"An aide to the former Taleban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, has revealed that he was sent to warn American diplomats and the United Nations that [Al Qaeda] was due to launch a huge attack on American soil. "
"Neither organisation heeded the warning, which was given just weeks [almost 2 months, see story] before the 11 September attacks. "
"The [Taleban] aide said he had urged the Americans to launch a military campaign against al-Qaeda but was told that this was politically impossible" -- but against all of Afghanistan, including thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians, gosh, turned out "possible" after all -ed
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"The [Taleban] minister was deeply worried that the US military would react with deadly vengeance against Afghanistan.
"As he put it, al-Qaeda, the Taleban's guests, were going to destroy the guest house.
"One of his former aides told me how he had been sent to issue warnings... The former foreign minister himself is now unavailable for comment - he handed himself in to the Afghan authorities in February.
He remains in US custody in Kandahar, one of the few senior Taleban whom America has managed to arrest."
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2242594.stm
Please pass on the word! So now we know:
Even if this was NOT true, those civilians in Afghanistan didn't "deserve" to die any more than the US victims in 9/11
Even if this had not been true, Bush's murder of Afghani civilians would have been illegal
Even if this had not been true, Bush's murder of (even more than the 3,000 innocents murdered by the hijackers on 9/11) innocent, civilian Afghani people would have been obscene since Washington itself, and the CIA, funded the Taleban, to the tune not of millions but to the tune of billions,...and then have the gall to say "it's your tough luck Afghanis that we're gonna murder your innocent civilians, we're gonna kill even more of you than Americans died in 9/11... but it's your bad government, ummm, oops, that WE funded and forced you to live under.."
But now we know it's even worse... the Taleban themselves, or this one key Taleban, the Foreign Minister himself, warned the US, and the UN, that the guest militant islamists the Al Qaeda that they had been allowing to stay as "guests", were planning something ...and the US and UN ignored it, even coming from a direct representative of the Foreign Minister! And then Afghanis have to die..
Oh, um, excuse me... but those who believe whatever Corporate TV tells them may want at this point to become apologists for Washington's murders, I have to reply to one last "defense" they make: "Ah, but Al Qaeda MEANT to kill the 3,000 while we DIDN'T MEAN to but just ENDED UP killing thousands and thousands of innocent Afghani civilians"
Excuse me? If I "don't MEAN" to kill people but commit an act that I KNOW FOR CERTAIN, IN ADVANCE, AHEAD OF TIME will result in deaths, like deciding to ignore all red lights while driving, then "I didn't mean to, I didn't INTEND to kill people" doesn't cut it --it's almost meaningless.
In fact, forget ignoring red lights. Take police in a hostage situation. If the police chief KNOWS that there is a psychopath ready to kill the hostages if they "Storm in", OR, yet another example, if the police chief KNOWS there are booby-traps that were left there that would blow up if they storm in, and they STILL storm in, not "intending" to kill half the hostages, but knowing full well that that's what's gonna happen, and indeed half the hostages get blown up by the booby traps, then legally, that knowledge would put that police chief subject to extremely serious charges...
So next time someone gives you this nonsense about "how dare you... there is no 'moral equivalence', after all, US elites didn't MEAN and didn't INTEND to kill Afghani civilians," first point out that we expect more than just "not quite as bad as Al Qaeda" from our government, and second, give them these examples or make up more...it's not very hard to tear that argument to shreds to see it for the morally bankrupt apologetics that they are.
P.S. the person saying that would probably say "we" instead of "Washington" or "US elites", like, as if we, like, you and me, are the ones who invaded Panama, funded Iraq like the CIA did, bombed Iraq, bombed Afghanistan, etc..hmmm!
See also our
www.EconomicDemocracy.org/wtc/
And BBC' story again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2242594.stm
* * *
You know, in the 1980s when I found out about Saddam Hussein's record, I voiced opposition to my government's funding of Iraq (it funded both Iraq and Iran -- but even more so the invading Iraq). When I did so, the response I got from media-saturated Americans was: "what are you, a friend of the Ayatollah?"
It was therefore the height of irony that the never episode took place. When in 1991 I voiced opposition to our "leaders" in Washington slaughtering Iraqis, I was more or less asked, "what are you, a friend of Saddam?" by these Johnny-come-lately militarists and right-wingers who went along with funding Saddam many years earlier. It seems that you are "unpatriotic" unless you cheer-lead the funding of the likes of Noriega, Saddam, and the Taliban by the CIA and Washington, and then AGAIN cheer-lead the mass-murder of civilians proposed as "solutions" to the problems these earlier fundings create. George Orwell would spin in his grave... * * * *
Non-corporate new on Iraq: http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Iraq/IraqCrisis.htm On 9/11: * "SEPTEMBER 11th FAMILIES FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS", Relatives of victims of 9/11 speak out against more war and death: http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/index.html * To find out about Peace Events for 9/11 or help organize them: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ This includes Rita Lasar who lost family in 9/11, Masuda Sultan whose civilian family was killed by WAshington's bobms over Afghanistan, Arun Gandhi, Mahatama Gandhi's grandson, Osacr Arias, and others. * Non-coroporate news and analysis on Terror, Iraq etc: http://www.globalexchange.org/september11/ http://www.zmag.org/reactionscalam.htm Top Ten Reasons Why the US Should Not Invade Iraq: http://www.globalexchange.org/september11/invadeIraq082702.html * Action for Justice, not War: http://www.9-11peace.org/ in particular their "Why Peace?" http://www.9-11peace.org/peace.php3 "OUR CALL IS THIS: President Bush and citizens around the globe, let us not enter into World War III. Rather, let us begin immediately to forge WORLD PEACE I" It is our strong belief that a non-military response is the best strategy for a permanent end to terror. We believe in a non-military response for the following reasons: [list of reasons] see http://www.9-11peace.org/peace.php3