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I’m surprised this didn’t get more attention today. Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born cleric thought to be involved in the Fort Hood shooting and the failed Christmas Day bombing, was brought into the Pentagon for a luncheon several months after the 9/11 attacks. Interestingly, this was part of a Defense Department program to convince Muslims that the Afghanistan war was focused on Al Qaeda and not Muslims.
A few things on this, which I find fascinating. First, there’s the issue of how Awlaki may have been receptive to this before the US attacked Iraq, tortured Afghans and Iraqis, bullied Iran and started launching covert operations in practically every Muslim country on Earth. Second, there’s the issue of how George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld’s Defense Department made the effort to do this, even if it was merely a spin operation, in a way that no President, Republican or Democrat, would be allowed to do now. Think about how the right is going apeshit over Juan Williams’ comments justifying bigotry. Do you think they would remain silent if President Romney invited Muslims (MOOSLIMS) into the Defense Department? Or President Obama, himself a scary Muslim? No, Obama has an assassination order out on Awlaki, an American citizen, not a lunch invite. And the right still thinks he’s a wimp on these issues.
Third, if you read the story you do see that Awlaki’s invitation came on a bit of a whim. An employee saw Awlaki speak and then invited him. It turns out the FBI investigated Awlaki for ties to some of the Saudis who attacked the Pentagon on 9/11. You’d think that would have come up.
Never mind, Bush “kept us safe.”
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Rummy: Ya go with the Muslims ya know, not the Muslims ya don’t know
Something that really has never been talked about, though I’ve tried to point it out several times, is that Bush Sr and Osama bin Laden’s dad are still in business together and have been for decades. That means that W and Osama have attended some of the same functions. HW would have gotten a birth announcement when Osama was born. I’m not saying that there’s any evidence that they were ever very close but that they knew each other is pretty undeniable. Never a whisper about that connection after Al Qaeda became responsible for everything bad in the United States.
That sound you hear is the mass popping of “Patriot” crania…
Excellent catch and your conclusions are exactly on point.
@1 The actual quote: Ya go with the Muslims ya know, not the ones ya want to know.
Or the ones you think you know, not the ones you don’t think you don’t know….
Also, shortly before the attack on the twin towers Libertarian guru Grover Norquist was negotiating to do business with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Saying that we shared a lot of the same values. These people don’t have a moral bone in their body.
or the one’s you didn’t think you wanted to know, but wanted to think you knew…
That would have kept Poppy Bush very busy. Osama bin Laden has 25 brothers and half-brothers. And 53 sisters and half-sisters. The dad, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden died in 1967; he died in a private plane crash while on his way to marry his 23rd wife.
The bin Laden associated with the Carlyle group is Shafiq bin Laden, Osama’s half-brother, who was at a conference sponsored by the Carlyle Group on September 11, 2001. He was one of 13 family members of the 140 shuttled out of the US during a time when US air travel was suspended.
Should this be “FORT Hood”?
[Mod Note: Fixed. Thank you.]
Grover Norquist does have the same values as the Taliban.
Zing!
Fox Noise suggests that his may have been a meeting with some of Rummy’s war planners, and perhaps Rummy himself. Doug Feith or Stephen Hadley or Richard Armitage and those other brilliant war planners, may have decided to recruit another double agent in the war against “Al Qaeda”.
That’s probably more true that one might think…
Right to Life and attitudes towards women?
Personally I believe women invented agriculture…
I once got an email Q asked on CNN, to one of those pentagon propaganda general retirees. It started like this: The short version of U.S. foreign policy is that our friends become our enemies & our enemies become our friends… This sounds like more of the former. (The actual Q to the general went on to ask about how long it would be before our new best friends, the Stans, would become our enemies.)
But wheres the line tracing this to Obama? (Shall we have a side bet on when that gets said?)
I have thought this for a long time. Cave women, sitting around the fire at night, exhausted by gathering which required constant movement, while their men sat around shootin’ the breeze waiting for an animal to appear, thought: wouldn’t it be easier if we just poked a stick in the ground around the cave and put those seed things in the holes & see what happens.
The number of connections between the “bad guys” and the Republicans and the number of times the “bad guys” did something irritating just when it suited the Republicans is quite high. Should any ordinarily intelligent person make that connection and think Republicans are just doing bidness with the “bad guys”?
So, if there’s any connection there we should expect the “bad guys” to do something shortly before the election in November which will either make Obama look bad or the Republicans look better. Couldn’t possibly happen, could it?
Even after learning from Headly that ISI and Pakistan military were heavily involved in training, providing arms, scouting mission and money for the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, we still have this poor Pakistan if we just give them billions more, they will somehow be our friends. All that money is just going to fund more and more terrorists. The real war is and should be with Pakistan. We analyzed incorrectly, Afghans have been just a pawn.
Will we learn before they explode and start WWIII. no.
Iran hostage crisis…