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Americans Against Terrorism 11-4-01
Americans Against Terrorism: get out of the Mideast and defend the Homeland
TERRORISM FEED BACK
I've received some very thoughtful responses to the article STAND DOWN which I want to answer. I've taken the liberty of transforming the e-mails into a question and answer format to make it easier to follow.
If you have comments please e-mail us.
Marc Keyser Executive Director Americans Against Terrorism
Terrorism Q & A
Nov. 3 Response to an e-mail from Roberta
Roberta: Why do you (and others, including our media!) insist on spelling out and making available the means for terrorists to attack us successfully and expose our nation's vulnerabilities?
Marc: Because ignorance and misinformation about the threat of terrorism is extremely dangerous. If a bridge is washed out, we need a big sign that says: "Stop, bridge washed out." We need to tell people "don't go down that road!" People need to know what is down the road of terrorism, so we can make intelligent choices about how to proceed.
Roberta: I am fully in support of your position that a "war on terrorism" cannot be won, and it is not the route to take if a solution can in fact be found ...
Marc: Let me give you a hug. When people begin to realize that the war in Afghanistan is not reducing the threat of terrorism here in America but making matters much worse - then we're getting somewhere.
We had a second bioterrorist attack days after invading Afghanistan. It is clear that the war in Afghanistan is not preventing terrorism here in America, and we should leave Afghanistan before we make matters much worse.
The most effective thing we can do is use all our resources, and our energy to protect America. We need our troops here to guard our borders, and our infrastructure.
Let me give you one example.
The French authorities stopped Djamel Beghal, a clean-shaven, 35-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent at the Dubai airport last July for traveling on a false passport. Beghal, along with associates in several countries, was allegedly directing a sweeping plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris early next year. Later evidence suggested that the terrorists considered packing a helicopter with explosives and smashing it into the compound. The attack was stopped.
I would suggest that good police work is infinitely better in preventing terrorist attacks than a war in Afghanistan which is inflaming the hatred of the Muslim World, feeding the Mideast Terrorist Movement, and spawning more terrorists.
Two of the terrorists who participated in the 9-11 attack were identified as known terrorists upon entering the United States. Unlike the French Police, our police did nothing about it. We need to get our anti-terrorist act together here in the Homeland.
It is abundantly clear that the United States simply is not prepared to guard against terrorist-attacks nor to deal with them in an effective manner. Homeland Defense should be our first priority.
Roberta: I do not support you, and others, doing the terrorist's work for them by planting the ideas of our own destruction online and in the media. I don't believe that helps--it just supports the terrorists' intent.
Marc: The terrorists have done their homework, and we need to do ours. We need to understand where terrorist can go with this new Strategic Terrorism so we can be there before they get there, hopefully. After the 9-11 it is clear we are not going to give terrorists ideas so much as we must have some idea as to what they may be intent on doing next.
Nov 3 Response to an e-mail from Walt
Walt: I'm all for peaceful solutions, but I can't see a practical solution to the "War Against Terrorism" other than the one the Bush administration is pursuing, with the use of advanced technology and with minimal loss of life to Afghani civilians and to Americans.
Marc: I'm not proposing a "peaceful" solution. What I would propose is we look for the best solutions that actually solve the problem.
I would suggest that the war on Afghanistan is not reducing the risk of terrorism in America, it is in fact making the problem much worse.
If the undeclared war between Israel and the Palestinians is increasing tensions in the Mideast and increasing the threat of terrorism in America, then I would suggest the United States withdraw US military financial aid and force Israel to settle it, so the United States can get out and stay out of the Mideast.
Walt: Terrorist attacks would occur even if we weren't bombing Taliban and al Qaeda personnel and materiel in Afghanistan.
Marc: Yes and no. If we leave Afghanistan, I believe it will reduce the spread of terrorism here in America.
The reason is this. Bin Laden's real enemy is not the United States. His enemy is governments in the Mideast who have betrayed his concept of Islam. The governments like Saudi Arabia are puppets, who are controlled by the United States, and he wants to overthrow them.
Instead of attacking the government of Saudi Arab directly, he realized the terrorist attacks would be far more potent directed at the United States-the third party.
His strategy is to leverage the terrorism in the United States into withdrawing support for Saudi Arabia and from Israel. He wants the U.S. to withdraw from the Mideast.
If America withdraws from the Mideast, Bid Laden and the governments of the Mideast will have to work things out among themselves. Let them deal with their own governments and their own terrorists.
Walt: Much of, if not most of, the Muslin world already hate us. They hated us long before September the 11th.
Marc: The truth hurts. Many people in the Mideast hate us for good reason. The United States and American corporations have been colonizing, globalizing the Mideast for decades to control the supply of oil to exploit people.
The painful truth is the 9-11 attack was not unprovoked. America has been invading, occupying, exploiting, and humiliating Arab/Muslim nations for decades, and as a direct result, we now have Muslim terrorists attacking America.
Walt: If you were President, what would you do in the short run to prevent loss of life in the United States from these terrorist attacks, considering the American politics and economics as they are, and considering that Bin Laden and his equally dedicated associates obviously want to destroy us ...
Marc: Walt please, I'm not the President. I'm not running for office. I'm a citizen. I'm concerned about public policy that immediately affects every America, as we all should be.
Yes, the terrorists want to destroy us. So we should put all our resources into finding bin Laden's associates here in America and preventing further attacks. Our focus should be to increase our security measures here at home.
If the Bush Administration is pursuing a war that is counter productive and putting Americans at far greater risk, then it is our responsibility to stop it. Isn't it? We should be working to change the war policy, because the policy is not working.
Bin Laden is a military genius. He is neither a fool nor a mad man. And with the al Qaeda and this new strategic terrorist attack, bin Laden may be in a position to make it costly enough for America to want to pack up and leave the Mideast.
Some 415,000 people lost their jobs this month primarily because of the 9-11 terrorist attack. Our economy has hit a ten year low and it hasn't hit bottom yet. It won’t take many more such attacks to put millions of people out of work and collapse our economy.
Walt: ... and to spread the Taliban way of life throughout the world? What would you do in the long run?
Marc: If we withdraw from the Mideast and bin Laden spreads the Taliban way of life. Then what? An empire built on assassination, murder, and terrorism would be as susceptible to terrorism as the governments he wants to replace.
But whatever is or is not in the future of the Mideast it is their land, it is their future. It is their problem and not our problem - if and only if we are not there.
In the not so long run, if we are going to survive as a nation, we must fortify our defenses against terrorism. We must strengthen our infrastructure and our society to improve and to minimize the effect of terrorist attacks here in America.
It does not matter who is behind the anthrax/bioterrorist attack, what matters is that no one, under any circumstances should be able to get anything unsafe delivered in the mail. We have to do what it takes to make the mail safe, and we have to do it now.
Our defenses should be our first priority. Not running off and bombing New Jersey because some of the letters were mailed from there and the perpetrators may still be there. Bombing Afghanistan is just as absurd as bombing New Jersey and just as ineffective in stopping terrorism. And besides we'd have a lot of people in New Jersey who hate America.
After 9-11 it is clear that we need to protect the Homeland now or we won’t have a Homeland. The war in Afghanistan is not helping us do that because it's making the problem of terrorism much worse. It is building the Mideast Terrorist Movement and spawning more terrorists. It's creating a Terrorism Megatrend.
Walt: What would you do instead of just talk, or disrupt?
Marc: In a democracy, talking is always the first step. We must open the dialog in America and question the war effort and question the Bush Administration's approach to the Terrorism Problem-because it is not solving the problem.
If our government is not listening, then we may have to politely and non-violently interrupt them and get them to listen.
comments/feed back mailto:marc-keyser [at] 2xtreme.net
I've received some very thoughtful responses to the article STAND DOWN which I want to answer. I've taken the liberty of transforming the e-mails into a question and answer format to make it easier to follow.
If you have comments please e-mail us.
Marc Keyser Executive Director Americans Against Terrorism
Terrorism Q & A
Nov. 3 Response to an e-mail from Roberta
Roberta: Why do you (and others, including our media!) insist on spelling out and making available the means for terrorists to attack us successfully and expose our nation's vulnerabilities?
Marc: Because ignorance and misinformation about the threat of terrorism is extremely dangerous. If a bridge is washed out, we need a big sign that says: "Stop, bridge washed out." We need to tell people "don't go down that road!" People need to know what is down the road of terrorism, so we can make intelligent choices about how to proceed.
Roberta: I am fully in support of your position that a "war on terrorism" cannot be won, and it is not the route to take if a solution can in fact be found ...
Marc: Let me give you a hug. When people begin to realize that the war in Afghanistan is not reducing the threat of terrorism here in America but making matters much worse - then we're getting somewhere.
We had a second bioterrorist attack days after invading Afghanistan. It is clear that the war in Afghanistan is not preventing terrorism here in America, and we should leave Afghanistan before we make matters much worse.
The most effective thing we can do is use all our resources, and our energy to protect America. We need our troops here to guard our borders, and our infrastructure.
Let me give you one example.
The French authorities stopped Djamel Beghal, a clean-shaven, 35-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent at the Dubai airport last July for traveling on a false passport. Beghal, along with associates in several countries, was allegedly directing a sweeping plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris early next year. Later evidence suggested that the terrorists considered packing a helicopter with explosives and smashing it into the compound. The attack was stopped.
I would suggest that good police work is infinitely better in preventing terrorist attacks than a war in Afghanistan which is inflaming the hatred of the Muslim World, feeding the Mideast Terrorist Movement, and spawning more terrorists.
Two of the terrorists who participated in the 9-11 attack were identified as known terrorists upon entering the United States. Unlike the French Police, our police did nothing about it. We need to get our anti-terrorist act together here in the Homeland.
It is abundantly clear that the United States simply is not prepared to guard against terrorist-attacks nor to deal with them in an effective manner. Homeland Defense should be our first priority.
Roberta: I do not support you, and others, doing the terrorist's work for them by planting the ideas of our own destruction online and in the media. I don't believe that helps--it just supports the terrorists' intent.
Marc: The terrorists have done their homework, and we need to do ours. We need to understand where terrorist can go with this new Strategic Terrorism so we can be there before they get there, hopefully. After the 9-11 it is clear we are not going to give terrorists ideas so much as we must have some idea as to what they may be intent on doing next.
Nov 3 Response to an e-mail from Walt
Walt: I'm all for peaceful solutions, but I can't see a practical solution to the "War Against Terrorism" other than the one the Bush administration is pursuing, with the use of advanced technology and with minimal loss of life to Afghani civilians and to Americans.
Marc: I'm not proposing a "peaceful" solution. What I would propose is we look for the best solutions that actually solve the problem.
I would suggest that the war on Afghanistan is not reducing the risk of terrorism in America, it is in fact making the problem much worse.
If the undeclared war between Israel and the Palestinians is increasing tensions in the Mideast and increasing the threat of terrorism in America, then I would suggest the United States withdraw US military financial aid and force Israel to settle it, so the United States can get out and stay out of the Mideast.
Walt: Terrorist attacks would occur even if we weren't bombing Taliban and al Qaeda personnel and materiel in Afghanistan.
Marc: Yes and no. If we leave Afghanistan, I believe it will reduce the spread of terrorism here in America.
The reason is this. Bin Laden's real enemy is not the United States. His enemy is governments in the Mideast who have betrayed his concept of Islam. The governments like Saudi Arabia are puppets, who are controlled by the United States, and he wants to overthrow them.
Instead of attacking the government of Saudi Arab directly, he realized the terrorist attacks would be far more potent directed at the United States-the third party.
His strategy is to leverage the terrorism in the United States into withdrawing support for Saudi Arabia and from Israel. He wants the U.S. to withdraw from the Mideast.
If America withdraws from the Mideast, Bid Laden and the governments of the Mideast will have to work things out among themselves. Let them deal with their own governments and their own terrorists.
Walt: Much of, if not most of, the Muslin world already hate us. They hated us long before September the 11th.
Marc: The truth hurts. Many people in the Mideast hate us for good reason. The United States and American corporations have been colonizing, globalizing the Mideast for decades to control the supply of oil to exploit people.
The painful truth is the 9-11 attack was not unprovoked. America has been invading, occupying, exploiting, and humiliating Arab/Muslim nations for decades, and as a direct result, we now have Muslim terrorists attacking America.
Walt: If you were President, what would you do in the short run to prevent loss of life in the United States from these terrorist attacks, considering the American politics and economics as they are, and considering that Bin Laden and his equally dedicated associates obviously want to destroy us ...
Marc: Walt please, I'm not the President. I'm not running for office. I'm a citizen. I'm concerned about public policy that immediately affects every America, as we all should be.
Yes, the terrorists want to destroy us. So we should put all our resources into finding bin Laden's associates here in America and preventing further attacks. Our focus should be to increase our security measures here at home.
If the Bush Administration is pursuing a war that is counter productive and putting Americans at far greater risk, then it is our responsibility to stop it. Isn't it? We should be working to change the war policy, because the policy is not working.
Bin Laden is a military genius. He is neither a fool nor a mad man. And with the al Qaeda and this new strategic terrorist attack, bin Laden may be in a position to make it costly enough for America to want to pack up and leave the Mideast.
Some 415,000 people lost their jobs this month primarily because of the 9-11 terrorist attack. Our economy has hit a ten year low and it hasn't hit bottom yet. It won’t take many more such attacks to put millions of people out of work and collapse our economy.
Walt: ... and to spread the Taliban way of life throughout the world? What would you do in the long run?
Marc: If we withdraw from the Mideast and bin Laden spreads the Taliban way of life. Then what? An empire built on assassination, murder, and terrorism would be as susceptible to terrorism as the governments he wants to replace.
But whatever is or is not in the future of the Mideast it is their land, it is their future. It is their problem and not our problem - if and only if we are not there.
In the not so long run, if we are going to survive as a nation, we must fortify our defenses against terrorism. We must strengthen our infrastructure and our society to improve and to minimize the effect of terrorist attacks here in America.
It does not matter who is behind the anthrax/bioterrorist attack, what matters is that no one, under any circumstances should be able to get anything unsafe delivered in the mail. We have to do what it takes to make the mail safe, and we have to do it now.
Our defenses should be our first priority. Not running off and bombing New Jersey because some of the letters were mailed from there and the perpetrators may still be there. Bombing Afghanistan is just as absurd as bombing New Jersey and just as ineffective in stopping terrorism. And besides we'd have a lot of people in New Jersey who hate America.
After 9-11 it is clear that we need to protect the Homeland now or we won’t have a Homeland. The war in Afghanistan is not helping us do that because it's making the problem of terrorism much worse. It is building the Mideast Terrorist Movement and spawning more terrorists. It's creating a Terrorism Megatrend.
Walt: What would you do instead of just talk, or disrupt?
Marc: In a democracy, talking is always the first step. We must open the dialog in America and question the war effort and question the Bush Administration's approach to the Terrorism Problem-because it is not solving the problem.
If our government is not listening, then we may have to politely and non-violently interrupt them and get them to listen.
comments/feed back mailto:marc-keyser [at] 2xtreme.net
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I see this article as a way to reach the general public, those souls who tell me they are sure that the government has their best interests at heart -- and they cannot conceive that their government would not be reasonable.
This article points out some of the really obvious fallacies of the current strategy of the adminstration. Some way to get people start thinking.
Feel free to contribute more, but see if you can make points that the trusting masses, terrified of terrorism and trusting that their government knows best to protect them, might be able to digest.
They walk away from me when I bring up depleted uranium, for one thing.
Racial profiling in the search for terrorists is right.
Sad I know that all your terrorists are of one ethnicity, but its a wonderful tool to narrow down osama related dogs.
Theres no biowar in my future. Not based on what I know today.
The 120000+ Special Forces Men and Women of the United States Military, as well the one million additional regular troops of the US military are exceptional human beings. Placed here today or placed anywhere in any dire situation in history. They shine. Terrorism is unacceptable anywhere.
They are going to handle that for us, US. Many of them will die. For me, and every American Citizen. Peace all.