On this the 9th anniversary of the horrific attacks on our nation by Islamic extremists, I am sad, concerned, resigned, appalled and a plethora of other verbs.
Right after the attacks, I felt that this country had finally come together with a singularity of purpose and a unity that I had never felt before. When President Bush gave his "bull-horn" speech from the ruins of the Trade Center ... I could feel the entire Nation join with him and his vow to bring the terrorists to justice.
9 years later, where are we? There is still a hole at ground zero ... Osama Bin Laden is still hiding in a cave somewhere ... Our politicians are more concerned with re-election than with the American public ... Our economy is teetering on ruin ... and our President is dividing the nation, pitting us in socio-economic class warfare.
As I watched the 9-11 remembrances on TV this morning ... and yes, the tears were flowing ... I felt despair at the loss of our resolve. There is no HOPE left in the American people's hearts ... there is no resolve. As I watched the horrendous video of people jumping off the twin towers to avoid being burned to death ... I realized that this was a perfect representation of the loss of hope. And I cried.
America, can we regain our hope?
Saturday, September 11, 2010
9 Years Later
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
We Can Stop Looking For al-Baghdadi
Seems that terrorist Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Internet-based movement "Islamic State of Iraq" is a fictional character. I always thought that the name had to be made up, or an alias ... but a totally fictional character? They got me ... along with the many world intelligence agencies and some Iraqis that actually died in his service.
US military forces captured Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid in Mosul on July 4th. Abu Shahid is the senior Iraqi leader in al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), and this guy has been talking his head off. Seems that Abu Ayyub al-Masri made up this fictional character to put an Iraqi face on AQI since the majority of the organization were foreign fighters (al-Masri himself is Egyptian). An actor was hired to do the voice of al-Baghdadi on the website. When al-Masri replaced Ayman al-Zawahiri after he was killed by coalition forces in 2005, al-Masri swore allegience to al-Baghdadi.
Lost in all this is that a senior AQI leader was captured. Abu Shahid acted as a go-between for Osama bin Ladin and Ayman al-Zawahri and al Masri. The surge is working.
