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Afghanistan,
"Terrorism" and Blowback: A Chronology
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 September 28, 2000 Provocation: Ariel Sharon, the leader of Israel's right-wing Likud party, visits the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third most holy place in Islam. He is accompanied by several Knesset members and an escort of 1000 to "demonstrate Israel's sovereignty" over the compound. [Tensions were further raised when Prime Minister Ehud Barak sent a large police delegation to the area the following day, a Friday. As the worshipers left the mosque, there were immediate confrontations that killed 7 Palestinians and wounded over 200. This was the start of what has been called the "Al-Aqsa intifada" which has been much bloodier, with many car and suicide bombings, than the stone-throwing intifada of the late >80s. But far more than the insult to their holy site has inflamed the Palestinians for the current intifada. According to the prestigious Haaretz, "Israel has security and administrative control" of most of the West Bank and 20% of the Gaza Strip. It has been able "to double the number of settlers in 10 years, to enlarge the settlements, to continue its discriminatory policy of cutting back water quotas for three million Palestinians, to prevent Palestinian development in most of the area of the West Bank, and to seal an entire nation into restricted areas, imprisoned in a network of bypass roads meant for Jews only. During these days of strict internal restriction of movement in the West Bank, one can see how carefully each road was planned: So that 200,000 Jews have freedom of movement, about three million Palestinians are locked into their Bantustans until they submit to Israeli demands. The bloodbath that has been going on for three weeks is the natural outcome of seven years of lying and deception (the Declaration of Principles of September, 1993), just as the first Intifada was the natural outcome of direct Israeli occupation." A week after the inception of the intifada, the US agreed to supply Israel with 35 Blackhawk helicopters and spare parts for a cost of $525 million. (This, of course, was peanuts compared to the $81 billion to $90 billion total US aid to Israel whom Charley Reese calls "the most expensive 'ally' in the history of the human race" --- quoted in Swomley, Facts for Action #264, October 2001.) Ha'aretz, October 18, 2000; Noam Chomsky, "Al-Aqsa Intifada", www.zmag.org ] October 12, 2000 Blowback in Yemen: During a refueling stop in Aden the USS Cole is rammed by a small boat loaded with explosives, blasting a 40 x 40 foot hole in the hull. Seventeen sailors are killed and 39 injured. More to come. May 18, 2001 The Bush II administration pledges an additional $43 million to Afghanistan since the Taliban has agreed to eliminate the poppy crop. This brings the total for this year to $124 million, making the US the largest humanitarian aid donor to the country. Washington Post, 25 May 2001. August 27, 2001 The CIA sends a cable on a classified government network warning that two "Bin Laden related individuals" have entered the United States. Khalid Almihdar came through JFK on July 4; Nawaf Alhamzi flew into Los Angeles International on January 15, 2000. [It is believed that they were two of the group who seized control of American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon. Both men were members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad; the CIA believes this terrorist group merged with Al Qaida in June. Obviously neither man was apprehended, and the FBI disputes the "Immediate" label which the CIA claims was affixed to the message. The Los Angeles Times pointed out that a check with the California DMV would have given the several addresses where the two men lived in the San Diego area. And on August 27th Alhamzi used a VISA card in his own name to buy a ticket on the internet for AA #77 on September 11th. He gave an address in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Los Angeles Times, October 18, 2001. ] |
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© Janette Rainwater 1997-2004 All rights reserved.
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