Posted on 12/14/2001 10:34:47 PM PST by spycatcher
Last spring, President George W. Bush faced his first major foreign-policy challenge when an American EP-3E surveillance plane was hit by a Chinese fighter and forced to land on Hainan Island. Tensions flared even further as China detained the 24 American crewmen for 10 days, the standoff eventually resolving after both plane and crew were finally released. Still, U.S.-Sino relations remained ominously chilly throughout the year, until they were overshadowed by the events of Sept. 11.
Post 9-11, the Bush administration's focus has, of course, been riveted on the terror war, and China has gone off the main radar. But despite Beijing's public support for the coalition's war on terror, regular rumblings of Chinese complicity with the terrorists have surfaced. Among them was a WND report of some Chinese fighters assisting the Taliban.
Now, author Gordon Thomas has written a book claiming that Beijing had an actual role in the Sept. 11 attack on America. In "Seeds of Fire," Thomas purports to show how Beijing is positioning itself to become America's "new major enemy."
An investigative journalist from Ireland and author of 38 books, Thomas points out that on Sept. 11, a transport plane from Beijing landed in Kabul. A Chinese delegation had gone to Afghanistan to sign a deal with the Taliban – reportedly brokered by Osama bin Laden – to provide the Afghans with missile-tracking technology, state-of-the-art communications and air-defense systems. In return, says Thomas, the Taliban would order Muslim separatists in northwest China to stop their activities.
In a Sept. 13 report, the Washington Post confirmed that Beijing had just signed a deal with the Taliban to provide Afghanistan "with much needed infrastructure and economic development assistance."
Due to the fall of the Taliban at the hands of opposition forces and the United States, however, "the goods were never delivered," Thomas told WorldNetDaily.
The delegation, says Thomas, included senior officers of the People's Liberation Army and the Bureau of State Security, as well as managers from two of China's leading defense contractors.
In his book, Thomas contends that hours after the plane landed in Kabul, CIA Director George Tenet received a coded "red alert" message from Israeli Mossad agents that presented a "worst case scenario" – that China would use a surrogate, bin Laden, to attack the United States.
Thomas also claims that the head of Pakistan's intelligence service was in Washington to meet with Tenet on Sept. 11, and that he briefed Tenet that day on the links between bin Laden and China.
The intelligence agent "told [Tenet] that China had made a decisive decision," wrote Thomas. "It was prepared to infuriate America and its allies in supporting bin Laden and the Taliban because Afghanistan fitted into China's own long-term strategic plans."
Saying that bin Laden has traveled to China numerous times to meet with officials there, Thomas contends that "almost certainly he talked to them about obtaining" material to build weapons of mass destruction.
China's President Jiang Zemin, adds Thomas, waited three days to contact Bush about the Sept. 11 attack and told the U.S. president that, vis-à-vis the war on terrorism, China would find itself in a "difficult situation, given our well-known position of opposing any interference in the internal affairs of any country."
Washington sources say that Bush "gritted his teeth and said he would push on without China," Thomas wrote.
The author also cites what he calls the "happy parties in the streets of Beijing" following the 9-11 attacks. "They're selling videos there with commentary saying, 'America had it coming,'" said Thomas. "Their message is: 'America can be defeated.'"
On another note, Thomas believes President Bush's decision to pull out of the ABM treaty will cause Russia and China to strengthen their ties – to the detriment of the United States. "It's in China's interest to see the U.S. destablilized," he added.
How would we know it was a specific make/model bomb that exploded? I doubt there'd be a "W88 Copy" label thrown clear and found in the rubble. As to identifying the radiation fingerprint, if anything that would point the finger at China, presuming we know the particulars about their particular flavor of plutonium. They stole the design for the weapon, but they didn't steal fissionable material from us.
How can you say that...besides, we have been making most everyone else do the fighting in Afghanistan haven't we? Mostly we've been pushing buttons and dropping bombs. The majority of the real fighting has been done by Northern Alliance boys who want their country back. Of course we;ll screw them over once it's all over and tell them they're not ruling their own country unless we get some say-so.
But we'll fare well in China. Maybe we can conscript Indian's. Pakistan won't like it too much, but we don't really care what other countries think. We're America and if you don't like it we'll send a daisy cutter to your town too.
Don't underestimate though the immense amount of knowledge we gain from "practice wars" beating up on the little guys. Nobody talks about this much but it's a huge tactical advantage when moving on to bigger fish. Iraq will be the next step up to show how we're back in (pre-season) game shape. Wiping out North Korea will be the first real war against terrorism. And it will go much easier in 2005 than it would have just 5 years ago.
As to the ABM/SDI debacle, I see it as grandstanding for home consumption (in Russia), to shut up the remaining commies. I will be shocked if the SDI system isn't a joint US-Russia enterprise, with both countries covered by the same umbrella.
We would know from the massive yield that a W88 produces (500kt) compared to a backpack nuke (under 1 kt) or a Pakistani nuke (40 kt)
This does not look good at all!
The memorandum is the most substantial part of a series of Chinese contacts with Afghanistan over the last two years. China now has the closest relationship with the isolated Kabul regime of any non-Muslim country, a senior Western diplomat said.
China has helped form the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which joins it with Russia and four Central Asian countries in a loose grouping. One of its main purposes is to combat cross-border terrorism, specifically from Afghanistan. But at the same time, China has dealt with the Taliban as part of an effort to persuade its officials to close Afghan-based camps that are used to train Muslim separatists from China's restive Xinjiang region. Those separatists on occasion re-enter China and launch attacks on China's security services or civilian targets.
As part of a sweetener to secure cooperation from the Taliban leadership, Asian diplomats say, China has dangled the prospect of providing Afghanistan with much needed infrastructure and economic development assistance. The new agreement was reported on Tuesday. A Chinese delegation signed the deal in Kabul with the Taliban's mining minister, Mulla Muhammad Ishaq, news reports said.
Obviously a brilliant Chicom plan to boost US arms spending and ensure funding for Ballistic Missile Defense. Very clever, these orientals.
What a load of old bollocks.
Unfortuantely Clinton's idiotic military endeavors seemed designed to make us look bad, weaken our military and kill our resolve. Kosovo was like Columbine, where civilians died needlessly because it appeared the guys in uniform were afraid of getting hurt.
I hope it's a long time as I don't think we are near ready for this!
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