March 25, 2004

TARGETS, OLD AND NEW

During all the who-knew-what-when controversy about Osama bin Laden’s September 11 plans, is anyone going to remember this?

"There were a very large number of women and children in that compound and it's almost like he was daring me to kill them," Clinton said. "I felt it would hurt America's interests if we killed a lot of Afghani women and children and didn't even get him."

”Him” being OBL his bad self. A more recent terrorist theory is dealt with by Jose Maria Aznar:

In the hours that followed the attacks, our investigation focused on one obvious suspect, the Basque terrorist group ETA. It was a reasonable inference to make, and those who say otherwise are being either naive or dishonest. History has left us with clear evidence of ETA's sinister habit of killing during election campaigns. The terrorists always attempt to soak our democracy in blood on the days when we Spaniards go to the polls to reaffirm our liberties.

ETA has committed more than 800 murders, among other crimes, over three decades, and has sought always to weaken and divide our democracy, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary. A few days earlier, the group had tried to carry out an attack with 500 kilograms of explosives, one that failed only due to the intervention of the Guardia Civil, the national police. Those detained in this failed attack had a map that highlighted the zone of the Henares Pathway, through which run the trains that were targeted on March 11. And it was ETA that, on Christmas Eve, attempted another slaughter at Madrid's Chamartin station, also thwarted by our National Police. And to continue the ghoulish catalog, the same terrorist group brought two vans loaded with more than 1µ tons of explosives to Madrid in December 1999. Once again, our security forces foiled what would have been mass murder.

My government was not alone in attributing the March 11 attacks to ETA. In the first few hours, the president of the Basque Autonomous Region, the secretary general of the Socialist Party, the general coordinator of the United Left and the secretary general of Catalonia's Esquerra Republicana, among others, did likewise.

This isn’t what we’re hearing outside of Spain. Also, David Kaspar reports that German opposition to the war hasn’t secured Islamic friendliness:

German President Johannes Rau has cancelled a stopover in Djibouti on the last phase of his east African tour after German security services warned him of an alleged assassination plot by Islamists. Instead, he's flying back to Germany, direct from Tanzania. Rau's office said German intelligence agencies had a tipoff that terrorists had wanted to target Rau as a representative of a Western nation.

We’re all targets.

Posted by Tim Blair at March 25, 2004 01:38 AM
Comments

Why do some believe they won't be targets if they just 'play nice' with the terrorists?

All anyone has to do is use a search engine, like Google, and search around the web. Look at the sites that support the various Islamonazi groups and read what they say.

They want to establish a world-wide Caliphate. To have the entire world be an Islamic one. That is what they want. Nothing else.

We either convert, be killed, or be enslaved. Nobody is safe. Muslims are not safe either. Witness what the Islamonazis did in Afghanistan to the Muslims there.

When their intentions are spelled out plainly, and in English, why do some people refuse to believe these Islamonazis are serious? Why do some people think they will be exempt?

Posted by: Chris Josephson at March 25, 2004 at 03:38 AM

Too bad OBL didn't visit a certain compound in Waco, Texas...

Posted by: Chrees at March 25, 2004 at 03:43 AM

Tim, your link to your older story on Clinton doesn’t work for me. It is:
http://timblair.blogspot.com/2002_03_31_timblair_archive.html#11334773

I googled this up, maybe this is the link, & it does contain an entry of yours on Clinton, I think it may well be the one you meant to link to.
http://timblair.blogspot.com/2002_05_19_timblair_archive.html#76711750

Here is its text. Unfortunately, the news article to which it links is an expired Yahoo! article.

==================================
CLINTON KNEW … where Osama bin Laden was holed up, and he did nothing:

Clinton says he tried repeatedly to kill Osama bin Laden and recounts a tough decision in the fall of 2000 when the U.S. received intelligence about bin Laden's possible whereabouts. "[I had] a 40 percent chance of knowing we could have hit it. But there were a very large number of women and children in that compound and it's almost like he [bin Laden] was daring me to kill them."

Just a reminder.
posted by Tim Blair at 5/19/2002 01:46:15 PM
==================================

Posted by: ForNow at March 25, 2004 at 04:02 AM

Aznar is stating the obvious, but the thing is the mostly leftish media and the socialist oppostion hijacked the Madrid massacres to mobilize the electorate to oust the ruling conservatives by insisting the government was hiding the truth, this during an unfolding investigation and even though it was the government itself that revealed what was going on to the Spanish people based on what the investigators were telling authorities. Go figure.

Posted by: Henry Cybulski at March 25, 2004 at 04:13 AM

A news article with Tim’s quote from Clinton on how he could have but didn’t order a strike on Bin Laden’s compound is “Clinton tells of bin Laden's plot to kill him,” Sydney Morning Herald, April 1 2002. (Note: at the Website, the story is interrupted by some coding & a defunct ad).

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/01/1017206182565.html

Posted by: ForNow at March 25, 2004 at 04:27 AM

Hey, I hear Zapatero is hoping for a return to the "magnificent relations" of the past between Spain, France & Germany now that he's given up ties to the U.S.

Is he referring to the 7 years war, 100 years war, WWI or WWII?

Pretty magnificent!!

Just curious is all.

Posted by: todd felzer at March 25, 2004 at 06:59 AM

The terrorist are fuck wits.

What they need is better PR. Better targets.

They could hire or force into service several camel jockeys. These comb through newspapers and world events publications, finding the worst liked politician country by country. Then they could blow up the worst and most corrupt along with their own simple foolish sheep they send to do the work.

Heck given a month of selective bombings that bettered the world instead of just being lame and pointless would cause world reaction to change.

Use your powers for good. Not evil.

Posted by: IXLNXS at March 25, 2004 at 07:22 AM
Rau's office said German intelligence agencies had a tipoff that terrorists had wanted to target Rau as a representative of a Western nation.
Trying to muster up some sympathy, but it ain't happening.

To paraphrase Churchill, choose dishonor, you'll still get war. And not on your own terms, either.

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut at March 25, 2004 at 08:27 AM


Ever heard of Mandy Rice-Davies, bLIAR? Aznar puts out a bit of self-serving political spin - well he would wouldn't he? - and Tim buys it hook, line and sinker. Even though all the objective evidence gives the lie to Aznar. Hey Tim, there's a mate of a mate of mine who would love to talk to you about the Sydney Harbour Bridge. For you, a very special price!

Posted by: fisk at March 25, 2004 at 08:35 AM

Timbo.
The problem Aznar had was that although morrocan and indian muslims had been arrested he refused to announce but rather go on with the ETA pretence. It was only when police sources leeked the information to the socialists that the Government was forced to announce the arrests.
This was when the brazen lying and deceit was seen for what it was.

The Spanish voted against that.

Posted by: Homer Paxton at March 25, 2004 at 09:13 AM

Big Hawk fiskie, you keep forgetting to mention all the lunches with expensive wine. Come on now, we like the new songs but give us fans a couple of the hits as well.

And any minute now Homer P. will provide us with (a) source(s) for his assertions. Anything with "guardian.co.uk" or "counterpunch.org" as part of the url don't count.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 25, 2004 at 11:07 AM

Maybe it's just me, but in your quote Aznar says that ETA was caught with an amount of explosives expressed in tons that looks like 1 followed by a Greek mu. The original was 1 1/2 (one and one-half) tons, so 1500 kg or about 3300 lbs. Since mu is used to indicate the prefix "micro," the amount indicated by the (again possibly only for me) incorrect expression is one gram of explosive, which is generally not considered especially harmful.

Posted by: Bob71 at March 25, 2004 at 01:40 PM

Hmmmm......I see it there. Yes, "µ" means "micro", which equals 1E-06, 1/1000000, or 1 millionth, depending on your inclination. It's standard engineering and scientific notation.

So you're right, Bob71. It *is* just you.....reading way too much into a typo. I seriously doubt even the most anal police force would be worried about a van with 1 gram of explosive. Depending on the exact composition, that's less than a package of firecrackers.

Now I saw it, and then the unit "tons". A little rational thought told me this was likely a typo. A 1 ton amount was more acceptable, even if I didn't jump up and down pointing to the error.

I'd be less inclined to answer your post like this if you were a tad less sarcastic about the matter. If you are genuinely confused by the error, try phrasing like this:

"Tim, your posted article says '1µ tons of explosives', which might be a typo or pasting error. That's a really small amount of explosives. Can you check this?"

Posted by: JeffS at March 25, 2004 at 02:28 PM

Alright already. Lunches. All of them. Expensive wine. Buckets of it. There, but can somebody tell me what this Andrea person is banging on about? She keeps talking about "Big Hawk", Tim is seeking out "Wayne" where ever he may lurk. Do you have to be taking medication to be a bLIAR blogger?

Posted by: fisk at March 25, 2004 at 06:04 PM

Expensive medication. Wash it down with wine.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at March 25, 2004 at 08:46 PM

Andrea, he might need intravenuous feeding of that medication. While strapped to a bed, including his hands so he won't play with the sharp needles.

Posted by: JeffS at March 26, 2004 at 12:34 AM

Aznar disclosed muslim detention one hour before they were captured. The "manipulation" is only in the mind of the people that will never recognize they cowardice.

jose (spain, well... Al Andalus :-)

Posted by: jose at March 26, 2004 at 04:25 AM

one hour AFTER, sorry

Posted by: jose at March 26, 2004 at 04:26 AM

José is right, Paxton. Please check what I posted here at Tim's, including declassified intelligence documents and a detailed timeline.

Posted by: Franco Alemán (from Barcelona, Spain, New member of the Axis of Weasels) at March 27, 2004 at 03:30 AM