Fading Exclamations

September 11 was waiting to happen. And in the annals of world history if not this century this will become a watershed event.

According to Gerald Posner, Why America Slept (Random House), the CIA, FBI and Saudis duped Osama Bin Laden into working for them. He also named Osama’s three Saudi supporters. Strangely, they all died last year.

*Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, 43 died of a heart attack.
*Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud, 41 died in an head-on auto accident the next day while reputedly driving for the funeral of his friend Prince Ahmed
*Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, age not mentioned, “died of thirst”.

Reviewing Why America Slept Johanna Mcgeary writes: Posner is an old hand at revisiting conspiracy theories. He wrote controversial assessments dismissing those surrounding the J.F.K. and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations. And the Berkeley-educated lawyer is adept at marshaling an unwieldy mass of information—most of his sources are other books and news stories—into a pattern made tidy and linear by hindsight. His indictment of US intelligence and law-enforcement agencies covers well-trodden ground, though sometimes the might-have-beens and could-have-seens are stretched thin.

To give you the semi-official Saudi take on Posner here is a quote from an ex KU Int’l Relations graduate, now editor in chief of Arab News, Khaled al Maeena:

While critics have continually questioned Posner’s veracity, few can question his ability to capitalize on popular conspiracy theories, real or imagined. In the course of his career, Posner has demonstrated a knack for writing what sells, and ’Why America Slept’ is no exception.
Posner uses few primary sources in his latest expose. In fact, his two most important sources remain anonymous. As with his past literary efforts, the charges leveled in ’Why America Slept’ could not stand up in a court of law because most of his evidence is hearsay, not fact. Surely, a Berkely-trained lawyer like Posner knows that he would have a hard time convincing a court that his latest work is non-fiction.

Time to say hello to our hero or anti-hero Osama Bin Laden.

Recruited, nudged or motivated to do the US bidding in Russian occupied Afghanistan. His backers a motley crowd: the Saudis, CIA, FBI, the wily Zia through infamous ISI.

After the defeat and withdrawal of the Russian forces his support and funds dwindled. Time for introspection? Osama could have been a pawn in the hands of others then. He could have been even a puppet.

He proved out to be shrewd and calculating. At some point he may have turned around and started using his contacts for his new goals. History is replete with such figures. MQM’s Altaf Hussain, another ISI creation comes immediately to mind. There are others. Once out of Pandora’s box the puppets assume a life of their own.

Osama could have been duped to strike at the twin towers. Or he could have initiated the terror attacks on his own. Am ambivalent and skeptical. History serves masters only.

Let us revisit the fall of USSR.

The US system is built to work around an adversary. It greases the wheels. From think tanks and their policy papers to senate and congress hearings to legislations to presidential directives and action they move smoothly to make money and spread their reach.

With the fall of USSR the military-industrial complex got the wind knocked out. Hurriedly the conservative think tanks started working over time to create a new opponent. Viola! How about those damn Muslims?

The initial problems to overcome:
---the Muslim Ummah was an imaginative concept only. It did not exist outside of text books.
---they do not think as one, play as one or act as one.
---if there is anything common with them it is largely their poverty, ignorance, intolerance, coupled with most of them living in usurped dictatorships, oligarchies, or kingdoms.

Despite this the think tanks tried to build up and portray the Muslims as a menace to the world. The think tanks had their work cut out for them. They tried and kept trying without success.

Come the neo-cons on the scene. They tried to gain influence with Bush Sr. without luck. But they persevered. 9/11 was a gift from the heavens.

Whether it was ordained or planned they quickly capitalized on it, manufactured consent and sold the brand name Al Qaeda. Within a few months Al Qaeda rivaled Coke the world over in name-brand recognition. And all this was achieved without bill boards, or massive media advertising campaigns.

Only morons support murder and mayhem. Almost everyone is against violence. (My personal abhorrence against any violence is a matter of record.) And Al Qaeda is terror incarnate. And they are Muslims. Few dissented. Bingo!

The timocracies and democracies of the west joined with tin pot autocracies elsewhere to created a grand global alliance. In the US, the manufacturers of the real weapons of mass destruction, the Christian right, the Zionist jews, and the conservatives branded as neo-cons have hijacked the Establishment. Al Qaeda wittingly or unwittingly served as a catalyst.

Osama a Muslim hero or villain: a pied piper or puppet: a rebel, an idealist or an agent? Whoever he maybe he is the best thing to happen to Islam. He has forced the Muslims around the globe to rethink their religion. He has unwittingly provided a synergetic impetus.

Is Islam a religion of peace or violence? Do Muslims support suicide bombing. Does Islam unjustly favours men? How to loosen the Muslim pseudo-scholar’s grip. How to be tolerant of other religions? How to live and let live?

In re-thinking these queries perhaps lies our and Islam’s resurgence and salvation.