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February 26, 2007
Never Forget!
Today is the 14th anniversary of the bombing of the World Trade Center parking garage on February 26, 1993.
Seven Americans were murdered (including an unborn baby carried by one of the adult victims). Over 1,000 were injured.
The mastermind of the bombing, Ramzi Yousef, was convicted in 1998 and is presently rotting away in in prison. The spiritual leader of the terrorists who conducted the bombing, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, is also rotting away in prison and will hopefully croak soon.
A small stone memorial in honor of the victims of the 1993 bombing was erected in the WTC. Of course, it was destroyed in the 9/11/01 attacks.
We should never forget the 1993 WTC bombing and the victims:
* John DiGiovanni, Valley Stream, New York
* Robert Kirkpatrick, Suffern, New York
* Steve Knapp, Manhattan, New York City
* Monica Smith, Seaford, New York (and unborn baby)
* William Macko, Bayonne, New Jersey
* Wilfredo Mercado, Brooklyn, New York City
In a conversation with an attorney only a few months after September 11, 2001, he said the most amazing thing about September 11, 2001. He said to me, "well, it is the first act of terrorism on US soil." You see, he had already forgotten.
The bomb in the garage was intended to cause one tower to fall into the other, and additional attacks were planned for the UN Building, the FBI Headquarters the Holland Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel, and the George Washington Bridge.
"My impression was that fighting terrorism, in general, and fighting al Qaeda, in particular, were an extraordinarily high priority in the Clinton administration -- certainly no higher priority. There were priorities probably of equal importance such as the Middle East peace process, but I certainly don't know of one that was any higher in the priority of that administration." Former Counter-Terrorism Official Richard Clark, during the 9/11 Commission Hearings
You have to wonder what alternate reality Mr. Clark was living in, as, rather than treat this attack as a declaration of war, the Clinton Administration chose to treat it as crime, using law enforcement agencies to investigate. And, two weeks after the 1993 WTC attack, President Clinton was at a defense plant talking about retoolling defense plants to peacetime production, at a cost of $1.5 billion dollars.
In all fairness, the FBI investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of the terrorists who carried out the attack, but still, the trial did not bring awareness of the extent of the threat to America, instead, it lulled us into a false sense of security, believing that the bad guys were caught, convicted and locked up.
Nothing could be farther from the truth:
The investigation following the explosions linked several distinct groups to the bombing and revealed a conspiracy to target other New York City landmarks such as the United Nations building. One of these groups included five defendants who were arrested during a raid at a New York City garage in which law enforcement officials found the five mixing chemicals that were to be used in bombs. The men were charged with conspiring to bomb a building in the United Nations headquarters, the federal office building housing the FBI, and two tunnels under the Hudson River linking New York and New Jersey.
From this group, members of Fuqra, the FBI found links to 10 additional suspects and a federal grand jury indicted all 15 on charges that they plotted to bomb the United Nations and other New York City landmarks, and plotted to assassinate Egyptian leaders. Across the board, bail was denied. Fuqra is a radical Islamic sect whose followers are believed to be responsible for a string of crimes in the United States.
These groups still operate in the United States of America, and they pose a real threat to our safety and well being.
The events on February 26, 1993 should have been a wake-up call for America, but we went right back to sleep. Islamic terrorism had arrived on our shores and as a nation, we chose to ignore the threat. Today, the words of an eyewitness on February 26, 1993 are haunting:
Our enemies hated us then, as they hate us now. The only thing that changed was that on September 11, 2001 they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. And, as the saying goes, nothing succeeds like success.
Girl on the Right remembered, Blue Star Chronicles remembered, and so did Beth at Yeah, Right, Whatever.
Posted by LindaSoG at February 26, 2007 06:37 AM
Comments
I was on Canal and Broadway watching the firetrucks go by.
Posted by: jane at February 26, 2007 08:53 AM