Maritime Morning - Andrew Krystal

Peter Bergen, who joined me on the anniversary of September 11, is, besides being CNN’s terrorism analyst, the author of Holy War Inc. and The Osama Bin Laden I Know. In 1997 Peter scrambled up a dark, dusty trail in Afghanistan to a mud hut where Osama Bin Laden was holding court.

At the time, bin Laden’s declaration of war on the U.S. seemed like the ravings of a crank, but soon the reality of the African embassy bombings and the USS Cole attack changed all that – or should have. Osama was for real and his organization had real capability and reach. For some reason the 1993 World Trade Centre attack still seemed forgotten, a one-off, unconnected, and insignificant.

Pearl Harbor was proof that despite WW2 Japanese decryption techniques and technology (“Magic” and “Purple”), bulk, raw information still needs to be processed properly and interpreted. Americans, at that time, presumed a Japanese attack first at Clarke Field in the Philippines – not Hawaii. Germany then was America’s preference. If, as some would have it, Pearl Harbor was willed and encouraged by FDR because the U.S. President wanted to fight, why not create a German Pearl harbor instead? Germany first, was America’s stated policy in WW2. Hitler’s declaration of War on the U.S. was not anticipated by anyone – including Hitler’s high command.

America did not want to lose its fleet at Pearl Harbor, and the losses there left the West Coast highly vulnerable to the Japanese. The fact that the U.S. aircraft carriers were not at Pearl at the time of the attack was sheer luck. The fact that Japan caught America napping is aptly characterized by the phrase “shit happens”.  

That’s what 9/11 was: The planes struck. The fuel ignited. The buildings burned. But the conspiracy boys will tell you that Bush dynamited the buildings after the planes hit and held the air force back.

Why weren’t there Iraqi highjackers among the 19? Why weren’t weapons of mass destruction planted in Baghdad? Why did the Iraq war go so badly if the U.S. is so efficient? After all, they won the war and lost the peace. Isn’t “peace” easier? Why hasn’t Osama been caught? Even if you say Bush created 9/11, shouldn’t someone have caught him for something?

Why did Nixon get caught for Watergate and Reagan with Iran/Contra? Why did the CIA fail to assess the fall of the Shah in 1979 or the implosion of the Soviet Union when it happened?

While JFK was targeted by more than Oswald that doesn’t mean that everything is not as it appears.

The conspiracy clowns are, in the end, very American – they dismiss Osama been Laden.

The reality is that we all have very little control in the world – the obverse world-view to the conspiracy boys. That is just too scary for some.