September 11th Revisited
(from CC network)

"Here are some facts that ought to be considered on September 11th:

- Osama bin Laden and the Taliban had been funded, trained and equipped by the CIA and other agencies during the 1980's. They were made into vicious terrorists who fought and eventually won against the invading Russian occupiers who had sought to control Afghanistan.

- US government officials and agencies, along with Western corporations and commercial interests, and Pakistan, had been engaged in secret dealings with the Taliban for decades, and these contacts continued through July, 2001. In general, the contacts were military and commercial in nature: the US and its corporate allies wanted the Taliban to let them build an oil pipeline across Afghanistan. They also wanted to use the Taliban for military and intelligence purposes, and to assist in the drug war. In summer, 2001, the Bush administration gave $43 million to the Taliban as payment for its anti-opium and anti-marijuana efforts.

- The Saudi royal family and other Saudi groups and individuals, were sponsors or tacit players involved with banks, networks and individuals affiliated with Al Qaeda and other organizations now deemed as terrorist. The Bush family, most notably George H.W. Bush, the 41st US president, and George W. Bush, the current US president, has long had financial and personal ties to the bin Laden family and to Saudi royalty:

George H.W. Bush and the bin Laden family, along with a lot of other shady people, are co-partners in the Carlyle Group, an investment company heavily leveraged into military hardware assets. The elder Bush and other Carlyle investors have benefited financially from the warlike reaction to 9-11 implemented by George W. Bush.

- Books that have been censored or banned in the USA, such as "Forbidden Truth," "Lost History," and "Rogue State," contain indisputable evidence that American governments and individuals for decades have supported dictators, genocides, biowarfare, and terrorism. The dirty business has been bi-partisan; Democrat and Republican administrations have waged ugly wars and covert atrocities.

- The FBI, CIA and other government agencies had ample warning that terrorist attacks were likely to happen this year. Individual agents figured out what was going to happen, and warned their "superiors." Foreign intelligence services warned their American counterparts about a bin Laden operative that they had in their custody. The warnings were ignored. The Bush administration actively squashed investigations that would have led to the discovery of the 9-11 plot before it happened. Why?

These facts are troubling, but just as troubling are the actions of the US government in the aftermath of 9-11.

The attacks have been used as justification for

• a massive rollback of civil liberties: the USA Patriot Act and other initiatives.
• war mongering in the middle east: Iraq."