Forum Archive Index - April 2003

["Allan Potts" <ajp7079@excite.com>]

Dear Robin,

Thanks for your post, you raise some good points, however if the reference to 
bullies on the block is to the US, I will have to differ with you.  (see 
attached speech from a NAVY Captian) We are and have been flat under attack 
much as Europe was in the second WW, when the US came to the aid of the 
oppressed, and later rebuilt most of Europe AND Germany and Japan.  We actually 
rebuilt Japan into the world's second largest economy and Germany into another 
of the world's largest.

>From our point of view, after a period of stabilization, we will be able to 
>pull most of our troops out leaving only enough to let other countries know 
>not to mess with Iraq until they have rebuilt themselves and are able to fend 
>for their country. Iraq is an advanced society, able to govern itself, if 
>given the chance.  Already, Iraqi's from throughout the world are planning to 
>go back to the country they fled from over the past 35 years.  Yes they will 
>have the talent to govern themselves, given the chance.  We would very much 
>like to pull our forces out of Iraq entirely and bring them home.  Some 
>however, will have to stay for some time.  I think however, we will be  
>partners, not occupiers of this country.  We would like to have Iraq as a 
>future ally in the middle east, and I think we will accomplish this.

Some might say what has this to do with investment.  To that I say, you haven't 
been  paying attention.  Please read the information which follows this from a 
US Navy Captain -- it is important for investors to know how the WORLD has 
changed.  


Subj: Wake Up America!  
Date: 4/9/2003 8:24:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time 
From: NAVGAC 

U.S. Navy Capt Ouimette is the XO of NAS, Pensacola.  Here is a copy of
the speech he gave earlier this month.   A wonderful and accurate account of
why we are in trouble today.
           +++++++++++++++

America WAKE UP!

That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 and maybe it
was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!"  In fact, I think
the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit
the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep
since then.


It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a
religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students
attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran.  This seizure was an
outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's
most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency.   The attack on this
sovereign US embassy set the stage for the events to follow for the next
23 years.


America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Viet Nam experience
and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then,  President Carter,
had to do something.  He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the
desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of
America's inability to deal with terrorism.  America's military had been
decimated and downsized / right sized since the end of the Viet Nam war.  A
poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on
to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.


Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnaped and
killed throughout the Middle East.  America could do little to protect
her citizens living and working abroad.  The attacks against US soil
continued. In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was
driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut.  When it explodes, it kills
63 people.  The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once
more.

Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down
with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US
Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut.  241 US servicemen are killed.  America
mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is
driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gates
of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe.  In April 1985 a bomb explodes in
a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.  Then in August a
Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US
Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the Snooze Alarm is
buzzing louder and louder as US soil is continually attacked.  

Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we 
watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and
executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when
they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most
tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing
259.

America wants to treat these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still
trying to bring these people to trial.  These are acts of war?   The Wake
Up alarm is louder and louder.


The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America.  In January 1993, two
CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley,
Virginia.  The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are
arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the
underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured.  Still this is a crime and
not an act of war?  The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women. A few months
later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from
the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.  It destroys the Khobar
Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500.


The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America
does not respond decisively.  They move to coordinate their attacks in a
simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  These
attacks were planned with precision, they kill 224.  America responds
with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.


The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12
October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded
killing 17 US Navy Sailors.  Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war,
but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.


And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001.  Most Americans
think this was the first attack against US soil or in America.  How wrong
they are.  America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we
chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.


In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high
official in government over what they knew and what they didn't know.
But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can
see exactly what they knew.  You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on
the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing
since 1979.  The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war.
I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and it will continue
until we as a people decide enough is enough.

America has to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now.  America has
changed forever.  We have to be ready to pay the price and make the
sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues.  We cannot afford to hit
the Snooze Button again and roll over and go back to sleep.  We have to make
the terrorists know that in the words of Admiral Yamamoto after the
attack on Pearl Harbor  "that all they have done is to awaken a sleeping
giant."

Thank you very much.




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