Posted on 12/14/2001 10:34:47 PM PST by spycatcher
Last spring, President George W. Bush faced his first major foreign-policy challenge when an American EP-3E surveillance plane was hit by a Chinese fighter and forced to land on Hainan Island. Tensions flared even further as China detained the 24 American crewmen for 10 days, the standoff eventually resolving after both plane and crew were finally released. Still, U.S.-Sino relations remained ominously chilly throughout the year, until they were overshadowed by the events of Sept. 11.
Post 9-11, the Bush administration's focus has, of course, been riveted on the terror war, and China has gone off the main radar. But despite Beijing's public support for the coalition's war on terror, regular rumblings of Chinese complicity with the terrorists have surfaced. Among them was a WND report of some Chinese fighters assisting the Taliban.
Now, author Gordon Thomas has written a book claiming that Beijing had an actual role in the Sept. 11 attack on America. In "Seeds of Fire," Thomas purports to show how Beijing is positioning itself to become America's "new major enemy."
An investigative journalist from Ireland and author of 38 books, Thomas points out that on Sept. 11, a transport plane from Beijing landed in Kabul. A Chinese delegation had gone to Afghanistan to sign a deal with the Taliban – reportedly brokered by Osama bin Laden – to provide the Afghans with missile-tracking technology, state-of-the-art communications and air-defense systems. In return, says Thomas, the Taliban would order Muslim separatists in northwest China to stop their activities.
In a Sept. 13 report, the Washington Post confirmed that Beijing had just signed a deal with the Taliban to provide Afghanistan "with much needed infrastructure and economic development assistance."
Due to the fall of the Taliban at the hands of opposition forces and the United States, however, "the goods were never delivered," Thomas told WorldNetDaily.
The delegation, says Thomas, included senior officers of the People's Liberation Army and the Bureau of State Security, as well as managers from two of China's leading defense contractors.
In his book, Thomas contends that hours after the plane landed in Kabul, CIA Director George Tenet received a coded "red alert" message from Israeli Mossad agents that presented a "worst case scenario" – that China would use a surrogate, bin Laden, to attack the United States.
Thomas also claims that the head of Pakistan's intelligence service was in Washington to meet with Tenet on Sept. 11, and that he briefed Tenet that day on the links between bin Laden and China.
The intelligence agent "told [Tenet] that China had made a decisive decision," wrote Thomas. "It was prepared to infuriate America and its allies in supporting bin Laden and the Taliban because Afghanistan fitted into China's own long-term strategic plans."
Saying that bin Laden has traveled to China numerous times to meet with officials there, Thomas contends that "almost certainly he talked to them about obtaining" material to build weapons of mass destruction.
China's President Jiang Zemin, adds Thomas, waited three days to contact Bush about the Sept. 11 attack and told the U.S. president that, vis-à-vis the war on terrorism, China would find itself in a "difficult situation, given our well-known position of opposing any interference in the internal affairs of any country."
Washington sources say that Bush "gritted his teeth and said he would push on without China," Thomas wrote.
The author also cites what he calls the "happy parties in the streets of Beijing" following the 9-11 attacks. "They're selling videos there with commentary saying, 'America had it coming,'" said Thomas. "Their message is: 'America can be defeated.'"
On another note, Thomas believes President Bush's decision to pull out of the ABM treaty will cause Russia and China to strengthen their ties – to the detriment of the United States. "It's in China's interest to see the U.S. destablilized," he added.
The Chinese are more insane and crafty than Soviet Communists were. Bush is trying to bring them down exactly like Reagan brought down the USSR, with SDI.
"The enemy of my enemy (raghead bin laden) is my (china) friend"
I figure in 50 years they will have a democracy!
And eight years of Clinton giving China a lewinsky for campaign dollars. I'm partial to tin foil and must say that Clinton's ingoring Bin Laden and granting full access to China could be similarly linked.
Chaos Under Heaven
"More B-movie journalism from the prolific Thomas (Journey into Madness, Desire and Denial, etc.) ... he interviewed virtually no high- ranking officials in either America or China, and by his soap-opera style, as he switches from White House meetings to domestic quarrels between Chinese nationals. Unconvincing infotainment." -- Kirkus Reviews
Enslaved: The Chilling Modern-Day Story of Abduction and Abuse in the Global Trafficking of Men, Women and Children
"Confusing hodgepodge that purports to expose a modern-day global slave trade. Prolific investigative journalist Thomas (Chaos Under Heaven; Journey Into Madness: Mind Control and the CIA Secrets; etc.) delivers only unsubstantiated and lurid tales ... read like the Hardy Boys battling the Evil Empire." -- Kirkus Reviews
Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad
"Not all stories in Thomas' book are at variance with the established record. However ... it is difficult to determine their credibility ... Despite significant doubts about the accuracy and evident incompleteness of some of its accounts ... its obvious promotion of the Mossad and Israeli strength significantly detracts from its credibility. Ultimately, however, Thomas' book comes across as complicit in Israeli efforts to define themselves." -- The MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies
Now with that said, Did you lose any friends in the terrorist attack? Did you lose any family? Did your 401K take a hit because the economy took a dive? Did you lose your job because of the attack? Did you lose any sleep over what happened?
Now, with those questions asked, how is it that we as Americans are bullying these people? Our President wanted to end this with the apprehension and extradition of one man. We asked for Osama Bin Laden to be handed over. What happened? Did they hand him over, NO. Did our country go off half cocked? No. Had this been the Russians or the Chinese being victim of such an attack, they would have turned that sandbox into a parking lot.
The worst part about being a veteran, is having to listen to people who think America is always the bad guy. Well, I like a lot of other people don't particularly like what our government is about, but sometimes they get it right. Sometimes our government does the right things for us, like wipe out our enemies, big or small. It's because of the people who are over there fighting that you even have the right to criticize them.
Of course you would probably be better suited to live in China, Russia, or Somalia, as you seem to have the impression that those peoples are better than we are. I also get the impression that you would prefer us all to lie according to our means and needs, as opposed to our wants and desires?
I'm a capitalist, republican, taxpayer, self-employed artist and manufacturer, and college graduate. I'm also a veteran, and I didn't get as far in life as I have by settling for less, working less, aspiring to be less, or took crap from people who told me I was a bad person. America is a reflection of it's people. I'm an American, and I'd like to think that there are a hell of a lot more of us out here, than people like you. At least, that's what I pray for.
America is fighting a war over ideologies, and terrorism. We aren't picking on a little country, we're getting what we wanted in the first place. The only difference is that these people won't give us the man responsible. You also know very well that we will rebuild them. We will help them rebuild, as we have in the past with other countries we've bombed the hell out of. The people who will benefit from this the most, is going to be the Afghan people, as they will see their country rebuilt, and their people being able to have what they want, which is freedom.
I like a lot of other people am sick of Anti-American sentiments, considering the losses we've taken, all because some wacko hates America. We have enough of those kinds of people within our borders.
Why would one use a missile warhead design for delivery via a shipping container? I would think that a special design with higher yield, perhaps 5 Mtons, would work better -- particularly because the "circular error probability" of a container delivery is greater than a missle. You also need to make sure it is designed to not be detected by radiation monitors.
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