Ray,
Thanks for the links.... The timing of 911 attacks confirms my theory: after the first strike on the WTC Twin Towers, US officials knew for sure that the skyjackers intended to inflict as much bloodshed as possible. Hence the decision to shoot down the remaining hijacked airliners.
Of course, such a tragic, life-and-death decision must be taken at the highest Executive echelon. Now, that doesn't mean that 911 itself was a terrorist conspiracy plotted by the US government/intelligence!!! Let's get real here. US officials and the White House understood very quickly the far-reaching, momentous developments brought about by the crisis and, wisely, they devised a cover-up for the shootdowns of two US airliners by the USAF. Can you imagine the chaos the United States would be in today if the people knew that the Prez or the Veep or whatever bigshot ordered the shootdowns??? It would have dangerously wrecked the country's unity... at a time when the USA needs to remain united in its worldwide war against terrorism.
Besides, none of your links mentions the assassination of warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud --which was coincidental with 911. My opinion is that, in September 2001, the Russian military was on the brink of a SECOND intervention in Afghanistan... I guess Russia's hawks mapped out a Chechnya-like mopping-up of Afghanistan. Yet, Russia needed some dramatic development to justify a massive strike on Afghanistan... Geopolitical insiders in the US and Europe knew about Russia's impatience with the Taliban regime. For that matter, EU officials even tried to buy time in April 2001 when they invited Massoud and promised him diplomatic (and covert military) support. Arms dealer Victor Bout was the EU (French/Belgian) conduit to supply Massoud with weaponry. But I'm afraid Putin lost patience and ordered the "termination" of Massoud. Putin's gambit was pretty clear: the killing of Massoud meant the demise of the so-called Northern Alliance, which in turn entailed a TOTAL victory for the Taliban. Keep in mind that Massoud barely controlled about 10% of Afghanistan (as of Sept. 2001). So, the killing of Massoud was supposed to be the clincher opening wide the doors of Afghanistan to Russia. But such a development, sooner or later, would have ended up into a confrontation with Pakistan --get the picture? You guessed it: we're talking of a NUCLEAR war between Russia and Pakistan.
Back in the 1980s, following the USSR's first Afghan campaign, Pakistan didn't have an operational/workable nuclear arsenal yet. However, today's Pakistan does have nuclear and also demographic deterrence (145 mil Pakis vs 140 mil Russkies) Here's a post of mine that might help you grasp the whole picture:
Message 16365852
BTW, I've read Bamford's monograph on the NSA.... The Northwoods scheme got scrapped, so there's no way for History to "repeat" anything. Actually, when Gen Lemnitzer was appointed NATO chief, all his cointelpro dreams were put into practice in... Europe (Gladio). Moreover, the intl. context was different: the USSR was threatening to use Cuba as a launching pad for nukes against the US heartland!! There was no such threat against the US on the eve of September 11th, 2001.
Eventually, the US yielded to the Russian blackmail and moved in Afghanistan --instead of the Russians.
Gus |
