Is it the 9/11 cranks saying it? Of course not. Instead it’s the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page featuring Peter Hoekstra.
And you wonder why we call the WSJ editorial page a denialist organization?
In the mid-1990s, Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, declared that environmental concerns and national security would share equal status in U.S. foreign policy. Immediately following that announcement, CIA Director John Deutch said in July 1996 that the U.S. was diverting spy satellites to photograph “ecologically sensitive” sites.
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Instead of focusing on looming national security threats — the first World Trade Center bombing came in 1993 and in August of 1996 Osama bin Laden issued his fatwa, “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places” — Mr. Deutch was currying favor with then-Vice President Al Gore.
There you have it. The circle is complete. Al Gore caused 9/11. Wait, am I reading too much into his implications of environmentalist guilt for terrorism? Am I not giving this crank a fair shake?
At the direction of the Center, spy satellites were tasked to conduct what some in the press dubbed “environmental peeking.” The diversion meant fewer overhead images of vital national security concerns, such as Iran, North Korea and al Qaeda. It’s impossible to know, but I wonder what intelligence clues in the run up to 9/11 were missed because our spy satellites were focused on the polar ice caps and schools of fish instead of Afghanistan and bin Laden.
Yes, that’s right, it’s the environmentalists’ fault we were attacked. We distracted the CIA for just enough time for Osama Bin Laden to go outside and record those videos of terrorists on monkey-bars, thus ensuring the 9/11 attacks.
But it’s worse than I thought, if we continue to divert these vital resources we might miss attacks being planned like this week’s nearly disastrous attack on Fort Dix.
I fear the intelligence authorization being voted on by Congress demonstrates some of the same short-sightedness of the 1990s. While Democrats call for U.S. intelligence agencies to study global climate change, they continue to grossly underestimate the terrorist threat. They willfully ignore or play down world-wide activity by radical jihadists, including this week’s arrest in New Jersey of six men — who may have been influenced by al Qaeda terrorist training tapes — for allegedly planning to kill hundreds of soldiers at Fort Dix and other military installations in the Northeast. This past weekend, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, in a videotape message, mocked Democratic legislation to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq as a sign of American weakness and mentioned using Afghanistan and Iraq as bases to launch attacks.
That’s right, the only reason we caught the pizza guy who thought it would be a good idea to attack a military base with his 5 jackass friends was because we had spy satellites tasked on every Dominos in New Jersey. Wait, that doesn’t sound right for some reason…oh yeah, I’m not brain-dead.
Seriously, what an idiot. I think the WSJ requires a lobotomy before you’re allowed to publish an Op-Ed. I’ve discussed this particular attack on environmentalism before as the “environmentalists will eat your babies” attack. Additionally, I think PZ would refer to this guy as a “contemptible ghoul” who is just remarkably late to the 9/11 feast. The point is the same. Anti-global warming denialists frequently employ this hysterical fear-mongering to make people fear support of sound environmental policies. They suggest environmentalism will lead to death! Destruction! Environmentalists want us all to live in quonset huts! They want us all wearing hemp sackcloth for underwear and riding tricycles to work! They’ll kill us all! Environmentalists will eat your babies!
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