhh……BAMA received any grant money based on his being ‘black’ he did so fraudulently. That is why he won’t give permission to have his birth certificate released.
Only Muslims consider him a Muslim. Other religions allow choice and respect that choice. Islam is the religion of no choice.
So I doubt that any ultra-orthodox Jews would consider him a Muslim. Christians shouldn’t. He obviously doesn’t.
As far as your rich wackko jews supporting Ohhhh…..BAMA, rich people do stooopid things too. Look at all the mega rich that supported Hitler. Of course a few years later, Gestapo thugs showed up and then they became considerably less rich, but that is a different fable.
Jul 8, 2008 - 8:40 am 31. solon:Read “This way to the gas”.
Well Nahncee, it’s not just Reuters reporting this widely covered story.
Here’s USAToday (AP):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-07-08-Iraq-withdraw-dates_N.htm#
Here’s the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801311.html
And if they’re too biased for you, here’s the Voice of America:
http://voanews.com/english/2008-07-08-voa35.cfm
Burying your head won’t make it go away Nahncee.
Jul 8, 2008 - 11:27 am 32. Solon2:Nahncee, it’s not just Reuters alone reporting this widely covered story.
Here’s USAToday (AP):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-07-08-Iraq-withdraw-dates_N.htm#
Here’s the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801311.html
And if they’re too biased for you, here’s the Voice of America:
http://voanews.com/english/2008-07-08-voa35.cfm
Burying your head won’t make it go away Nahncee. If you can post a story where Maliki says he was misquoted, that would be appreciated.
Jul 8, 2008 - 11:38 am 33. NahnCee:solon – you need to go to Pajamas Media and read Mohammad Fadhil’s analysis. He exquisitely dissects what Maliki has done (for the Shiite side only) and why it’s a big huge mistake. Just because Maliki has proposed it, doesn’t mean a majority is for it.
I’m also seeing Instapundit make repeated suggestions that if they want us to withdraw, we should cheerfully wish them adieu and best of luck and do so. I agree.
Maliki has obviously never read the Chinese fortune cookie about “be careful what you wish for …”
Jul 9, 2008 - 6:13 pm 34. NahnCee:P.S. And I think you’re trying to be a snarky trouble-maker but aren’t very good at it.
Jul 9, 2008 - 6:14 pm 35. Solon:So Nahncee, you’ve shifted your position from: “the MSM is reporting it therefore it must be a lie. How silly of you to believe it.”
To:
“OK, it’s true, but it’s a really bad idea and if the Iraqis want us to leave, screw them.”
Nicely done. Even a third grader could catch you on that weaselly evasion. I guess I’ll have to wait longer for your apology for calling me “silly”, yes? How very principled of you.
I’ve read Fadhil’s piece in PJM. You’ll note that he concludes with the following:
“Frankly, I’m disappointed by Maliki’s unjustified maneuver. Gambling with the future of nation and its people is an insult that will cast a shadow on his record as a leader of Iraq.”
A to Iraqi public opinion: The most recent data I can find is from March of 2007, a BBC poll in which 78% of the population opposes the “the presence of Coalition forces in Iraq”:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/19_03_07_iraqpollnew.pdf
Can you find anything more recent? What if Maliki’s decision is popular with the Iraqi people? Is he not a politician?
PS I think you’re trying to be a spinmeister, but you’re not very good at it.
Jul 10, 2008 - 1:03 pm 36. Solon:Polling from ORB, March 2008:
http://www.opinion.co.uk/Documents/FINALTABLESMarch08.pdf
Iraqis who think the Surge has been succesful: 27% (pg. 59)
unsuccesful: 53% (pg.59)
Iraqis who want the Coalition forces to stay: 21% (pg. 62)
Jul 10, 2008 - 1:23 pm 37. NahnCee:Iraqis who want them to leave: 70% (pg.62)
Solon – you got any numbers comparing how many Americans want us to leave if we’re asked to?
I’m not sure what your argument is. You evidently want us out of Iraq. Maliki wants us out of Iraq. Instapundit wants us out of Iraq. I want us out of Iraq. The only one who still wants us there is Mohammad Fadihili who quite rightly foresees a blood bath when we leave because I don’t think that Maliki is as strong (and stable) yet as he’s making out he is.
Instapundit wants us to leave through Tehran and Riyadh. I sort of think we don’t actually need to hike through those particular sandy deserts as we make our adieu’s, but it would certainly be remiss of us not to leave them some nice explosive farewell presents.
For what it’s worth, I want us out of Iraq because I have come to the conclusion that they’re not worth the time, effort and expense for us to keep supporting the cause of Iraqi democracy — the country’s too stupid, too backward, too evil, too lazy, and I don’t want to spend another red cent on a place where they (still) think that honor killings are the right thing to do. I have a feeling your desire to pull American troops out is something entirely different from that which is why I think you’re a wannabe trouble-maker.
Jul 10, 2008 - 2:29 pmSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.