Report: Saudis vow to sell US assets if Congress decides gov was involved in 9/11

(Hat tip: KimR) - Saudi Arabia has reportedly told the Obama administration and congressional leaders that it will sell billions of dollars in U.S. financial assets if Congress passes a bill to make the Saudi government legally responsible for any role in the 9/11 attacks. Read more at Fox News Read More......

Fmr. FBI Counterterrorism Agent: We've Received 'Nearly Zero Help' from U.S. Muslim Community Since 9/11

Though President Barack Obama claimed that America must "enlist Muslim communities" to combat terrorism in his Sunday evening Oval Office address, former FBI Counterterrorism Agent John Guandolo said on Monday's Breitbart News Daily (6AM-9AM EST on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125) that since 9/11, "we collectively have received nearly zero help from the Muslim Community."

Read more at Breitbart.com
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Why are 28 pages of the Joint Congressional Investigation into 9/11 still classified?

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress set up a joint committee to investigate. After nearly 6 months, the joint committee released its report - but the Bush administration redacted 28 pages of the report, citing the damage the information could do to our relationships with foreign governments. --Ever since then, families of the victims of 9/11, lawmakers, and government watchdog groups have all been agitating for the declassification of those 28 pages. First the Bush administration, and then the Obama administration have refued all requests to reveal what's in those 28 pages. President Obama told the families during a 9/11 memorial service that he would release the information, only to reneg on that promise.

Read more at the American Thinker
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

Obama was as clueless about 9/11 as he is about ISIS

That President Obama won’t call it Islamic terrorism; that he believes we shouldn’t be on a “high horse” because America and Christians have done bad things; that Muslims are victims of “bigotry and prejudice”; that his State Department says it’s the lack of jobs, not religion, that fuels ISIS, should come as no surprise. After all, he said the same thing about 9/11. In 2004, Obama released an update of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” with a little-noticed new preface about the attacks.  “On September 11, 2001,” Obama wrote, “…history returned with a vengeance; in fact, as Faulkner reminds us, the past is never dead and buried — it isn’t even past.”

Read more at the NY Post
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

An Open Letter to President Obama on the Occasion of 9/11

September 11, 2009
By Faye Parrish

Dear President Obama,
I read of your administrations plan to re-define September 11th as a National Service Day. Sir, it's time we had a talk.

During your campaign, Americans watched as you made mockery of our tradition of standing and crossing your heart when the Pledge of Allegiance was spoken. You, out of four people on the stage, were the only one not honoring our tradition. We noticed.

During one of your many speeches, Americans heard you say that you intended to visit all 57 states. We noticed.

When Senator McCain leaned over at Ground Zero and gently placed a flower on the memorial, you tossed your flower onto the pile without leaning over. We noticed.

Every time you apologized to other countries for America's position on an issue, we have wondered why you don't share our pride in this great country. When you have heard foreign leaders berate our country and our beliefs, you have not defended us. We noticed.

When your pastor of 20 years damned America and said that 9/11 was "America's chickens coming home to roost" and you denied having heard recriminations of that nature, we wondered how that could be. When you later disassociated yourself from that church and pastor because it was politically expedient to do so, we noticed.

When you announced that you would transform America, we wondered why. With all her faults, America is the greatest country on earth. Sir, if not for America and the people who built her, you wouldn't be sitting in the White House now. Prior to your election to the highest office in this country, you were a senator from Illinois and from what we can glean from the records available, not a remarkable one. We noticed.

All through your campaign and even now, you have surrounded yourself with individuals who are basically unqualified for the positions to which you appointed them. Worse than that, the majority of them are people who, like you, bear no special affection or respect for this country and her traditions. We noticed.

You are seven months into your term and every morning millions of Americans wake up to a new horror heaped on us by you. You seek to saddle working Americans with a health care/insurance reform package that, along with cap and trade, will bankrupt this nation. We noticed.

We seek, by protesting, to let our representatives know that we are not in favor of these crippling expenditures and we are labeled "un-American," and "racist." We wonder how we are supposed to let you know how frustrated we are. You have attempted to make our protests seem isolated. We noticed.

On September 11, 2001 there were no Republicans or Democrats, only Americans. And we all grieved together and helped each other in whatever way we could. The attack on 9/11 was carried out because we are Americans. And we noticed.

There were many of us who prayed that as a black president you could help unite this nation even more. In seven months you have done more to destroy this nation than anyone since 9/11. You have failed us. We noticed.

September 11th is a day of remembrance for all Americans. You propose to make 9/11 a "National Service Day." While we know that you may not share our reverence for 9/11, we pray that history will report your proposal as what it is...a disgrace.

When Americans come together again, it will be to remove you from office. You have made a mockery of our Constitution and the office that you hold. You have embarrassed and slighted us in foreign visits and policy.

We have noticed all these things. We will deal with you.

Faye Parrish is a concerned American citizen. This piece has been erroneously attributed to Sherry Hackett, wife of the late Buddy Hackett, via email. However, the open letter by Faye Parrish was posted on familysecurityatters.org before the misattributed email started circulating according to Snopes.com. Read More......

In the 10th Year of War, a Harder Army, a More Distant America

POLITICS DAILY, 9/2010 by David Wood, Chief Military Correspondent (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler) - The U.S. Army now begins its 10th continuous year in combat, the first time in its history the United States has excused the vast majority of its citizens from service and engaged in a major, decade-long conflict instead with an Army manned entirely by professional warriors. ∴ This is an Army that, under the pressure of combat, has turned inward, leaving civilian America behind, reduced to the role of a well-wishing but impatient spectator. A decade of fighting has hardened soldiers in ways that civilians can't share. America respects its warriors, but from a distance. Read more at Politics Daily... Read More......

September 11, 2006 – Dedication of the memorial “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism”

Time cures everything, but there are things we cannot and must not forget. Standing more than 100 feet tall, “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” honors victims of 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and serves a symbol of solidarity in the fight against world terrorism. Created by Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, the memorial was a gift from the Russian people.

The Memorial was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, in a ceremony attended by President Bill Clinton, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Governor Jon Corzine, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Senator Robert Menendez and family members of World Trade Center victims. Grammy award winner, Leann Rimes, sang the National Anthem and Amazing Grace.

By day, or nighttime when it is lit, the Memorial is clearly visible from lower Manhattan, the Staten Island Ferry, ships passing through New York Harbor and airplanes approaching Newark Airport. Read more...
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GOP lawmakers to try to block federal funds for 9/11 prosecutions

NEWS FROM THE HILL, 01/30/2010 by Jordy Yager - Amid fears that the White House may move the terrorist trials connected with September 11, 2001, to the Washington, D.C., region, GOP lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would bar the use [of] federal funds for their prosecution in any U.S. civilian court. Read more at The Hill... Read More......

Justice Delayed

NATIONAL REVIEW, 11/17/2009 by Andrew C. McCarthy - Holder’s friends in the al-Qaeda bar caused the trial delays he now criticizes. ∴ Of all the infuriating aspects of the decision to transfer five 9/11 war criminals to civilian federal court, the one that grates most is the contention that the Obama administration is finally moving forward after “eight years of delay” — as Attorney General Eric Holder put it at his Friday press conference — during which the Bush administration managed to complete only three military-commission trials.

This is chutzpah writ large. The principal reason there were so few military trials is the tireless campaign conducted by leftist lawyers to derail military tribunals by challenging them in the courts. Many of those lawyers are now working for the Obama Justice Department. That includes Holder, whose firm, Covington & Burling, volunteered its services to at least 18 of America’s enemies in lawsuits they brought against the American people. (During 2007 alone, Covington contributed more than 3,000 hours of free, top-flight legal assistance to our enemy detainees.) Read more at National Review...

—National Review’s Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and the author of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad (Encounter Books, 2008).

Related: Law.com - Some Justice Department Lawyers Have Gitmo Conflicts Read More......

Five Sept. 11 Suspects to Face Trial in New York

FOXNews.com, 11/13/2009 - WASHINGTON: Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, an Obama administration official said Friday. ∴ New York case may force the court system to confront difficult legal issues surrounding counterterrorism programs begun after the 2001 attacks, including the harsh interrogation techniques once used on some of the suspects while in CIA custody. Read more at Fox... Read More......

The Art of Intelligence

Strategy Page by Austin Bay

[...] Last month, the CIA inspector general’s office released its assessment of the CIA’s pre-9/11 efforts. The report was damning. The CIA had sources, leads and facts, but it lacked imagination — the dynamic imagination to foresee al-Qaida’s planned attack.

The CIA is a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies are hell on artists, which is OK if you’re pushing pencils but not OK if you are puzzling through an intricate design. The 9/11 plot was an intricate design.

Intelligence is an art — a grand, interpretive collusion of linguistics, geography, mathematics, history, theology, psychology, physics, metaphysics and every other human means of analysis and explanation. Former CIA Director James Schlesinger nailed it in October 2003 when he said: “But major organizational change (of U.S. intelligence agencies) is not the salvation. I would submit the real challenge lies in recruiting, fostering, training and motivating people with insight.”

Insight. If that sounds artsy, well, it is. Continued...

Read More......

Local 9/11 remembrance lacking

It was disappointing that neither the City of Corvallis, Benton County government nor the Corvallis Gazette-Times recognized Patriot Day in a meaningful way. Instead, the city chose to celebrate the 150th birthday of Corvallis (Jan. 29) on September 11th . It is surprising that all the businesses participating in the birthday celebration apparently didn't object to holding the "party" on this particular day.

We understand that Governor Kulongoski requested cities and counties in Oregon fly the flag at half staff. That was the least our community could do... as it did... the VERY LEAST.

On the other hand, the City of Albany welcomed Operation Homefront's "Freedom Walk 2007, provided security and the Mayor participated in the remembrance of 9/11 held at Timber Linn Park. Many thanks to the City of Albany, to Operation Homefront and to the businesses sponsoring this event. Read More......

NRO: What Is An American?

Archives: NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE, 9/25/2001 9:20 a.m. by Peter Ferrara, an associate professor of law at the George Mason University School of Law. - What Is An American? A primer.

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper there an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. ∴ So I just thought I would write to let them know what an American is, so they would know when they found one.

An American is English... or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them choose.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God-given right of each man and woman to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country. As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

An American does not have to obey the mad ravings of ignorant, ungodly cruel, old men. American men will not be fooled into giving up their lives to kill innocent people, so that these foolish old men may hold on to power. American women are free to show their beautiful faces to the world, as each of them choose.

An American is free to criticize his government's officials when they are wrong, in his or her own opinion. Then he is free to replace them, by majority vote.

Americans welcome people from all lands, all cultures, all religions, because they are not afraid. They are not afraid that their history, their religion, their beliefs, will be overrun, or forgotten. That is because they know they are free to hold to their religion, their beliefs, their history, as each of them choose.

And just as Americans welcome all, they enjoy the best that everyone has to bring, from all over the world. The best science, the best technology, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes.

Americans welcome the best, but they also welcome the least. The nation symbol of America welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.

These in fact are the people who built America. Many of them were working in the twin towers on the morning of September 11, earning a better life for their families.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo and Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung, and every bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world.

But in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

So look around you. You may find more Americans in your land than you thought were there. One day they will rise up and overthrow the old, ignorant, tired tyrants that trouble too many lands. Then those lands too will join the community of free and prosperous nations.

And America will welcome them.

NOTE: This piece has been erroneously attributed to an Australian dentist in an email that circulates regularly . Read More......