The airstrikes on Iran

 After watching Elimination Chamber this evening and following the news primarily online in addition to TV news regarding the strikes on Iran. These strikes are substantial and see that amongst other gov't officials killed in Tehran, the strikes claimed the life of Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei.

All I can say to that is wow. I was watching the emergency PBD podcast this morning and the Iranian regime seemed to announce that the Ayatollah has planned to speak, however, later on Saturday the regime confirmed that the Supreme Leader was killed. I was looking for some official confirmation as President Trump said he was killed in these strikes, and the Israeli gov't said he was dead.

Now I see that there were some retaliatory strikes by Iran on American military targets in the Middle East and Israeli targets.

At this point the only thing I can ask is what now? Will the Islamic Republic of Iran survive these airstrikes? Will the people of Iran rise up against the regime as they had been since about December last year?

Does this mean that the Pahlavi dynasty will return? 

Oh yeah a little history the Pahlavi family ran iran until 1979 when Iran was known as the Imperial State of Iran - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the King before he was overthrown in a revolution. In Pahlavi's place was the previous Supreme Leader of Iran the Ayatollah Khomeini. And we had well over 46 years of a very theocratic gov't that was considered a state sponsor of terrorism.

These airstrikes were as a result of stalled talks on Iran's nuclear program. The concern is that the theocratic regime would acquire nuclear weapons and use them. Last year in airstrikes US & Israeli had struck a severe blow to the Iranian nuclear program.

Either way most of the day on Saturday sees the emerging military operations over the skies of Iran and how long with this continue since the sitting executives of the gov't there had essentially been decapitated.

Here are President Trump's remarks on the airstrikes on Iran [VIDEO]

9/11: What Usama Bin Laden thought would happen after the attacks

Allow me to start off by saying I've neglected to mark this very sad day in recent years. I hope regardless we're learning the lessons of that horrendous day. We keep Americans and global citizens safe from  terrorism of any kind. And that Americans were able to step up to the plate to defend our values. Of course, we should also note the battle is never ending.

[VIDEO] What did Al-Qaeda and their leader Usama Bin Laden expected to happen after 9/11/01? This is what the Infographics Show on YouTube attempts to answer.

I'm sure they expected America to back off on Middle Easterm affairs - well that didn't work out very well did it. They expected the Muslim world to rise again American influence  or even just Western influence - that also didn't work out very well.

In the 14 years that followed, Usama Bin Laden was killed by Seal Team 6. And this video noted there are other Islamic Fundamentalist groups have also arisen. We don't hear a lot about Al-Qaeda out there in the news anymore like we used to, although let's make no mistake they still exist out there.

In 2021 when President Joe Biden was President the regime known as the Taliban retook Afghanistan. Remember back in the aftermath of 9/11 during Operation Enduring Freedom resulted in the Taliban being effectively removed from their control of Afghanistan in favor of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The Republic fell again in 2021 with President Biden's very disastrous withdrawal of American forces. We had recently marked the fourth anniversary of the deaths of US military personnel in a terrorist attack at Kabul Airport.

As stated the battle to defend our values is never ending. I remember in the wake of 9/11 with expectations of future military operations that there were naysers who suggested that America would get hit even more - especially talking about Iraq. Thankfully that didn't happen and an easy retort of the 2000s was that America was not again hit with a terrorist attack here.

However, another concern now is immigration. I'm seeing reports of a serious problem with Islamic fundamentalism in Europe, Great Britain especially. The idea of bringing in people from the Middle East or at least the Islamic world who show themselves as hostile to Western values. This is why I say the battle is never ending.

Here's hoping we don't have the sadness of 9/11 anywhere on this globe again.

Reason: What fear does to our freedom

 

[VIDEO] 20 years ago 9/11 did for our liberties as coronavirus is doing now. For the past year we had to deal with mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, closing of businesses deemed non-essential, and now President Joe Biden is creating a vaccine mandate for businesses with over 100 employees.

It's a shame that we've arrived in the space where I see people online complaining that they're not social distancing or some people aren't wearing masks or even making wild statements that people who aren't vaccinated doesn't deserve health care. The way things seem to be going perhaps one day the threat of coronavirus will go away but the fear of it and usage of that fear by authorities won't.

9/11 observance

 I wrote this tweet this morning on my commute to work. 

With all that’s been going on today is the 19th anniversary of 9/11. We see the threats to America never ends as we still continue to go through civil unrest around the nation. pic.twitter.com/STXMbj2Hq1

— Levois J (@levois) September 11, 2020

Islamic fundamentalist terrorism became a grave to this nation on this day in 2001. Nineteen years later we face another threat and as opposed to this being a threat from overseas right now the threat resides in the streets of American cities. Yes I'm talking about the anarchy that you might be seeing on social media or on FOX News for example.

Usually I avoid any rememberanes on this day, today was a tad different. We see family members who discuss life without a loved one who died on that day.

I have to admit perhaps it was in bad taste to put in the same tweet the ongoing unrest in American cities with the evil that hit us at the World Trade Center in Manhattan & the Pentagon in Virginia. However, I think the threats shared in my tweet today are ones we have to be concerned about.

#September11th

I have a post up at The Sixth Ward about 9/11 and another one will be up at exactly 2:30 over at the Shedd School blog (which I've been putting a lot of work into lately).

I know that History had a program about Air Force One on that day though I don't know when it aired or if it will air today. However as I've done for years I will avoid any programming that involves in footage from that day. There are only so many times I want to see jets crash into skyscrapers or skyscrapers collapse due to fire.

Tribune: Japan's doomsday cult leader and several followers executed for roles in 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack: reports

To be honest I vaguely remember this nerve gas attack in Japan and since this is over 20 years ago I can't say that I continued to follow this blatant form of terrorism in the land of the rising sun. That said had little idea the Japanese still had capital punishment. I suppose I was under the impression that executions were increasing becoming a no-no around the world not quite yet in Japan.

Anyway what happened?

Doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara and several followers were executed Friday for their roles in a deadly 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subways and other crimes, Japanese media reported.

The top Japanese government spokesman confirmed Asahara's execution but wouldn't comment on the others. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said only that the Justice Ministry would make an announcement later Friday.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported that six followers were also hanged, citing unidentified sources. In all, 12 followers had been on death row with Asahara for the crimes, which killed 27 people. Asahara was 63 years old.

The 1995 subway attack was the most audacious. Members of the his Aum Shinrikyo cult punctured plastic bags to release sarin nerve gas inside train cars, killing 13 people and sickening more than 6,000.

Here in the states for the most part we think it's more "humane" to execute a person with lethal injection. Although let me be honest here, I put "humane" in quotes because the execution of a person - especially for crimes that a jury of their peers deemed them guilty of  - is never a pleasant subject. Nor should it be pleasant the crime their committed likely is heinous but then we're talking about executing someone and that shouldn't be pleasant either.

September 11, 2001

This morning I was listening to Mancow and on occassion they will play audio from that very day. I was listening to Mancow on that day and while it didn't process in my mind what they were seeing live on TV in their radio studio I would see it live later. It gave me goosebumps as they played the audio again and again.

I have nothing really to add in discussing this. We're still fighting terrorism and not just Islamic fundamentalist terror. I believe men are good, but unfortunately there are a segment of men who are bad. We saw them in action for sure on 9/11.

Either way hit that Sept. 11 tag to see other posts that mark this infamous day. And for you enjoy and like this ig post from Alex Ross, who is a comic book artist. This painting and other paintings of superheroes are without a doubt realistic. I'm a fan even if for the moment he's not doing my favorite DC Comics characters such as Batman or Superman.

For today, I'm a fan of his work and wish I could buy a print of what you will see below!

A post shared by Alex Ross (@thealexrossart) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:54am PDT

Sept. 11th

Another 9/11 anniversary.

As per usual I spend the day avoiding any archival footage of what happened that day. The attack on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 was played live on TV. It was a truly tragic day and a lot of people lost their lives whether in New York, the Pentagon, or even in a farm somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately we're still fighting some form of Islamic fundamentalist terror today. From 2001 onwards we had been fighting Islamic fundamentalism in the form of Al Qaida. Today Al Qaida isn't the main enemy but there are other groups out there asserting themselves around the work. We may have heard about them in Iraq, Syria, or even Libya. We still have a long way to go to finally defeat this emerging enemy.

This has been a day to remember the lives lost. Those who have lost someone hopefully they're remembering this day in their own way. Hopefully we'll never see carnage likes that again.

I want to offer a movie recommendation at some point this week. Go see Sully - the title character was the captain of a commercial airliner ditched in the Hudson River of New York. You will see imagery that could match 9/11 except that well it didn't happen. The fear that an out of control plan suffering mechanical problems and crashing into a populated area is truly a scary thought especially in the waning years after 9/11.

Thankfully for Capt. Sully he did what he had to to save the lives of everyone on that jet that day in 2009. Good news is truly a blessing!

Terrorism in France

France on Friday was the subject of very coordinated and violent terrorist attacks from this terrorist group known as ISIS. There were some coordinated attacks in France's capitol city of Paris which resulted in casualties and many deaths. I'm talking about it because at the end of his program last night Stephen Colbert talked about this attack and before his program James Corden gave his thoughts as well.

I consider the fact that America had been attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11th a day we continue to mark although it has been over 15 years at this point. This attack is considered the greatest one-time slaughter of people in our history.

I see similarities between what happened to us on 9/11 and what happened in France on 11/13. Yeah the circumstances might be slightly different in addition to the reasons and methods however I see one similarity. It's not something we can easily get away from.

I've learned from taking courses in international studies that there is no solidly defined term for terrorism as far as such organizations as the UN are concerned. Many of us may have our definition of terrorism but are they the most accepted definitions.

My definition is an action that results in death for a political aim. In 9/11 there was a political aim by Al-Qaeda and the late Osama Bin Laden just as it seems ISIS terrorists justified their coordinated attacks on France by her involvement in Syria.

My only observation on terrorist involves the idea of an individual. Terrorists of any stripe believe it's OK to harm people to achieve some sort of objective. Perhaps the objective here was to force France to withdraw from Syrian affairs.

Either way James Corden noted the human effect of these attacks on the Late Late Show. How someone could go somewhere and you'll never see them again because they died from something such as this. If you get nothing else out of this, realize that on Friday someone lost a father/mother/brother/sister/friend in Paris and all because of something that essentially had little to do with them.

September 11

[VIDEO] It's that time of year again to remember the victims of 9/11. As usual I try not to watch any footage from that day. In addition in listening to Mancow Muller this morning he wanted to replay  his coverage of that day on the air on this day in 2001.

To be sure I turned the radio off in advance so I wouldn't hear his coverage from back then. As a matter of fact, I was listening to Mancow on that day in 2001 in addition to watching live coverage on network TV in my bedroom. And it took me quite a while to process it all.

All the same, let's remember the victims of this horrific tragedy and here are other Sept. 11 posts from here on this blog over the years. Thanks.

Oh yeah the video above is Crystal Morning by Evan Coyne Maloney. It's a reminder for those of you who do. I don't plan to watch at all, but it's certainly a good depiction of what happened that I saw years ago.

#BringBackOurGirls

[VIDEO] In today's edition on the US House floor yesterday these young women who were kidnapped from their school by Islamic fundamentalists last month were honored with a moment of silence. Recently a video of this Islamic fundamental group indicated that they would sell their victims. Again let's hope for a safe return to their families for those 300 schoolgirls!

#BringBackOurGirls

[VIDEO] Unfortunately, there is a group in Nigeria that advocates for an end to Western education. Been hearing a lot about this and I'm sharing this because it's serious. Apparently a group of girls were pulled from school last month by this group - terrorists - and now the leader made a rambling video talking about selling these girls.

Wow, how barbaric! Reading the article from CNN, I understand that this group received training by al-Qaida affiliates and well that means Islamic fundamentalism is involved.

Every now and then there are stories about some girl having to fight for an education because unfortunately there are some deep beliefs about whether or not girls should be educated. These are things that we'd take for granted in this country, but in the rest of the world someone might take issue with this.

This terrorist group in Nigeria - Boko Haram which means "Western education is sin" - is just another group who apparently have acted upon this belief. If you believe they're terrorists, then you might be scared for these girls. They've been kidnapped which is bad enough, now they could be forever away from their families.

Let's hope the Nigerian government can rescue these girls and defeat these terrorists.

Update on the Boston Marathon bombings

Looks like we now know who did the Boston Marathon bombings from earlier this week. One of those suspects are dead, but a press conference was recently held where another suspect has been apprehended. The suspects were from Russia and apparently Chechen refugees. Chechen as in Chechnya which has been mired in warfare against Russia for many years. Now the next question is why did they target the Boston Marathon, I had to think that they wanted to take the issues of Chechnya and take them out on a nation that has little to do with the warfare there.

Also friend of this blog Gerard at American Rattlesnake has been following the story himself. Surely there's an immigration component to this!

First Person: Hunting a Terrorist Mastermind

[VIDEO] This video is actually about hunting down the actual mastermind of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks Khalid Sheihk Mohammed. Here's a description from the AP:

Author Josh Meyers details the hunt for the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as journalists and relatives of Sept. 11 victims prepare to attend the arraignment hearing at the U.S. base in Cuba.

How appropriate as May 2nd will be the 2nd anniversary of Bin Laden's death at the hands of a Navy Seals team!

10 years!

I wanted to sit on this. This column from Christopher Hitchens was posted at Instapundit on Labor Day. What I will excerpt is appropriate on this day. This will be today's 9/11 and again this year my goal is to stay away from any programming that shows any footage from that day!

To me, this remains the main point about al-Qaida and its surrogates. I do not believe, by stipulating it as the main point, that I try to oversimplify matters. I feel no need to show off or to think of something novel to say. Moreover, many of the attempts to introduce "complexity" into the picture strike me as half-baked obfuscations or distractions. These range from the irredeemably paranoid and contemptible efforts[MN1] to pin responsibility for the attacks onto the Bush administration or the Jews, to the sometimes wearisome but not necessarily untrue insistence that Islamic peoples have suffered oppression. (Even when formally true, the latter must simply not be used as nonsequitur special pleading for the use of random violence by self-appointed Muslims.)

Underlying these and other attempts to change the subject there was, and still is, a perverse desire to say that the 9/11 atrocities were in some way deserved, or made historically more explicable, by the many crimes of past American foreign policy. Either that, or—to recall the contemporary comments of the "Reverends" Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson—a punishment from heaven for American sinfulness. (The two ways of thinking, one of them ostensibly "left" and the other "right," are in fact more or less identical.) That this was an assault upon our society, whatever its ostensible capitalist and militarist "targets," was again thought too obvious a point for a clever person to make. It became increasingly obvious, though, with every successive nihilistic attack on London, Madrid, Istanbul, Baghdad, and Bali. There was always some "intellectual," however, to argue in each case that the policy of Tony Blair, or George Bush, or the Spanish government, was the "root cause" of the broad-daylight slaughter of civilians. Responsibility, somehow, never lay squarely with the perpetrators.

And this is what should be upsetting. No one deserved this massacre. Even if you had grievances against this policy or that policy it doesn't justify this act of terror. Let's not lose sight of this!

I suggest you read the whole piece Hitchens latches onto a number of subjects in this column. I don't want to find myself posting more than necessary!

brain-terminal: A video memorial for 9/11

New Yorker Evan Coyne Maloney of brain-terminal.com was in New York on that day. His [VIDEO] uses police and fire transmissions and footage from citizens of what happened on that day a decade ago. I will not embed that video here, but will encourage you to visit Maloney's site to view it. It might have been posted here on this blog years ago, but my goal is to avoid all footage from that day.

I plan to post links of any past posts from past 9/11 observances. May have some new thoughts after all in time for tomorrow.

May we remember!

Washington Post: U.S. officials believe al-Qaeda on brink of collapse

Will not shed a tear for the terrorist group. Yeah I'm sure there may be others to arise, but I hope that they won't be able to conduct the same type of operations that al-Qaeda has been able to!

U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al­Qaeda to the brink of collapse.

The assessment reflects a widespread view at the CIA and other agencies that a relatively small number of additional blows could effectively extinguish the Pakistan-based organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — an outcome that was seen as a distant prospect for much of the past decade.

U.S. officials said that al-Qaeda might yet rally and that even its demise would not end the terrorist threat, which is increasingly driven by radicalized individuals as well as aggressive affiliates. Indeed, officials said that al­Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen is now seen as a greater counterterrorism challenge than the organization’s traditional base.

President Obama has steadily expanded the clandestine U.S. campaign against that Yemen group, most recently by approving the construction of a secret Persian Gulf airstrip for armed CIA drones. But recent setbacks, including a botched U.S. military airstrike on American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, underscore the difficulties that remain.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming

There are other things I had wanted to post on other subjects but chose not to. I remained focused on the capture of OBL and all details related to it. Didn't want to focus on all the fallout and opinion on this subject. However, my thoughts about this story is coming in the near future. Perhaps even before the weekend is out.

For now enjoy this graphic provided by 2nd City Cop. If you don't get the caption provided in the pic it's a reference to whoever in his family (or any other thug who was caught by the police) may choose to deny his role in any criminal activities. Sometimes 2nd City Cop will just remark sarcastically that said thug was an honor student who would've cured cancer or something to that effect.

Osama bin Laden's first defeat: 'Fortress America' never really materialized

Osama bin Laden's first defeat: 'Fortress America' never really materialized

Lee Bey makes comments on the immediate changes in the wake of 9/11/2001. Mainly that step were taken to secure buildings that could potentially be considered terrorist targets. How plans for even taller buildings were changed where buildings were even smaller than they otherwise would've been. To be sure there were changes security wise as a result of this horrific event here in Chicago however:

Bin Laden, the 9/11 mastermind who was killed Sunday by U.S. forces in Pakistan, caused American cities to make security adjustments after 9/11. Folks are monitored and tracked through technology now more than ever, and that is unnerving. But Fortress America--the wholesale change and devaluing of America's built environment in response to the terrorist attacks--never materialized. We are not a country behind bunkers. Nor are we a city behind barricades, despite Chicago having a number of potential high-value terrorist targets. Maintaining cities with acessible architecture and open public spaces are the best expressions of a democratic society...and an early sign of Bin Laden's eventual defeat.

Yes! We are not behind bunkers while OBL continued to live in his own fear. Enough to want to buy a compound in a suburban area without internet or phone service so he won't be easy to find. It just shows who really lived in fear - the American people or OBL.

No Photo: Why Obama Won't Release Osama bin Laden Death Image

Old news really but must be noted. I know there are many who want to see a photo, but last year I said I'll avoid watching any footage from that dreadful day. If it was ever released I do not plan to even lay eyes on OBL's shot up corpse.

A desire for catharsis, or perhaps just gruesome curiosity, has further stirred the photo frenzy. But in an interview with 60 Minutes that was recorded on Wednesday, Obama said the image was not going to be released. White House press secretary Jay Carney, who shared Obama's comments at Wednesday's press briefing, told reporters that the decision had not been finalized until the morning of the interview.  

According to Carney, Obama reasoned that the photo might cause "incitement to additional violence" or become fodder for martyrdom among those already outraged by bin Laden's death. But Obama also made the case that, if released, the image would be an unnecessary war trophy that changes neither the implications of bin Laden's death nor the widespread conspiracy theories about the conditions under which it took place. "We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama said. "There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again."

Not releasing the image will surely agitate conspiracy mongers like talk-radio hyperventilator Alex Jones, but evidence, photographic or otherwise, has never been much of an obstacle for Jones' black-helicopter fantasies. "Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East," Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers said on Wednesday.