By Nick Eaton
Now, seven years after the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration continues to salt the wounds of affected Americans. Morbid opportunism marks the occasion. Many liberal blogs spit fire regarding the disaster profiteering this administration has pursued, but few outline the events in a clear and concise way that enables people with less time (and quite frankly, less interest) to understand…
1993-
A Muslim terrorist cell attempts to destroy the World Trade Center by detonating explosives in the towers’ basements. Several die, but the buildings do not suffer too much damage.
1996-
Osama bin Laden issues a fatwa demanding American troops leave Saudi Arabia. A fatwa is basically bin Laden’s perspective on Islamic law. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to justify violence against America until demands are met.
1998-
Osama bin Laden issues another fatwa, condemning America’s foreign policy in regards to Israel and restating his demand that American troops leave Saudi Arabia.
2001-
April:
Dick Cheney commissions a report from the Baker Institute for Public Policy, which states:
“The United States remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma. Iraq remains a de-stabilizing influence to the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East. Saddam Hussein has also demonstrated a willingness to threaten to use the oil weapon and to use his own export programme to manipulate oil markets. Therefore the US should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq including military, energy, economic and political/ diplomatic assessments.”
September 11:
Nineteen al-Qaeda operatives hijack airplanes and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Fifteen of the hijackers are from Saudi Arabia, one is from Egypt, one is from Lebanon and two are from the United Arab Emirates.
September 20:
George W. Bush demands that Afghanistan cooperate with the United States by closing down terrorist training camps, handing terrorists over and allowing the U.S access to said camps.
September 22:
The United Arab Emirates withdraws recognition of the Taliban as the ruling government in Afghanistan.
September 23:
Saudi Arabia follows suit, leaving Pakistan as the Taliban’s only ally.
October 7:
The war in Afghanistan begins. The purpose of the war is to drive out the Taliban regime (a known ally to al-Qaeda), subdue terrorists in the region and capture Osama bin Laden.
December 14:
“We’re going to get [Bin Laden] Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter to me.”-Bush
2002-
February:
The CIA sends Joseph Wilson to investigate Iraq’s supposed attempts to purchase yellow cake uranium from Niger. Wilson concludes that such claims are “unequivocally wrong.” The Bush administration disregards this intelligence and continues to perpetuate the concept that Iraq is seeking to purchase uranium.
March 13:
“…Terror is bigger than one person… So I don’t know where [Bin Laden] is… You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. …I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.”-Bush
July 23:
British government and military officials meet and discuss America’s foreign policy. Citing classified information regarding America’s policies, a memo (the Downing Street Memo) is drafted which states that:
“Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
September:
The administration points to Iraq’s purchasing of high strength aluminum tubes as signs of attempts to enrich uranium. The Department of Energy and the Institute for Natural Resources rejected such claims stating that it was unlikely that such tubes were suited to enrich uranium. Colin Powell’s address to the UN Security Council continues, unaltered even after this information is released. Later Powell admits that much of the information was “deliberately misleading.”
2003-
March 7:
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that documents that Bush cited as proof of Iraq’s attempts to purchase uranium from Niger are “obvious forgeries.”
March 20:
The war in Iraq begins.
June:
Wilson writes an op-ed for the New York Times highlighting his investigation and reasserting the lack of evidence for Iraq’s attempt to purchase uranium.
July 14:
Valerie Plame, Joseph Wilson’s wife, is outed as a CIA Operations Officer in a news column by Robert Novak. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was found guilty of two counts of perjury one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making false statements to federal investigators. Richard Armitage was irrefutably linked to the leak but never charged and Libby alluded to the order to leak Plame’s name coming from Vice President Cheney.
2004-
October:
“I just don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama bin Laden. It’s kind of one of those exaggerations.”-Bush
“The headlines all say, ‘No weapons of mass destruction stockpiled in Baghdad.’ We already knew that.”-Cheney
2007-
August 28:
“Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust… Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran’s regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late.”-Bush
I don’t think I need to go any further. On this anniversary of the attacks of September 11 think not only of the victims but how their deaths have been shamelessly manipulated to fuel perpetual war for perpetual profit.
The Stony Brook Press
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