{"id":312333,"date":"2017-06-11T20:04:58","date_gmt":"2017-06-11T19:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=312333"},"modified":"2017-12-01T23:04:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T22:04:45","slug":"know-sauds-911-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/know-sauds-911-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"How I know that the Sauds did the 9\/11 attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Eric Zuesse, originally posted at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.strategic-culture.org\/news\/2017\/06\/10\/how-i-know-that-sauds-did-9-11-attacks.html\"><span class=\"s2\">strategic-culture.org<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As a historian, I recognize that everything we know about history is from sources, and depends upon the reliability of those sources. Here, my main sources will be identified, and linked-to, so that any reader online can go directly to them, and won\u2019t need to rely upon me but can go directly to the sources and evaluate them (my evidence) on one\u2019s own. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">First of all, however, reference will be made here to the three main countries (other than Afghanistan, which America first invaded for having allegedly perpetrated 9\/11; and Iraq, which we next invaded for having allegedly perpetrated it) that have been accused, at different times, for allegedly having done those attacks; and anyone who wants to see my main previous article on each of the following three country\u2019s involvement or non-involvement in the 9\/11 attacks, can access that presentation simply by clicking onto the respective link here for that given country:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2017\/06\/shoddy-alt-news-journalism-boosts-mainstream-journalism-propaganda.html\">ISRAEL<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.strategic-culture.org\/news\/2017\/05\/29\/shifting-blame-how-us-made-iran-responsible-for-9-11.html\">IRAN<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2017\/01\/al-qaeda-funded-royal-sauds-u-s-govt-documents.html\">SAUDI ARABIA<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Regarding each one of those three \u2018suspects\u2019, my article there links directly to its sources, so that the reliance is, yet again, not to my own evidence, but to the evidence that others have presented.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Of course, the CIA and the George W. Bush White House have also been alleged to have been involved. Anyone who scours the present article and its sources will find plenty of evidence implicating them; but the U.S. regime cannot go to war against itself; and, so, only the <i>foreign<\/i> government that actually financed and organized the 9\/11 attacks, will be the <i>focus<\/i> here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, none of that will make much sense outside of the broader context of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2015\/09\/how-america-double-crossed-russia-and-shamed-the-west.html\"><span class=\"s2\">the article that I wrote documenting how the Cold War had ended in 1991 only on the Russian side while it was secretly continued on the U.S. side, which resolutely aims to conquer Russia<\/span><\/a>. As things have turned out subsequent to 1990, \u2018the war against communism\u2019 had really been just the sales-pitch for a campaign ultimately to achieve U.S. control over the entire world \u2014 it was not really an ideological war \u2014 on the American side. Understanding this, is basic to everything. And America\u2019s \u2018war against terrorism\u2019 is (as is well documented in the excerpts below) <i>likewise<\/i> fake. But that\u2019s being said only in the way of preparation \u2014 any reader here will make his decisions solely upon the basis of the evidence, which is given here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Other than your reading those basics, the following will present the supplementary evidence to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2017\/01\/al-qaeda-funded-royal-sauds-u-s-govt-documents.html\"><span class=\"s2\">my case<\/span><\/a> that Saudi Arabia \u2014 that\u2019s to say, the Saudi government; that\u2019s to say, the Saudi royal family, the al-Sauds, \u2014 did it. This will be the relevant <b>back-story<\/b>, to how and why they did it, but all of it will be presented here by others, not by me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">My function in setting forth this history will simply be organizing these sources for the back-story, as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s4\">Nafeez Ahmed, 2005, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1566565960\/ref=rdr_ext_tmb\"><span class=\"s5\"><i>The War on Truth: 9\/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism<\/i><\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">pp.3-5: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the summer of 1979, a group of powerful elites from various countries gathered at an international conference in Jerusalem to promote and exploit the idea of \u2018international terrorism.\u2019 The forum, officially known as the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism (JCIT), was organized by Benjamin Netanyahu. \u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Over two decades ago, the JCIT established the ideological foundations for the \u2018War on Terror.\u2019 The JCIT\u2019s defining theme was that international terrorism constituted an organized political movement whose ultimate origin was the Soviet Union. All terrorist groups were ultimately products of it, and could be traced back to, this single source, which \u2014 according to the JCIT \u2014 provided financial, military, and logistical assistance to disparate terrorist movements around the globe. The mortal danger to Western security and democracy posed by the worldwide scope of this international terrorist movement required an appropriate worldwide anti-terrorism offensive, consisting of the mutual coordination of Western military intelligence services.2<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But as Philip Paull documents extensively in his [1982] <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/title\/international-terrorism-the-propaganda-war\/oclc\/9409733\"><span class=\"s6\">Masters thesis at San Francisco State University<\/span><\/a> [and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/permalink.php?story_fbid=592045554309156&amp;id=100005111508172\"><span class=\"s2\">summarized in the link to this link<\/span><\/a>], the JCIT\u2019s own literature and use of source documentation was profoundly flawed [he shows they lied]. \u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Who exactly were the primary architects of the JCIT\u2019s \u2018international terrorism\u2019 project? According to Paull, \u2018present and former members of the Israeli and United States governments, \u2026 and reactionary British and French politicians and publicists. \u2026 [They] included: Menachim Begin, \u2026 Benzion Netanyahu, then Cornell University professor emeritus [and Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s father], \u2026 Paul Johnson, \u2026 Richard Pipes, \u2026 Ray S. Cline, \u2026 George Bush Sr. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s4\">David B. Ottaway, 2008, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Kings-Messenger-Americas-Tangled-Relationship\/dp\/B0046LUPWW\"><span class=\"s5\"><i>The King\u2019s Messenger: Prince Bandar<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">pp.41-44:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the fall of 1979, Bandar took eight courses in international economics and politics, political theory, U.S. foreign policy, and Middle East politics, scoring four As, and four B pluses, according to a transcript of his school records.6 Mystery still surrounds his master\u2019s thesis, which focused on the domestic origins of U.S. foreign policy. Though apparently it was extremely well written, Bandar received only a B plus. West said in one of his daily diary entries that the thesis was \u2018exceptionally good\u2019. \u2026 But in another entry, he said \u2018I cannot help but wonder how much help he might have had with it.\u20198 One person who almost certainly helped Bandar was Fred Dutton.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">West kept Bandar\u2019s father informed abut his progress. When he went to tell Sultan about Bandar\u2019s final grades in June 1980, Sultan joked that Bandar had \u2018spent a lot of money\u2019 on getting his degree, in response to which West quipped, \u2018That was the reason he received a B plus instead of an A in economics.\u20199 Even [President] Carter\u2019s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, read the thesis, commenting that Bandar had learned a lot about the U.S. decision-making process and explained how it affected Saudi Arabia\u2019s interests \u2018in an interesting and imaginative way.\u201910 \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Almost immediately after his return in June 1979, Bandar found himself called upon for help by President Carter <b>once again<\/b>. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Secretly, Carter had already turned to the kingdom for help, calling in Bandar and asking him to deliver a message to [King] Fahd pleading for an increase in Saudi [oil] production. Fahd\u2019s reply, according to Bandar, was \u2018Tell my friend, the president of the United States of America, when they need our help, they will not be disappointed.\u201913 The king was true to his world. \u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">West\u2019s diary corroborates Bandar\u2019s account of how Saudi Arabia came to Carter\u2019s rescue. West wrote that on May 30 he began discussing with Hamilton Jordan what they could do to get Carter reelected.14 \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The success of this venture in oil diplomacy gave Bandar enormous standing in Washington. In early December 1979, Carter asked the prince to come to the White House so that he could thank him personally for the Saudi help in alleviating the U.S. energy crunch. \u2026 The meeting was kept secret even from the State Department. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Bandar, still only a pilot and with no diplomatic standing, was becoming involved in every aspect of Carter\u2019s Middle East policy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">pp.56-57:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Saudi drive to export its religious influence eventually reached the United States. \u2026 In November 1980, a group of pro-Khomeni Iranian activists had seized control of the site [the Islamic Mosque and Cultural Center on Massachusetts Avenue] and ousted its Egyptian (Sunni) imam. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the turbulent decade after the Iranian revolution, the U.S. government welcomed this new Saudi religious activism, viewing it as a badly needed counterweight to help contain Iran\u2019s drive to expand its religious and political influence. The Saudi export of Wahhabi Islam would eventually develop into an impressive soft power that the House of Saud could extend across the Muslim world. \u2026 Before long, this international activism took concrete form in a jihad aimed at the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which had begun [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War\"><span class=\"s2\">invading on 24 December 1979<\/span><\/a>] [months after having provided only advisors to an independent leftist-revolutionary government that turned out to be ignoring much of Moscow\u2019s advice] the same year as Iran\u2019s revolution. \u2026 Starting in the early 1980s, the Saudi government provided several billions of dollars in arms and other assistance to the cause of freeing Afghanistan from godless communists. Reagan, of course, was careful to call them \u2018freedom fighters\u2019 rather than \u2018holy warriors.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A9RCFZnWGE0\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A9RCFZnWGE0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">VIDEO: 1979 Zbigniew Brzezinski to the Mujahideen: &#8220;Your cause is right and God is on your side!&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu\/brzezinski_interview\">http:\/\/dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu\/brzezinski_interview<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Brzezinski Interview with <i>Le Nouvel Observateur<\/i> (1998)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Translated from the French by William Blum and David N. Gibbs. This translation was published in Gibbs, &#8220;Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion in Retrospect,&#8221; <i>International Politics<\/i> 37, no. 2, 2000, pp. 241-242. For article full text, click here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Original French version appeared in &#8220;Les R\u00e9v\u00e9lations d&#8217;un Ancien Conseilleur de Carter: \u2018Oui, la CIA est Entr\u00e9e en Afghanistan avant les Russes&#8230;\u2019&#8221; <i>Le Nouvel Observateur<\/i> [Paris], January 15-21, 1998, p. 76.\u00a0Click here for original French text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Note that all ellipses appeared in the original transcript, as published in <i>Le Nouvel Observateur<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahiddin in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national security advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahiddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout].<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>B: It wasn\u2019t quite like that. We didn\u2019t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You don\u2019t regret any of this today?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: \u201cWe now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.&#8221; Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Q : \u201cSome agitated Moslems\u201d? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today&#8230;<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isn\u2019t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is t here in com m on among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries&#8230;<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Additional Sources: \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.is\/y6gtG\">http:\/\/archive.is\/y6gtG<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Anatomy of a Victory: CIA&#8217;s Covert Afghan War<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By: Steve Coll, <i>Washington Post<\/i>, July 19, 1992<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2026 In 1980, not long after Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan [on 24 December 1979] to prop up a sympathetic leftist government, President Jimmy Carter signed the first &#8212; and for many years the only &#8212; presidential &#8220;finding&#8221; on Afghanistan, the classified directive required by U.S. law to begin covert operations, according to several Western sources familiar with the Carter document.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Carter finding sought to aid Afghan rebels in &#8220;harassment&#8221; of Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan through secret supplies of light weapons and other assistance. The finding did not talk of driving Soviet forces out of Afghanistan or defeating them militarily, goals few considered possible at the time, these sources said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The cornerstone of the program was that the United States, through the CIA, would provide funds, some weapons and general supervision of support for the mujaheddin rebels, but day-to-day operations and direct contact with the mujaheddin would be left to the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI. The hands-off U.S. role contrasted with CIA operations in Nicaragua and Angola.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Saudi Arabia agreed to match U.S. financial contributions to the mujaheddin and distributed funds directly to ISI. China sold weapons to the CIA and donated a smaller number directly to Pakistan, but the extent of China&#8217;s role has been one of the secret war&#8217;s most closely guarded secrets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In all, the United States funneled more than $2 billion in guns and money to the mujaheddin during the 1980s, according to U.S. officials. It was the largest covert action program since World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the first years after the Reagan administration inherited the Carter program, the covert Afghan war &#8220;tended to be handled out of Casey&#8217;s back pocket,&#8221; recalled Ronald Spiers, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, the base of the Afghan rebels. Mainly from China&#8217;s government, the CIA purchased assault rifles, grenade launchers, mines and SA-7 light antiaircraft weapons, and then arranged for shipment to Pakistan. Most of the weapons dated to the Korean War or earlier. The amounts were significant &#8212; 10,000 tons of arms and ammunition in 1983, according to Yousaf &#8212; but a fraction of what they would be in just a few years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Beginning in 1984, Soviet forces in Afghanistan began to experiment with new and more aggressive tactics against the mujaheddin, based on the use of Soviet special forces, called the Spetsnaz, in helicopter-borne assaults on Afghan rebel supply lines. As these tactics succeeded, Soviet commanders pursued them increasingly. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In March 1985, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 166, and national security adviser Robert D. McFarlane signed an extensive annex, augmenting the original Carter intelligence finding that focused on &#8220;harassment&#8221; of Soviet occupying forces, according to several sources. Although it covered diplomatic and humanitarian objectives as well, the new, detailed Reagan directive used bold language to authorize stepped-up covert military aid to the mujaheddin, and it made clear that the secret Afghan war had a new goal: to defeat Soviet troops in Afghanistan through covert action and encourage a Soviet withdrawal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">New Covert U.S. Aid<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The new covert U.S. assistance began with a dramatic increase in arms supplies &#8212; a steady rise to 65,000 tons annually by 1987, according to Yousaf &#8212; as well as what he called a &#8220;ceaseless stream&#8221; of CIA and Pentagon specialists who traveled to the secret headquarters of Pakistan&#8217;s ISI on the main road near Rawalpindi, Pakistan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There the CIA specialists met with Pakistani intelligence officers to help plan operations for the Afghan rebels. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s4\">Richard Lab\u00e9vi\u00e8re, 2000, <\/span><span class=\"s7\">\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Dollars-Terror-United-States-Islam\/dp\/1892941066\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496010134&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=9781892941060\"><span class=\"s8\"><i>Dollars for Terror: The United States and Islam<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">p.6:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2026 Between 1994 and 1997, Bill Clinton was happy to allow Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to support the Taleban, seeing them as a useful counterbalance to Iran\u2019s influence. &#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8216;The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and of helping them against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan against the Red Army\u2019 explains a former CIA analyst. \u2018The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize what remains of Russian power. \u2026\u2019 In a certain sense, the Cold War is still going on. For years Graham Fuller, former Deputy Director of the National Council on Intelligence at the CIA, has been talking up the \u2018modernizing virtues\u2019 of the Islamists, insisting on their anti-Statist concepts of the economy. Listening to him, you would almost take the Taleban and their Wahhabi allies for liberals. \u2018Islam, in theory at least, is firmly anchored in the traditions of free trade and private enterprise,\u2019 wrote Fuller.2 \u2026 \u2018Islam does not glorify the State\u2019s role in the economy.\u2019 \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/akbar-ganji\/u-s-jihadists-relation-pa_b_5553529.html\">http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/akbar-ganji\/u-s-jihadists-relation-pa_b_5553529.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">U. S. &#8211; Jihadists Relation, Part II: Waging Jihad to Defeat the Soviet Union<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Akbar Ganji [7 July 2014. The links have been updated here.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2026 Bin Laden was a civil engineer and a member of a wealthy Saudi family, which was not, however, a part of the Saudi royal family. He recruited 4000 Saudi citizens and took them to Afghanistan. Altogether, 100,000 fighters were recruited and taken to Afghanistan, who were funded, armed and trained by CIA and Saudi Arabia. The high level of civilian casualties that the war would certainly entail <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isreview.org\/issues\/20\/CIA_binladen_afghan.shtml\"><span class=\"s2\">was considered by the Carter administration<\/span><\/a>, but was set aside. One senior official of the Carter administration said, \u201cThe question here was whether it was morally acceptable that, in order to keep the Soviets off balance, which was the reason for the operation, it was permissible to use other lives for our geopolitical interests.\u201d Representative Charles Wilson, a Texas Democrat, said that Carter\u2019s CIA director <a href=\"http:\/\/www.isreview.org\/issues\/20\/CIA_binladen_afghan.shtml\"><span class=\"s2\">Stansfield Turner said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cI decided I could live with that [high civilian casualties].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But, the United States did not stop there. Meeting in 1985 with the Mujahideen leaders at the White House, Ronald Reagan <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2002\/01\/the-gold-standard\/302388\/\"><span class=\"s2\">referred to them<\/span><\/a> as the \u201cmoral equivalent of America\u2019s Founding Fathers.\u201d Think about it for a moment: Bin Laden and other hardline Muslim fundamentalists and leaders of the Mujahideen, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gulbuddin_Hekmatyar\"><span class=\"s2\">Gulbuddin Hekmatyar<\/span><\/a> and Taliban leader <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mohammed_Omar\"><span class=\"s2\">Mullah Omar<\/span><\/a>, were moral equivalent of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other founding fathers. In <a href=\"https:\/\/web-beta.archive.org\/web\/20120710073915\/https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eYLBoXQTBqY\"><span class=\"s2\">the same meeting with the Jihadists<\/span><\/a>, Reagan said, \u201cWe have here six Afghanistan freedom fighters. There is a man here whose wife was killed in front of his two children. Another one [is here] who lost his brother in a town, village, in which 105 people were massacred. One lost a brother who was the mayor of that village. They are here to tell the outside world, the free world, what is really going on in Afghanistan.\u201d Earlier in 1982, Reagan <a href=\"https:\/\/web-beta.archive.org\/web\/20140601185246\/http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YXb_BUSU91s&amp;gl=US&amp;hl=en\"><span class=\"s2\">had dedicated the space shuttle<\/span><\/a> Colombia to what he called freedom fighters in Afghanistan. \u201cThis is Colombia lifting, representing man\u2019s finest aspirations in the field of science and technology, so too the struggle of the Afghan people represents man\u2019s highest aspirations for freedom. I am dedicating on behalf of the American people the March 22 of Colombia to the people of Afghanistan,\u201d he said. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/2016\/05\/16\/panama-papers-reveal-george-soros-deep-money-ties-to-secretive-weapons-intel-firm.html\">http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/2016\/05\/16\/panama-papers-reveal-george-soros-deep-money-ties-to-secretive-weapons-intel-firm.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Panama Papers reveal George Soros&#8217; deep money ties to secretive weapons, intel investment firm<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peterbyrne.info\/profile\/index.html\"><span class=\"s5\">Peter Byrne<\/span><\/a> \u00b7 Published May 16, 2016<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s7\">\u2026 <\/span><span class=\"s1\">Soros Capital [on 24 January 1995] set up <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/o\/AWODG\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/785186\/0000950123-96-001183.txt\"><span class=\"s9\">an offshore company in the Cayman Islands<\/span><\/a> for the purpose of investing private equity with the Carlyle Group, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/o\/AWODG\/www.nytimes.com\/2001\/10\/26\/business\/bin-laden-family-liquidates-holdings-with-carlyle-group.html\"><span class=\"s9\">alongside members of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Bin Laden family<\/span><\/a>. Carlyle\u2019s partners include <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/o\/AWODG\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2001\/oct\/31\/september11.usa4\"><span class=\"s9\">ex-heads of state and former CIA officials<\/span><\/a>. The private equity partnership specializes in buying and selling weapons manufacturing and intelligence gathering companies with government and military contracts and it also uses secret offshore companies to conduct business. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/48Fh\">https:\/\/archive.is\/48Fh<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Bin Laden Family Liquidates Holdings With Carlyle Group<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">By Kurt Eichenwald, <i>New York Times<\/i>, October 26, 2001<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2026 In recent years, Frank C. Carlucci, the chairman of Carlyle and a former secretary of defense, has visited the [bin Laden] family\u2019s headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as have former President George Bush and James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state. Mr. Bush works as an adviser to Carlyle, and Mr. Baker is a partner in the firm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">The family&#8217;s financial relationship with Carlyle began in 1994. At that time, they committed $2 million to a buyout fund, Carlyle Partners II, a tiny fraction of the $1.3 billion raised for the fund. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p7\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2017\/may\/31\/sensitive-uk-terror-funding-inquiry-findings-may-never-be-published-saudi-arabia\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2017\/may\/31\/sensitive-uk-terror-funding-inquiry-findings-may-never-be-published-saudi-arabia<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8216;Sensitive&#8217; UK terror funding inquiry may never be published<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Investigation into foreign funding and support of jihadi groups operating in UK understood to focus on Saudi Arabia<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Shares 27,931, Jessica Elgot, Wednesday 31 May 2017 10.20\u00a0EDT<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">An investigation into the foreign funding and support of jihadi groups that was authorised by David Cameron may never be published, the Home Office has admitted. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p7\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/06\/04\/tory-uk-saudi-arabia-gifts-money\/\">https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/06\/04\/tory-uk-saudi-arabia-gifts-money\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">SAUDI ARABIA LAVISHES CONSERVATIVE U.K. OFFICIALS WITH GIFTS, TRAVEL, AND PLUM CONSULTANCIES<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Lee Fang, June 4 2017, 7:00 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">NEW FIGURES RELEASED by British Parliament show that, at a time when U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May\u2019s ties to Saudi Arabia have become an election issue, conservative government officials and members of Parliament were lavished with money by the oil-rich Saudi government with gifts, travel expenses, and consulting fees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Tory lawmakers received the cash as the U.K. backs Saudi Arabia\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.is\/sdFjZ\"><span class=\"s10\">brutal war<\/span><\/a> against Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East. \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>IN CONCLUSION<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\"><span class=\"s11\">The basic evidence that the Sauds did 9\/11 (though with <a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2016\/07\/22\/911-bushs-guilt-and-the-28-pages\/\"><span class=\"s2\">inside assistance from George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condolleezza Rice and other top Americans<\/span><\/a>) is provided <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2017\/01\/al-qaeda-funded-royal-sauds-u-s-govt-documents.html\"><span class=\"s2\">here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Questions to close: Inasmuch as the Sauds <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-edge\/388929-saudi-arabia-shia-killings\/\"><span class=\"s2\">bomb their own Shia community<\/span><\/a> \u2014 and inasmuch as their entire Kingdom was created in 1744 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2015\/11\/understanding-the-power-contest-between-aristocracies.html\"><span class=\"s2\">founded upon a rabid hatred of Shia<\/span><\/a> \u2014 why would they have qualms about doing 9\/11 to the U.S.? Would they? And does it make sense that the seven countries which Donald Trump tried to ban as soon as he became President are Shia-ruled not Sunni-ruled (or else <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Religion_in_Sudan#Islam\"><span class=\"s2\">adhere to Sufi<\/span><\/a> or other extremely tolerant varieties of Islam)? And why did the U.S. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonsblog.com\/2017\/05\/67754.html\"><span class=\"s2\">sign a deal on May 20th to sell to the Saud family a record-shattering $350 billion of U.S.-made weapons<\/span><\/a> even while the Sauds were bombing their own Shia? And what did 9\/11 do for the Carlyle Group and the \u2018defense\u2019 contractors they had invested in? And what relevance does this headline, about an event that occurred in Australia on June 8th, have: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2017-06-09\/saudi-socer-team-refuse-observe-minutes-silence-london-terror-attack-victims\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cSaudi Soccer Team Refuse To Observe Minute&#8217;s Silence For London Terror Attack Victims\u201d<\/span><\/a>? Do these things make sense in light of what you\u2019ve just read? Do these matters make sense in light of what U.S. Presidents and U.S. newsmedia have been saying about them?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p11\"><span class=\"s12\">Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Theyre-Not-Even-Close-Democratic\/dp\/1880026090\/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1339027537&amp;sr=8-9\"><span class=\"s13\"><i>They\u2019re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>,<\/i> and of<\/span><span class=\"s14\"> <i>\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B007Q1H4EG\"><span class=\"s13\"><i>CHRIST\u2019S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><span class=\"s12\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org As a historian, I recognize that everything we know about history is from sources, and depends upon the reliability of those sources. Here, my main sources will be identified, and linked-to, so that any reader online can go directly to them, and won\u2019t need to rely upon me but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1254,"featured_media":312334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[1022,115,30,32,96,3604,535,698,34,907,1009,67,1017,871,8748,754,92,1092,49,76,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-312333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire","8":"tag-1022","9":"tag-barack-obama","10":"tag-big-brother","11":"tag-cia","12":"tag-cover-up","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-global-news","15":"tag-hillary-clinton","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-isis","18":"tag-islamic-state","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-qatar","22":"tag-saud","23":"tag-syria","24":"tag-terrorism","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa-news","27":"tag-warfare","28":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}