SoCalHoops Commentary

Welcome Back...Now Hunker Down
& Get Ready...--(Sept. 15, 2001)

Like the rest of you, this past week, we were jolted into a different reality, and one that's not entirely pleasant.  A bad dream, that we're still trying to collectively escape.  But the bad dream has become our new reality.

We don't have any words of wisdom, and haven't been annointed with any special knowledge, so we're just like you, stumbling around and trying to make sense of the senseless. And besides, many will say, this is a sports web site so it's not like this is the first place people should turn to for information about domestic and world events.  But like the rest of you who are web-oriented,  we're interconnected, and there's plenty of information on the world wide web about the people that our U.S. intelligence agencies believe are responsible for committing the heinous acts which have been seared into our minds this past week.

Like most of you we've spent the last week in front of the television and the computer, trying to find out as much as we can about the new (and in some cases, not so new) terrorist threats to the Western World.  We haven't had any great epiphanies, nor do we pretend to have any startling insights, but we can simply pass along some links to sites were you can educate yourselves about recent events .  And if you plan on living in the new world,  you really owe it to yourself, your family and your country, to learn as much as you can about the threats to our freedom and our way of life. 

So here are some links we've found useful.

PBS Frontline: Who is Osama Bin Laden

        This documentary first aired in 1999, and then was updated and shown on PBS this past Wednesday following the events on Tuesday. Fascinating, and plenty of deep background info which will shed a lot of perspective on the latest terrorists events and where we may go from here. 

• Introduction
• Who Is Bin Laden & What Does He Want
• The Trail of Evidence and the Warnings
• Two Terrorists in Bin Laden's Network
• Expert Interviews (experts on Bin Laden--all of these are outstanding sources of information)

• Judith Miller--A correspondent for The New York Times since 1977, she has covered Osama bin Laden since 1993. In this interview, conducted September 12, 2001, Miller discusses what was learned about bin Laden's network from the trials of the 1998 U.S. embassy terrorists and from the failed series of terrorist attacks planned to coincide with the millennium celebrations. She also discusses the warnings prior to the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon and destruction of the World Trade Center
• Larry C. Johnson--A former CIA officer, Johnson was deputy director of the U.S. State Department Office of Counterterrorism from 1989 to 1993. In this interview, conducted September 12, 2001, he explains why our perception of Osama bin Laden and his organization may be wrong, what we know about bin Laden's involvement in the 1998 embassy bombings and the 2000 USS Cole attack, and the degree of warnings leading up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S
• James Risen--Risen is a New York Times reporter who covers U.S. intelligence. In this interview, conducted September 12, 2001, he discusses what's been learned about bin Laden's organization, the strategy it used in attacking the USS Cole in October 2000, and what has been learned from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S.
• Said K. Aburish--He is a Palestinian-born journalist and author of many books on the Middle East, including The Rise, Corruption, and Coming Fall of the House of Saud. He talks about Osama bin Laden's roots in Saudi Arabia's dissident movement--a movement which seeks to drive 'infidel' U.S. forces out of the Saudi kingdom, the land of the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina.
• Dr. Saad Al-Fagih--A Saudi Arabian dissident living in exile in London, he heads the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. As a physician, he took part in the Afghan rebels' war against the Soviet invasion and explains the significance of that war for Muslims throughout the world. As a fellow Saudi dissident, he knows about bin Laden and his views.
• Ahmed Satar--An Egyptian-born U.S.citizen, Sattar acted as a paralegal for the "Blind Sheik" Omar Abdel Al Rahman, convicted of conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks. Sattar explains why many in the Islam world agree with bin Laden and oppose the United States--either violently or peacefully. Sattar also answers questions about bin Laden's Egyptian allies and their alleged connections to terrorist events.
• Milton Bearden--He was with the Central Intelligence Agency from 1964-1994. As its field officer in Afghanistan, he oversaw the CIA's $3 billion covert aid program for Afghan rebels fighting the Soviets. During the 1980's, he was CIA station chief in the Sudan. He evaluates the Afghan war's importance to the Muslim world and bin Laden's role in it. He also questions classifying the Sudan as a 'terrorist state' and criticizes America's retaliatory missile strike in the Sudan against bin Laden.
• Samuel R. Berger--As U.S. National Security Advisor, he was part of a small group advising on the U.S. response to the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. President Clinton eventually decided to bomb a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan thought to be used by bin Laden and, a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan.
• Larry C. Johnson--A former CIA officer, he was deputy director of the U.S. State Department Office of Counterterrorism, 1989-1993, and now heads the consulting firm Berg Associates. He explains why he believes the U.S. has often exaggerated the terrorist threat and analyzes the danger posed by Osama bin Laden.
• Thomas Pickering--He is U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs. In this interview he discusses how Osama bin Laden is a real threat, and why Muslim anger against the U.S. is misdirected.

Other Bin Laden information from other sites (some links may not work)

• Profile (Nida'ul Islam)
• Ussamah Bin Laden: a closer look at the man, the phenomenon by Robert Fisk
• The Exclusive Ningarhar Interview with Robert Fisk (June 11, 1996)
• TERRORISM: Ussama Bin Laden, the Fundamentalists' Banker.. An Intelligence Newsletter exclusive report
• MSANEWS featured on CNN in the Bin Laden piece .. our reaction (July 17, 1997)
• CNN - FBI investigating U.S. followers of millionaire terrorist (July 15, 1997)
• CNN - Wealthy Saudi may have had role in Khobar bombing (June 25, 1997)
• CNN/Impact (May 11, 1997): Holy Terror?
• CNN/Impact (May 11, 1997): Osama Bin Ladin: The interview
• CNN/Impact (May 11, 1997): Graham Fuller: The threat of jihad
• Nida'ul Islam Exlusive Interview with Ussamah Bin Laden: Of Jihad and Terrorism (May 1, 1997)
• Did Mullah Omar of Qandahar arrest Bin Laden? (April 22, 1997)
• Muslimedia Inter: Assassination attempt on Bin Laden foiled ... According to 'informed sources' in Peshawar
• THE LADENESE EPISTLE: DECLARATION OF WAR (I) (Dec, 1996)
• THE LADENESE EPISTLE: DECLARATION OF WAR (II)
• THE LADENESE EPISTLE: DECLARATION OF WAR (III) (last)
• The Ladenese Epistle: Translator's Note: Clarification from CDLR

• The World's Most Dangerous Places--Afghanistan--This site is one of the edgiest sites we've found, called "Comebackalive.com", featuring news for people who travel to some of the most dangerous places in the world.  There's also a very interesting message forum there, called "The Black Flag Cafe".  The message board seems to be frequented by news reporters who have traveled to these dangerous places, former spooks, mercenaries, and the occasional poster who actually claims to be posting from Afghanistan.

Google collection of links.

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