Posted on 09/13/2001 1:06:35 PM PDT by HAL9000
ISLAMABAD, Sept 13 (AFP) -Mullah Mohammad Omar, the reclusive supreme leader of the Taliban, said Thursday that Osama bin Laden could not be held responsible for the massive terrorist attacks on the United States.
In comments which made it clear that Afghanistan's ruling militia has no intention of bowing to pressure to hand over bin Laden, Omar said the Saudi dissident could not have masterminded an operation of the sophistication and complexity of Tuesday's killer attacks on New York and Washington.
Omar said in a statement issued to the Afghan Islamic Press, a Pakistan-based news agency with close links to the militia, that only trained pilots could have carried out the attacks and that bin Laden did not have any under his command.
"The incidents which took place in America are testimony to Osama bin Laden's innocence because where are Osama's pilots and where were they trained?" Omar argued.
"Blaming Osama without any rhyme or reason is a separate thing and a move by the (Western) intelligence agencies to escape their own failure."
Omar's comments followed similar remarks by the Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel, who told AFP that reports of emerging evidence linking bin Laden to the attacks were not credible.
The Taliban's closing of ranks behind bin Laden, who they have sheltered since the mid 1990's, came as international aid workers evacuated Afghanistan in anticipation of a US attack on the country.
Good! Now then...the question is no longer whether to nuke the slime, but how many nukes to use. Perhaps in a few decades the green glass could be used to make attractive paper weights.
Then you will be annihilated.
Bin Laden is a Taliban official. The head of their military.
We are listening to no excuses, hand him over. He is only the first that we are coming after.
However you win the consolation prize. A Minuteman III warhead being delivered now to the city you are in. Hope you and your countrymen enjoy it.
Well, you hit the World Trade Center, but you missed America. You hit the Pentagon, but you missed America. You used helpless American bodies, to take out other American bodies, but like a poor marksman, you STILL missed America.
Why? Because of something you guys will never understand. America isn't about a building or two, not about financial centers, not about military centers, America isn't about a place, America isn't even about a bunch of bodies. America is about an IDEA. An idea, that you can go someplace where you can earn as much as you can figure out how to, live for the most part, like you envisioned living, and pursue Happiness. (No guarantees that you'll reach it, but you can sure try!)
Go ahead and whine your terrorist whine, and chant your terrorist litany: "If you can not see my point, then feel my pain." This concept is alien to Americans. We live in a country where we don't have to see your point. But you're free to have one. We don't have to listen to your speech. But you're free to say one. Don't know where you got the strange idea that everyone has to agree with you. We don't agree with each other in this country, almost as a matter of pride. We're a collection of guys that don't agree, called States. We united our individual states to protect ourselves from tyranny in the world. Another idea, we made up on the spot. You CAN make it up as you go, when it's your country.
If you're free enough.
Yeah, we're fat, sloppy, easy-going goofs most of the time. That's an unfortunate image to project to the world, but it comes of feeling free and easy about the world you live in. It's unfortunate too, because people start to forget that when you attack Americans, they tend to fight like a cornered badger. The first we knew of the War of 1812, was when England burned Washington D.C. to the ground. Didn't turn out like England thought it was going to, and it's not going to turn out like you think, either. Sorry, but you're not the first bully on our shores, just the most recent.
No Marquis of Queensbury rules for Americans, either. We were the FIRST and so far, only country in the world to use nuclear weapons in anger. Horrific idea, nowadays? News for you bucko, it was back then too, but we used it anyway. Only had two of them in the whole world and we used 'em both. Grandpa Jones worked on the Manhattan Project. Told me once, that right up until they threw the switch, the physicists were still arguing over whether the Uranium alone would fission, or whether it would start a fissioning chain reaction that would eat everything. But they threw the switch anyway, because we had a War to win. Does that tell you something about American Resolve?
So who just declared War on us? It would be nice to point to some real estate, like the good old days. Unfortunately, we're probably at war with random camps, in far-flung places. Who think they're safe. Just like the Barbary Pirates did. Better start sleeping with one eye open.
There's a spirit that tends to take over people who come to this country, looking for opportunity, looking for liberty, looking for freedom. Even if they misuse it. The Marielistas that Castro emptied out of his prisons, were overjoyed to find out how much freedom there was. First thing they did when they hit our shores, was run out and buy guns. The ones that didn't end up dead, ended up in prisons. It was a big PITA then (especially in south Florida), but you're only the newest PITA, not the first.
You guys seem to be incapable of understanding that we don't live in America, America lives in US! American Spirit is what it's called. And killing a few thousand of us, or a few million of us, won't change it. Most of the time, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of Spirit. Until we're crossed in a cowardly manner, then it becomes an entirely different kind of Spirit.
Wait until you see what we do with that Spirit, this time. Sleep tight, if you can. We're coming.
there is an amazing difference between being held responsible,
and being held accountable. only he can do the first. we will
do the second. hug your tent goodbye.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.