The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
 

Vol: 32 Issue: 26 - Wednesday, May 26, 2004

al-Qaeda Recruiters Meeting Quotas
by Jack Kinsella

In an exclusive interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" retired Marine General
Anthony Zinni broke faith with the Corps and his fellow Marines by
publicly criticizing his country, his leadership and the war effort in
Iraq on national television.

Maybe that sounds too harsh -- I'll continue, and you can make up your own
mind.

General Zinni told 60 Minutes that, "We are now being viewed as the modern
crusaders, as the modern colonial power in this part of the world."  Zinni
slammed senior Pentagon and administration officials for clumsy strategies
in Iraq, saying it is high time for heads to roll after they "have screwed
up".

"The trouble is the way they saw to go about this is unilateral aggressive
intervention by the United States - the take down of Iraq as a priority."

Zinni said he has been accused of being anti-Semitic for calling top
Pentagon Jewish officials as "neo-conservatives" though "they describe
themselves as neo-conservatives".

"I mean, you know, unbelievable that that's the kind of personal attacks
that are run when you criticize a strategy and those who propose it. I
certainly didn't criticize who they were. I certainly don't know what
their ethnic religious backgrounds are. And I'm not interested," he told
CBS.

He continued: "I think it's the worst kept secret in Washington. That
everybody - everybody I talk to in Washington has known and fully knows
what their agenda was and what they were trying to do".

CBS said Zinni was hinting at Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz;
Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith; Former Defense Policy Board
member Richard Perle; National Security Council member Eliot Abrams; and
Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby.

It said that they pressed for the war on Iraq to stabilize American
interests in the region and strengthen the position of Israel.

"I know what strategy they promoted. And openly. And for a number of
years. And what they have convinced the president and the secretary to do.
And I don't believe there is any serious political leader, military
leader, diplomat in Washington that doesn't know where it came from," said
Zinni.

General Zinni further told CBS that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong
time.

"I can't speak for all generals, certainly. But I know we felt that this
situation was contained. Saddam was effectively contained. The no-fly,
no-drive zones. The sanctions that were imposed on him."

He also hit out at the faulty pre-war intelligence about Iraq's alleged
weapons of mass destruction that led to the current anarchy.

He said Rumsfeld should not have been now surprised at the stiff Iraqi
resistance.

"There were a number of people, before we even engaged in this conflict,
that felt strongly we were underestimating the problems and the scope of
the problems we would have in there," Zinni recalled.

"Not just generals, but others -- diplomats, those in the international
community that understood the situation. Friends of ours in the region
that were cautioning us to be careful out there. I think he should have
known that."

Assessment:

I said at the outset that General Zinni's remarks 'broke faith' with the
Corps, his fellow Marines, and his country.  A Marine swears an oath to
his country, to protect it from all enemies -- foreign and domestic.

That oath doesn't terminate at retirement or discharge -- that's why the
Marines have a saying: "Once a Marine, always a Marine."  The Marine Corps
motto is 'Semper Fidelis' -- 'ALWAYS Faithful'.

Read from where I said at the beginning of this briefing that maybe I was
being too harsh -- from that sentence, to the final quote before I began
the assessment was cut and pasted directly out of an article about Zinni's
CBS appearance -- from Islam Online!

Zinni provided the enemy with better anti-American propaganda sound bytes
than they could have written on their own -- and then added the
credibility of his rank and uniform to his comments.

Comments that turned up on Islam Online suggesting that the
administration's 'neo-cons' are mostly Jews -- you know, the
'Bush-as-a-Zionist-puppet-doing-Israel's-bidding propaganda line that
al-Qaeda's recruiters use to such great effect.

Related links from the Zinni story lead the reader to other Islam Online
stories bearing headlines like;

"Pro-Israeli Think Tank Influence Controlling U.S. Foreign Policy: Paper";
"Public Opinion 'Super Power' Against U.S.: Chomsky"; "Majority Against
U.S. Administration, Not People: IOL Poll";  "Americans 'Ashamed' Of Iraqi
Prisoners Abuse"; "Berg's Father Says Bush "A Weapon Of Mass Destruction";
"Senior U.S. Officers Slam Rumsfeld's Blunders" and, "American Marine
"Ashamed" Of Iraq Experience".

THAT is what the Arab world woke up to in THEIR newspapers this morning.
The sources for the above article headlines were American media outlets.

On CNN this morning, news anchors breathlessly announced details of yet
another new report -- this one saying al-Qaeda's recruiters are having no
problem finding folks to replace the ones killed or captured during the
war on terror.

Also according to CNN, al-Qaeda has some 18,000 fighter secreted around
the globe, and they are planning 'something big' against an American
target this summer. Good heavens!  How did THAT happen?

We're glad you asked. CNN followed up by helpfully producing a list of
'formers' from the Clinton administration to explain how the Bush
administration 'allowed' anti-American sentiment to reach such a global
fever pitch that al-Qaeda is able to expand.

Am I missing something here?  CNN and her ideological soul mates
throughout the mainstream media are the ones that are providing the
ammunition for anti-American propaganda being spread throughout the
Islamic world.  Look back up at Islam Online's headlines.

Supporting them are enemies of the Bush administration so venomous that
they take every opportunity to provide the enemy with useful propaganda
for his war effort, because the worse the war goes, the worse it looks for
the Bush administration.

I am not arguing against free speech or the First Amendment.  The Supreme
Court long ago held that there are reasonable limits to free speech.  As
an example, the Court noted that shouting, "Fire!" in a crowded theater is
not protected speech. Neither is giving aid and comfort to the enemy in
time of war an example of protected speech.

Something has happened to America in the past decade or so.  Something
strange.  Right and wrong aren't as clear as they were even ten years ago.
Truth is more elusive than ever -- but now, it's the media doing the
political spinning -- and nobody seems to have a problem with that.

Half the nation wants a country where abortion is legal; God is illegal,
where the economy is run according to principles of Marxist class warfare
and liberalism.

Running for president is a Massachusetts liberal who actually
out-liberaled Teddy Kennedy, according to his Senate voting record.  His
suspicious war record is only slightly less troubling than his subsequent
anti-war activities, but that sits just fine with that half of America. He
isn't George Bush.

The other side wants a nation where abortion is outlawed, God is welcome,
the economy is run according to the principles of capitalism and the
country is run as a Constitutional Republic instead of a pure democracy.

Running for re-election is one of the most divisive Chief Executives in
the nation's history, although, compared to the previous occupant, this
one is a choirboy.  But Bush represents everything the other America
hates -- the 'other' America that Howard Dean derisively mocked as being
obsessed with, "God, guns and gays."

To listen to the mainstream media, his political enemies at home, and his
military enemies abroad, Bush is worse than the antichrist.

We often discuss America's absence from Bible prophecy in the last days.
Abraham Lincoln noted during the Civil War that a 'house divided against
itself cannot stand.'  Lincoln was quoting Jesus, from Matthew 12:25:

"And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided
against itself shall not stand:"