It's not quite the 20-year anniversary (19, I think), but TWA Flight 800 is in the news again.
Whatever flavor of "truth" you prefer regarding the airliner's demise, a version can probably be found online to support your pick. The Daily Mail on Friday waded back into the fray, with new documents pried out of the FBI's cold, "transparent" fingers that point toward Ramzi Yousef.
Mr. Yousef was in jail at the time, conducting his own defense against charges he bombed the World Trade Center in New York City. To the FBI, Yousef was known as "the engineer" and not because he ran the trains on time. He knew a lot about explosives and bomb-making. A lot.
I don't intend to rehash the Daily Mail article for you, but since I was actively reporting the news back then, I found some interesting tidbits in the archives you may wish to consider.
The Philippine government was feeding us intelligence at the time, but like most things "not invented in D.C." we couldn't be bothered with a few Muslim terrorists. Here are two items I reported in our Jan. 30, 1995, issue:
TRENDING: America's most dangerous demographic
"The Philippine government warned the U.S. that 20 Muslim extremists are suspected in bomb threats directed at U.S. airlines operating in East Asia. The airlines have implemented special security measures."
"Philippine authorities said Abdul Basid Mahmood Abdul Ramin, 26, was being sought for trying to kill the pope. The U.S. has a $250,000 reward on his head in conjunction with the World Trade Center bombing. He is a U.S.-trained electrical engineer who has used the alias Ramzi Ahmed Yousef."
How good did authorities think Yousef was at bomb-making? In June of 1995 we reported:
"Rick Reish, warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City was ordered by U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy to return toothpaste, coffee creamer, a watch and a copy of the Quran to Ramzi Yousef, who is being held in complete isolation, awaiting trial as the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing. Warden Reish said the watch was taken because there was concern Mr. Yousef could use it to make a timing device for a bomb. 'Exactly what would he connect the timing device to?' Judge Duffy asked. Warden Reish said the coffee creamer was very flammable."
Going on two years after Yousef's arrest, then October 1996, the trial ended:
"A court in New York found Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and two co-defendants guilty of planning to blow up 12 airliners bound for the United States. Yousef, Wali Khan Amin Shah, and Abdul Hakim Murad, planned a day of airborne terror during which they would blow up commercial flights over the Pacific Ocean. … The apparent aim of the trio was to force the United States to reconsider its Middle East policy, redeploy its troops there to American soil, and stop supporting Israel."
Hmm, kind of sounds like 9/11, doesn't it?
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Back in 1996, my commentary on the event was:
"The implications are twofold: 1) There will be terrorism, because it cannot all be prevented; 2) to prevent some terrorism, a large loss of individual freedom will be required. This explains the president and Congress attempting to shove terrorism legislation down our throats every time there is an incident.
"If Americans are to sacrifice their freedom to gain cheap oil and Mideast peace, then Congress, the president and their paymasters are obliged to amend the Constitution. (And yes, as we pointed out in a recent issue, they are desperately trying to convene a constitutional convention, this time through the term limits movement.) Our government is addicted to lying."
Guess which road the powers that be took? They just never asked us. Oh, that was the Clinton presidency.
Interesting, isn't it? So many years later, I wonder if Barack Obama has arrived at a the same conclusion? He has apparently determined that U.S. surrender in the Mideast is worth the price of handing Israel over to the terrorists.
Like his predecessors, he can't be bothered to discuss this with the American people. And he may be right. Given the educational decline even since Bill Clinton was in the White House, explaining it to a sufficient number of voters may be a hopeless task.
It won't matter, of course. Israel's fate – like that of every other nation that has ever existed – is in the hands of the creator God who spoke the universe into existence. It is Him at whom the real war is directed. The perpetrators are those who have usurped his authority. But for how long?
Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? Start at the beginning and find out: Reconnaissance.
Media wishing to interview Craige McMillan, please contact [email protected].
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