AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!
That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been 'Get Out of Bed!' In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.
It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran . This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency.. The attack on this sovereign U. S. Embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism.
America's military had been decimated and down sized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.
In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.
Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait , and America continues her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.
Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe . In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid
Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.
The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 , killing 259.
The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.
The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America . In January 1993 , two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley , Virginia
The following month, February 1993 , a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.
Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.
A few months later in June of 1996 , another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran , Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers , a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.
They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania .. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000 , when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America . How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.
In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high officials in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.
I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to 'Get out of Bed' and act decisively now. America has been changed forever.. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said '... it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.' This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
14 comments:
Well done! Man without vision shall parish, and it's very hard to see things when your sleeping. Let's not forget the Americans that were beheaded in the Phillipines and the massive killings of civilians there.
AMEN!
Good posting Joe. I have been a proponent of the fact that we were at war with the terrorists way back in 1979 and till now. And like the Japanes Admiral, I believe the Terrorists have also awakened a sleeping giant. I know our military knows this fact and I hope the people do also.
A. Goetz
A very good time line and summary of all the sign posts on the highway to 9/11. But I would like to add that two presidents both Clinton and Bush had ample opportunity to take action before 9/11. The Cole attack was the last big wake up call. Clinton had the Head FBI agent sent back home from Yemen because he knew that memebers of the Yemeni government helped in the attack. And Bush swept the Cole attack under the carpet and still supports the Yemeni dictator. All the valuable clues that were waiting to be put together after the Cole attack were ignored for the sake of politics. Even the 9/11 commission report admits that the clues were missed until too late. We are still fighting for a congressional hearing. The families of the Cole victims. But not being democratic and or republican makes it very hard.
kill em all
Shortly after President Nixon retired, he wrote a book in which he accurately wrote that "in the 1990's and in the next century, the Soviet Union won't be America's greatest enemy. Our greatest enemy in the future will be Islamic extremists."
The opening shot in WWIII was most certainy fired by Iran in 1978.
Cruggly may be a little plain spoken, but he is right! Islam is going to destroy us if we don't wake up and confront them harshly.
If we wait for them to aquire nuclear weapons, how many our citizens & allies will die? Ask Iran's president! Oh, you don't have to ask, he's already stated that in public speeches with millions of rabid Muslim dogs screaming "Death to America, Death to Israel." Now, what would a sane nation in a position of superior military power do? I would bomb them and their threats them back to a point where all the could do is throw rocks, if they could find any rocks big enough to throw! :)
Thomas Littleton.. which book by Richard Nixon are you referring to?
I don't recall reading this.
If you want to make this argument, I'd say the US fired the first slavo when the CIA installed the Shah as leader of Iran.
Japanes = I love the American educational system.
The US enslaved the Iranians, stole their oil, and the CIA propped up the Shah for years. Our Country has been hijacked by terrorists alright, they operate from the halls of Washington DC. Wake up is right, wake up and smell the facism. We can only hope Russia kicks these neo-cons asses out of OUR Country, so we can have it back! Come on folks, you aren't this naive. We are being propagandized to death. The Main Stream Media is a Zionist War Machine. We need people like you Joe to speak the truth with your tool - the blog. Come on, stop spouting their propaganda, you know better. Don't you?
Anonymous, because I know the truth and it scares the hell out of me.
Anon 10:03,
Someone brought the book into work in the early 80s and showed that passage. The book was written in the late 70s or early 80s, so that narrows it down to a couple of books. If you can't find the passage, I will be glad to give you page number and paragraph as soon as libraries open. I didn't expect to be questiond on that; I expected to be blasted for my choice of words, ("retired"):)
To anon 12:30,
You aren't anonymous to homeland secutity, the CIA and FBI, you piece of crap. You need to be reported to them at once! Rabid Muslim dogs in Iran held our diplomats hostage, YOU ASSHOLE!
I believe you need a one way pass to the water rides at gitmo!
Don't count Russia and Putin out of it for sure, they are making a lot of money from that Iranian oil and they are rebuilding their military and counter intelligence.
I must agree we have been on the wrong path a long time. You think the Russian's have forgotten that we helped them into their humiliating retreat from Afghanistan?
You think anyone has forgotten that Cheney/Dumbsfeld helped arm Osama Bin Ladin in his quest to kill the Russians? Oh yeah and where did Saddam get his chemical weapons. Oh yea from us.
That is where the Muslim extremist's will obtain a nuke or dirty bomb, Russia. While we are preoccupied with Iran's Nuke program.
The shah was so so bad that he needed to be replaced by Radical Islamist that murdered millions instead of imprisoning thousands.
15 of 19 of the Hijackers were from Saudi Arabia which is a State sponsor of radical Islam. Their textbooks call us apes and jews pigs. They barely recognize our right to live (unless we convert) not allowing us to even read the bible in their country. Yet we coddle them because of their oil wealth.
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