Right-Wing Exposed

Limbaugh, Hannity and other right-wing talk radio gurus regularly tell us that America has not had another terrorism attack on our soil since 9-11 due to the successful war on terror being waged by the Bush Administration.  They mention the Iraq War and the Patriot Act as major reasons for our respite from terror.  I believe that they will soon be forced to swallow their words, as America comes under the most devastating attack in our nation’s history; an attack that will prove the failure of President Bush’s anti-terror policies, including the Patriot Act and our invasion of Iraq.

It will be seven years this September since Al Qaeda’s previous assault on America.  Why is that significant?  The number seven is an extremely meaningful and important number in the Bible, the holy book for both Christians and Jews.  I believe that our enemy is planning a seven-year surprise for our nation.  Remember that Al Qaeda selected a significant American number, 9-11, for their previous attack.  I predict that this time their number will be “seven”, Christianity’s and Judaism’s special Biblical number.  I expect that Al Qaeda plans to present us with their version of a special seven-year anniversary gift; a colossal, devastating, nationwide attack producing hundreds of thousands of casualties.  And,  I would suggest that the exact date may very well be September 7th, 2008, seven years after 9-11.  Our enemy will probably declare their attack to be “pay-back” for our invasion of Iraq, and for our presence in general on Islamic soil.

Why am I making this daring prediction?  And, what do I think the attack will be?  I am making this prediction because I believe it will happen.  Al Qaeda has not forgotten about us; they still hate us intensely.  They have not decided to leave us alone, while attacking other locations around the globe.  Let us not forget that they refer to us as the “Great Satan”.  Moreover, the reason we have not been attacked thus far is not because of Bush’s Patriot Act, because random suicide bombers could have blown themselves up at various public venues numerous times since 9-11, as they have continued to do in many spots throughout the world.  And, Bush’s invasion of Iraq has only intensified their hatred of us, not mitigated it.  Yet, we have been “attack free” for over six years.  What’s going on?

Our enemy spent several years planning 9-11; an attack limited to a few targets in a couple of cities.  This time they’re planning something bigger.  This time it will be nationwide.  This time the casualties may number in the hundreds of thousands.  This time they want to crash our stock market and bring America to its knees.  This time they want to hit more than just America’s commerce and transportation industry.  This time they want to hit America’s lifestyle, its soul, and everything we hold dear.  This time they want to attack our religion, our recreation, our pastimes, as well as our transportation and commerce. 

What will the attack be?  I mentioned the fact that suicide bombers could have easily attacked our restaurants, hotels and other venues in the past, but they have completely refrained.  Why?  Suicide bomber attacks have been Al Qaeda’s favorite and most effective means of attack throughout the world.  And, America is their number one enemy.  Doesn’t it seem a bit peculiar that Al Qaeda has exempted their top enemy from their favorite and most effective method of terrorism?  There is only one logical answer.  They have not wanted to alert us in advance of what’s coming.  If they had used suicide bombers before in America, we would be “on the lookout” for them at our public gatherings.  We would have utilized special bomb detection devices at our public venues.  This would have prevented them from succeeding with a major terrorist attack of this nature.  However, America has “conveniently” never had a single suicide bombing attack, which has resulted in us not being “on alert” for them.  In other words, we are a ”sitting duck” for such an event as the one I’m about to describe.

September 7th, 2008, seven years after 9-11, just happens to be opening day for the National Football League, when stadiums across America will be filled to capacity.  At the same time, Major League Baseball will be entering the final weeks of the pennant races, when baseball stadiums will be jammed with fans.  September 7th of this year also happens to be on a Sunday, when “America’s religion”, Christianity, meets to worship in churches across our nation.  Furthermore, many of these churches are mega-churches with thousands of Christians packed shoulder to shoulder.  Sundays are also big days for amusement parks and shopping malls.  For terrorists who like significance, and who like to get their “bang for their buck”,  there could be no more effective time to simultaneously attack America’s religion, recreation, pastimes and commerce than on a Sunday in September, especially a Sunday that falls seven years after 9-11, on the 7th day of the month.

Imagine several hundred suicide bombers simultaneously detonating their bomb vests in sports stadiums, shopping malls, Christian mega-churches, amusement parks, hotels, restaurants, and airline, Amtrak and bus terminals in cities across America, including the normally safe and peaceful cities in the heartland of America, such as St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis etc.  The casualties could number in the hundreds of thousands, and our economy would come to a standstill, as people would be afraid to enter any and all public buildings, choosing to stay in the safety of their own homes.  Al Qaeda would have reserved their favorite method of terrorism, suicide bombing, for one simultaneous, unexpected, colossal, nationwide attack.  And, they would have pulled it off “under the radar” of Bush’s vaunted Patriot Act, as they patiently utilized face to face communications and hand-written notes that Bush’s wiretapping could not detect or stop.

I don’t want to be “chicken little”, but I do believe that a scenario similar to the one I’ve described is coming soon.  And, as the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh have been pointing to more than six years without an attack as being evidence that Bush’s strategies are working, the real truth is that Al Qaeda has been using this time to plan a terrorist event that will make 9-11 seem like a non-event by comparison.  Furthermore, Al Qaeda’s operatives have been spending their time “fitting in” with the environments that they will soon attack.  They have purchased season tickets and have been attending the games for the past two or three years at the stadiums they will bomb.  They have been weekly attendees at worship services at the mega-churches they will attack.  They have been regular patrons at the hotels, restaurants and shopping malls they will blowup.  They have become well-known and trusted in their environments, waiting for the precise moment when they will all simultaneously detonate their bomb vests on a day that may well be remembered and labeled as being “Black Sunday”.

If I am correct, and I fear that I am, this may well be the event that prompts us to bring our soldiers home from Iraq to protect our own cities.  This may well be the event that changes America’s foreign policy forever.  

As we near the 500 billion dollar mark in expenditures in Iraq, it is appropriate to ask what we’ve purchased with the half-trillion dollars we’ve spent.  Iraq requires more American troops today to maintain at best a “semi-stability”, than it did five years ago.  And, the Republicans likely presidential nominee, John McCain, has stated that we will still need troops there for a hundred years.  At that rate our total expenditure could be ten trillion dollars.

The fact is that Republicans know that the departure of America’s military from Iraq will probably result in a civil war killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.  What a purchase we’ve made!  We’ve spent 500 billion dollars, but Iraq still can’t function as a civil  and stable nation without a massive American troop presence lasting for another century.

However, it is only fair to admit that our half-trillion dollars has also bought some other things.  It has bought the death of 4000 brave American soldiers, which averages $125 million per soldier.  It has also bought nearly 100,000 Iraqi civilian fatalities, which equals $5 million per civilian.  I’d like to suggest that we could have bought something better.

What could we have bought?  How about $20,000 tuition credits for five million American students in need to enable them to attend college or vocational schools?  How about another $8000 in annual credits for health insurance premiums for ten million poor American families over the past five years?  Instead of buying the deaths of Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, we could have bought education and health to save and improve the lives of millions of American families.

Now that the money is already spent and the lives are already lost, what can we say: “Oops, we could have bought something better”?  Such a response may sound hollow, but it would at least be a step in the right direction; a step of admitting our fatal and costly mistake.  And, right wing Evangelical leaders should join in this step by confessing their own deception in supporting President Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and declaring it to be a biblically “just war”.  I encourage you to listen to yesterday’s podcast titled, “Just War Deception”.

It’s not too late to make a better purchase for the future.  Instead of trillions of additional dollars in Iraq over decades to come, we can choose to purchase education and health for American families.

Iraq is not a “just war”.

 

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