Eric's Beijing Diary

Some people did something? Most reports about this statement by Ilhan Omar focus on the apparent trivialization of the 9/11 attacks that this statement seems to imply. But I see something very different, and more concerning.

When Americans think back to those terrible events in September 11, 2001, they remember the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Then we all remember how it eventually came out that radical Islamists from Saudi Arabia had come to America, taken flight training to be able to fly the planes once they took them over, and then carried out the attacks.

But most Americans don't realize that the rest of the world doesn't see it that way. I have been in China for fifteen years. I have had conversations about this event with several Muslims from Middle Eastern countries. People in the rest of the world do not think that these attacks were carried out by violent Muslims from the Middle East. It is very hard to convince them of that. You can get them to believe that Israel did it. Or you can get them to believe that the CIA did it. But getting them to accept that this act was perpetrated by violent Islamists from the Middle East is very difficult. I am not sure I have ever been successful at this.

Why is this? Well, the reality is that most Muslims are very mild-mannered people. Americans have trouble with this. They have been taught that all Muslims are violent. But this is a very unfair, and--more importantly--inaccurate assumption.

Think of it this way: In America, if you want to join the Ku Klux Klan, you must be a Protestant. So if you apply the same logic to the Klan that many Americans apply to Muslims, it would look like this:

Al Klansmen are Protestants.
Therefore,
all Protestants are Klansmen.

Agree? I don't think so.

But if it is hard for a Muslim to believe that the 9/11 attack was carried out by Islamists, is it not just as ludicrous for Muslims to expect an American to believe that the CIA would actually carry out such an attack on American citizens?

No. It isn't. They are perfectly justified in thinking that the CIA is capable of such a thing. Why? Because the CIA has done it before. Almost. In 1962, there was a plan concocted by the United States Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to have the CIA plan and carry out terrorists attacks on American citizens. It was called "Operation Northwoods." Fortunately Kennedy did not approve it, so it was never carried out. You've probably never even heard of it. But Muslims have heard of it. I lived in America for forty years and I had never heard of it. It was a Muslim I met here in Beijing who first told me about it:

But isn't that all irrelevant now that the 9/11 terrorists have been apprehended? Apprehended after their deaths, to be sure, but apprehended nonetheless. We know their names. We know where they got their flight training. We have lots of details about how the operation was planned and carried out. So how is it that conspiracy theories about this event could abound even to this day?

You must realize that people in other countries don't watch the same news you do. I was having dinner with some Pakistani guys one time--really nice guys. We were discussing this issue, and they were expressing the belief common to most people outside of the United States, that this had been a "false flag" operation.

I told them that even before the 9/11 attacks, a flight school--I told them it was the one in Minneapolis, but last night I was watching the 700 Club, and Pat Robertson mentioned one in Florida too, so I'm not sure--had called the FBI and alerted them that a Middle Eastern student had paid for flight courses. He wanted to learn how to fly the big birds, but he kept telling the instructors that he didn't want to waste time learning how to land or take off. He just wanted to know how to fly the plane when it was in the air. I said to those Pakistani guys, "Doesn't that sound a little strange to you?"

That caught them off guard, because they had never heard that before. Still not sure if I convinced them, but I did give them something to think about. I met a guy in a coffee bar who was from Belarus. Nothing I could say would dissuade him. I can't remember now whether he was blaming it on America or Israel. Anybody but Islamist terrorists from Saudi Arabia.

So what is it about Muslims? Are they just gullible? Well, they are human and humans are gullible by nature, so yes, I guess you could say that. But not nearly as gullible as Americans. I don't think I have met any people in my life as gullible as (some of) the Americans.

Look how many people fell for the "collusion" hoax. Only a country like America would spend millions of dollars investigating something for which there never has been a shred of evidence. It is the conspiracy theory of conspiracy theories.

You see, when everything is said and done, people believe what they want to believe, and that brings us back to Ilhan Omar. When she said "some people did something," she was thought to be uncaring. That's because the American media focuses on the "something" part.

But for me it sets off a whole different alarm bell. That's because I don't focus on the "something" part. I focus on the "some people" part.

Everybody in America missed this. When Americans analyze her statement, they are like, "Something? Only something??" Americans focus on what they perceive to be her trivialization of the disaster.

Not me. When I hear her statement, I'm like, "Some people?? You mean you think we don't really know who did this?

I think the reason she said "some people" is because she does not believe that terrorists from Saudi Arabia committed that atrocity.

Watch this video. At the beginning, you see her mocking a college professor because (she thought) his body language gave a negative impression when he spoke about Al-Qaeda (the terrorist organization behind the 9/11 attacks), but he spoke more respectfully about the UK or the US or the Army. She seemed offended by that. Then comes the infamous statement about some people who did something (which, by the way, was NOT quoted out of context). Does Ilhan Omar believe that the 9/11 disaster was actually a "false flag" operation? I don't know, but her statement renders us justifiably concerned. I just want to hear one journalist from one media outlet in America ask her one simple question: Do you believe that the destruction of the World Trade Center was carried out by violent Islamists from Saudi Arabia, or do you think it was a "false flag" operation by the CIA? What do you think she would say?

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Labels: 9/11, Espionage, Terrorism