We Have Met the Enemy

...and he is ours. Or us.

NPR interviews an Iraqi Insurgent, and the Mrs asks if stories such as these are really necessary, or "did NPR just give a platform for this anti-American insurgent to spew his propaganda?"

She says "I'm just a military wife whose husband could have been in these attacks." While that perspective certainly justifies her position I offer (at great risk of sowing family disharmony) counterpoint. Such airing of grievances as NPR provides can indeed be useful, and I can provide an example from recent history to back that statement up. It's not the most recent example - the Nir Rosen joins the Taliban dust-up from late last year. My case study is from May, 1998 - when John Miller (of ABC) traveled to an unspecified location to interview a little-known terrorist leader named Osama bin Laden:

John Miller, ABC: Mr. bin Laden, you have issued a fatwah calling on Muslims to kill Americans where they can, when they can. Is that directed at all Americans, just the American military, just the Americans in Saudi Arabia?

To which "Mr bin Laden" replied "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets, and this is what the fatwah says ... "

In that fatwah, issued earlier that same year, bin Laden listed his primary reasons for calling for a jihad against America.

First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless.

Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

Had Miller not taken the time end effort (and risk) to seek out bin Laden we might have spent the months after 9/11 wondering "why do they hate us?" even after we'd been given the answer from the horse's mouth: Iraq.

To more fully understand bin Laden's complaint we have to roll back a bit further in time - to January of that year:

January 17, 1998: President Clinton, testifying under oath to lawyers in the Paula Jones harassment case, denies having had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

January 19, 1998: Monica Lewinsky's name and the rumours linking her with Clinton are published on the Drudge report internet site.

January 13, 1998: Iraq blocks an inspection by an American dominated team. It accuses the leader of the team, Scott Ritter, of spying for the US. UNSCOM timeline: The Executive Chairman reports to the Council that during the first day of an inspection, Iraq announced that it was withdrawing its cooperation with the inspection team on the pretext that the team had too many individuals of US or UK nationality (S/1998/27 of 13 January 1998).

January 26, 1998: "Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." - President Clinton

Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade and much of his nation's wealth not on providing for the Iraqi people but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The United Nations weapons inspectors have done a truly remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed during the entire Gulf War. Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their mission.

I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein: You cannot defy the will of the world. And when I say to him: You have used weapons of mass destruction before. We are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again.

Elsewhere, frustrated UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter would detail the horrors beyond WMDs he had witnessed in Saddam Hussein's Iraq: "The prison in question is at the General Security Services headquarters, which was inspected by my team in Jan. 1998. It appeared to be a prison for children -- toddlers up to pre-adolescents -- whose only crime was to be the offspring of those who have spoken out politically against the regime of Saddam Hussein. It was a horrific scene."

Tensions in the stand-off escalated, and by February 17th the President declared "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."

The next day in an Ohio Town Hall meeting Secretary of State Madeleine Albright assured citizens that "Iraq is a long way from Ohio, but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face. And it is a threat against which we must, and will, stand firm." From the same stage, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger expressed no doubt as to Hussein's capabilities and intentions: "He [Saddam] will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."

USA Today reported that anti-war protesters at the meeting got their comeuppance from a heroic soldier who phoned in a timely message:

Some of the protesters held aloft a banner that said, "No War," but one caller identifying himself as a U.S. soldier on duty in Germany said he supported Clinton's approach.

"If a soldier's life needs to be lost let it start with mine," the soldier said by telephone. His remark drew a round of applause from the arena audience.

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON...

As the United States prepares for possible strikes against Iraq, Navy and Marine Corps pilots are set to fly the majority of missions in an operation code-named "Desert Thunder" that will hinge, by all accounts, on downpours of precision munitions...

At the center of any U.S. air assault on Iraq would be the F/A-18 and F-14 fighter jets on this aircraft carrier and another, the USS Independence, along with about 250 Tomahawk cruise missiles spread among eight other ships.

In addition to the U.S. and coalition forces already in Kuwait, a brigade task force from 3d Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga., rapidly deployed to Kuwait. Departing from Hunter Army Airfield, the brigade task force deployed 4,000 personnel and 2,900 short tons of equipment on 120 aircraft. Within 15 hours of landing at Kuwait City International Airport, the unit had drawn prepositioned equipment and was in battle positions in the desert. On Feb. 28, Coalition/Joint Task Force-Kuwait was prepared to defend Kuwait with a ground force strength of more than 9,000 personnel.

Argentina, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, and Kuwait rounded out the C/JTF by providing liaison teams, aircraft support, special operations elements, Chemical/Biological, Base Defense Units, MASH units, and medical personnel.

Added to forces on the ground was equipment for two more brigades (one Army and one Marine) afloat in the Arabian Gulf with the Maritime Preposition Force. These ships were poised to link up with soldiers and Marines who would draw their equipment and head to the front if required. Attack air provided by Navy, Air Force, and Coalition assets rounded out this formidable force.

...despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors.
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The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.

But in one of history's greatest anti-climactic moments, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan traveled to Iraq for a three-hour meeting with Saddam Hussein, after which the UN announced a deal on weapons inspections.

The New York Times, February 26, 1998:

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., urged President Clinton on Wednesday to reject the U.N. accord with Iraq, while the administration worked on bolting down precise details.

Lott accused the administration of capitulating to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and abdicating its foreign policy to a dubious negotiator, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"It is not too late to reject a deal if it leaves Saddam Hussein rejoicing," Lott said in a floor speech.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in a hastily called news conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, alternately rejected Lott's criticism and distanced herself from the accord until Saddam proves he will keep his word and allow inspectors unfettered and unconditional access throughout Iraq.

"This is not the time for U.N.-bashing," Albright said.

As part of a bid to stop UN staff being disheartened by critics of the agreement, Mr Annan told them: "It is the (Security) Council, not a few critics, who will have the last word.
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America and Britain have been pressing for a UN resolution threatening military action should Iraq fail to co-operate, but France, Russia and China have strong reservations about this.

December 11, 1998: The House Judiciary Committee approves three articles of impeachment on a 21-16 party line vote, passing them to the full House of Representatives. The three articles accuse Clinton of lying to a grand jury, committing perjury by denying he had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, and obstructing justice. Clinton declares himself "profoundly sorry" and willing to accept censure.

December 16, 1998: The United States and Great Britain begin a four-day air campaign against targets in Iraq, Operation Desert Fox. The stated mission: "to strike military and security targets in Iraq that contribute to Iraq's ability to produce, store, maintain and deliver weapons of mass destruction."

In spite of the brevity of the attack, the BBC would report that during those four days "more cruise missiles were fired on Iraq in Desert Fox than during the entire Gulf War in 1991".

But that's a story for another day. For now we return to John Miller's May, 1998 interview with Osama bin Laden:

John Miller, ABC: Describe the situation when your men took down the American forces in Somalia.

Osama bin Laden: After our victory in Afghanistan and the defeat of the oppressors who had killed millions of Muslims, the legend about the invincibility of the superpowers vanished. Our boys no longer viewed America as a superpower. So, when they left Afghanistan, they went to Somalia and prepared themselves carefully for a long war. They had thought that the Americans were like the Russians, so they trained and prepared. They were stunned when they discovered how low was the morale of the American soldier. America had entered with 30,000 soldiers in addition to thousands of soldiers from different countries in the world. ... As I said, our boys were shocked by the low morale of the American soldier and they realized that the American soldier was just a paper tiger. He was unable to endure the strikes that were dealt to his army, so he fled, and America had to stop all its bragging and all that noise it was making in the press after the Gulf War in which it destroyed the infrastructure and the milk and dairy industry that was vital for the infants and the children and the civilians and blew up dams which were necessary for the crops people grew to feed their families. Proud of this destruction, America assumed the titles of world leader and master of the new world order. After a few blows, it forgot all about those titles and rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers. America stopped calling itself world leader and master of the new world order, and its politicians realized that those titles were too big for them and that they were unworthy of them. I was in Sudan when this happened. I was very happy to learn of that great defeat that America suffered, so was every Muslim.

"In America," Miller told bin Laden, "we have a figure from history from 1897 named Teddy Roosevelt. He was a wealthy man, who grew up in a privileged situation and who fought on the front lines. He put together his own men - hand chose them - and went to battle. You are like the Middle East version of Teddy Roosevelt." Miller further assured Osama that "the American people, by and large, do not know the name bin Laden, but they soon likely will."

So imagine for a moment if American reporters never interviewed their nation's sworn enemies, never gave them a chance to tell their side of the story. Consider that if John Miller had held that point of view back in 1998 Americans today might be completely ignorant of bin Laden's motivation, could even be convinced that the Iraq war began in 2003, the war on terror in 2001, and that Iraq had no connection whatsoever with the sudden, unexpected events of 9/11.

Fortunately that's not the case. He did conduct that interview, and as a result the American public is (as we were in 2003) well informed on the issue that could be considered the most vital confronting our nation today.

Postscript - two months after Miller's Osama bin Laden interview:

August 7, 1998: African embassy bombings This is the eighth year anniversary of the arrival of U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia and the start of United Nations sanctions against Iraq. A bomb explodes at the rear entrance of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 12 U.S. citizens, 32 Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), and 247 Kenyan citizens. About 5,000 Kenyans, six U.S. citizens, and 13 FSNs were injured. The U.S. embassy building sustained extensive structural damage. Almost simultaneously, a bomb detonates outside the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing seven FSNs and three Tanzanian citizens, and injuring one U.S. citizen and 76 Tanzanians. The explosion caused major structural damage to the U.S. embassy facility. The US holds Osama bin Laden responsible for these acts.

(Note: unsourced quotes above are from here.)

Next: We have met the enemy (two)