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| Europe |
| 9/11: 20 years on, Germany still grapples with militant Islamists |
| 2021-09-05 |
| [DW] On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban ...Arabic for students... flag is flying over Kabul again. A German police expert fears that Afghanistan could once again become a gathering place for jihadis — including from Germany. Sven Kurenbach still remembers the images of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing and the spontaneous minute of silence at the Berlin police department that followed. When Islamist murderous Moslems weaponized passenger planes on September 11, 2001 — killing nearly 3,000 people — Kurenbach was still head of inspection for the Berlin police's special units. Today he is Germany's top investigator into jihadist activities. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 Please believe me when I tell you Saddam did have an active WMD program. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2021-09-05 19:06 |
| #6 I remember it the way TW described. Saddam had chemical and biological weapons when Bush ordered the invasion. Plus, they were shooting at our aircraft daily. |
| Posted by: Lonzo Hapsburg5562 2021-09-05 15:46 |
| #5 Residual WMD did exist, but an active WMD program did not...and we knew this going in. The 9/11 attack was one important sub-para in OBLs larger campaign plan. The elimination of Massoud was one point...clearing his six. The attack against us (opposed by Zawahiri for all of the relevant reasons) was intended to rally the troops to the black banners. Always talked about third phase...but never openly proven or documented...was OBLs intent to assassinate Saddam...one bullet is all it takes to change that form of government...and if the troops are rallying to the black banners...intent was to emplace a ruler that would be loyal to AQ. Thus, the cause and effect. The Bush admin did not want to risk a ready made WMD program falling to AQ at that point in time. But, Saddam did not have a WMD program, he did maintain enough WMD to paraphrasing his words - to keep the Kurds and Shia in line. If they did not fear him, well then Shia v alhus Sunnah open warfare would be in full bloom. He was a prophet. |
| Posted by: Tennessee 2021-09-05 13:52 |
| #4 The WMD didn't exist and they knew that going in. They did exist, actually. We documented that here at Rantburg at the time and for years afterward. Search the archives, my dear Blinky Pholuling8616 Mostly chemical weapons in bulk in the form of huge bunkers storing pesticides that have the same effects on humans as they do insects — do you remember the villages full of dead rebellious Kurds in the 1990s? It was all over the Western news that Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons on them — but also small amounts of biologicals that the Al Qaeda cadres and others were trained to use at the facilities for terrorists at Salman Pak, who got some of the training given to Saddam Hussein’s extra special forces, and barrels of uranium yellow cake that killed some peasants who found the stuff in an unguarded bunker after the 2003 invasion, as I recall, and nuclear bomb-making equipment, if I recall correctly, hastily buried under the rosebushes at the bottom of the head nuclear scientist’s garden. Then there were the burn ditches around Baghdad and the truck convoys running full down to Syria with Iraqi weapons and gold, then coming back empty — both going on for months before the 2003 invasion. Do recall that the Israelis had destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor the French had built back in 1981, which did not destroy Iraq’s small but real uranium stockpile or the yellowcake precursors. Backgrounder from the Council on Foreign Relations (2005): IRAQ: Weapons Inspections: 1991-1998 Did the inspectors find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Yes--and they destroyed more of them than the U.S.-led coalition did during the Gulf War. [tw note: This implies that there were still plenty of them at the time of the invasion in 2003.] Among other things, U.N. inspectors located hundreds of tons of chemical weapons agents and thousands more tons of the chemicals used to make them; a major biological weapons production facility; machines for separating out radioactive isotopes that could be used to fuel a nuclear bomb; and dozens of missiles, launching pads, and missile warheads for both conventional and chemical munitions. Inspectors were stunned by the volume of information and material they found, and surprised that Iraq’s weapons programs were much more advanced than they had expected. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2021-09-05 12:46 |
| #3 The increase in Islamist movements worldwide and also in Germany has to do with the way the "war on terror" — proclaimed two decades ago by then US President George W. Bush — was conducted. I tend to agree with this part of the statement. Having ZERO civilizational confidence and putting on display craven submission and masochism (not cowardice!) in the immediate aftermath of a mass fatality war crime attack on your country will make you look like the weak horse: Taliban 'moderates' offered political power in Afghanistan by Colin Powell in October of 2001. The operation was originally called "Operation Infinite Justice", but as similar phrases have been used by adherents of several religions as an exclusive description of God, it is believed to have been changed to avoid offense to Muslims who are the majority religion in Afghanistan.[24] In September 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush's remark that "this crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while", which prompted widespread criticism from the Islamic world, may also have contributed to the renaming of the operation.[24] Hence the total, utter and complete failure of the 9/11 war AKA "Operation </rant> |
| Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 2021-09-05 10:49 |
| #2 i bet there were some pretty good nazis. as i'm sure there are some pretty good moslems. take from that what you will |
| Posted by: Retard Strength 2021-09-05 09:10 |
| #1 So there are 48 countries that are guilty of war crimes and whose heads of state need to be tried at The Hague. I can't believe anyone in this day and age still thinks the Iraq war was justified. The WMD didn't exist and they knew that going in. "This section examines the legality of the 2003 US-UK war on Iraq. Shortly before the outbreak of hostilities, UN Secretary General stated that the use of force without Council endorsement would "not be in conformity with the Charter" and many legal experts now describe the US-UK attack as an act of aggression, violating international law. Experts also point to illegalities in the US conduct of the war and violations of the Geneva Conventions by the US-UK of their responsibilities as an occupying power. The section also looks at wartime violations on the Iraqi side." https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/lawindex.htm |
| Posted by: Blinky Pholuling8616 2021-09-05 03:30 |