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We, today, the United States, the American people,
we understand, finally, what terrorism means.
We are not like any other people on the face of the
earth. We are Americans.
We will not let terrorism win over us under any circumstances.
We don't care what you do in your country.
Rosalynn Carter once asked Jimmy Carter after Ayatollah
Khomeini, in 1979, seized our hostages in Iran, after President Carter had turned his back on the Shah, "Why don't you mine
the harbors?" President Carter responded, "If I mine the harbors, what if they kill one hostage per day?"
Today, this Association hopes, we know better. We
need to support any friend, oppose any foe, in the words of President Kennedy, to prevent evil people like the Iranian mullahs, the Taliban, or Al Quaida, from ever seizing power anywhere in the world
from an American ally.
But if we don't, or can't, we need to realize that
all those who wear the cloth of our Nation put themselves in harm's way willingly, as part of their sacrifice, to preserve
the cause of Freedom in the world. The people who tried to re-seize the plane that went down in Shanksville on 9-11 understood
that, and we believe our men and women in the Armed Forces and civilian services understand it as well.
There can be no negotiation with terrorists who raise
their fist against the United States. There can be no fear of them, ever again.
...President Carter was wrong. No one can blackmail
the American people. Ever again.
"I was born an American; I live an American; I shall
die an American!"
- Daniel Webster
July 17, 1850
2001 was a critical year for the United States of America. As 1946
was the first year of a long and sometimes brutal Cold War with Soviet imperialism, 2001 was the beginning of a long
and brutal war with Islamic fundamentalist terror directed at America.
It was also the same year, early in the year, January, 2001, that the
Association's new website, this website, went online.
For these reasons, we intend to leave this Page here indefinitely,
to mark forever some of the first things said and done, by both the Association and others, in the War on Terror.
OUR 9/15/2001 RECOMMENDATIONS
TO THE NATION
We start this Page with the Association's Recommendations
to the Nation and the Bush Administration as they were originally delivered to the White House on September 15, 2001.
"After the events of September 11, and upon due deliberation of the National Board of
Directors of the United States Navy Veterans Association, in consultation with numerous individuals in the U.S. political
establishment, our national membership and our state chapter leadership, the Association makes the following 16 recommendations
to prosecute the War on Terrorism:
First, by Executive Order, and without regard to dollar cost, take out the Taliban, period.
UPDATE: Mission Accomplished, December, 2001.
Second, by legislation and at whatever the cost, put armed Sky Marshals on at least 25%
of our commercial flights (40,000 per day in the U.S.), selected at random, starting today, and for the forseeable future.
UPDATE 7/31/03:
The number of federal air marshals never reached the levels
we proposed. As of August 2003, there are "several thousand" air marshals, with the actual number remaining classified. Air
marshals, who work for the Department of Homeland Security, are paid $31,000 - $90,000 per year DOE, with the average salary
being at the low end of that spectrum.
Third, if the Government of Pakistan does not immediately and totally cooperate with
all our efforts against terrorism, tilt toward India in the Kashmir Conflict and in the Sub-Continent.
UPDATE September 2006:
We now know from intelligence sources that on 9/16/2001,
the State Department issued the following TOP SECRET 7 point ultimatum to the Government of Pakistan:
1. Stop Al Quaida operations at your border,
interrupt arms shipments through Pakistan and end all logistical support for bin Laden.
2. Blanket overflight and landing rights.
3. Access to Pakistan, naval bases, air bases
and borders.
4. Immediate intelligence and immigration
information.
5. Condemn the 9-11 attacks and curb all
domestic expressions of support for terrorism against the U.S., its friends or allies.
6. Cut off all shipments of fuel to the Taliban
and stop Pakistani volunteers from going into Afghanistan to join the Taliban.
7. Should the evidence strongly implicate
Usama bin Laden and the Al Quaida network in Afghanistan, and should Afghanistan and the Taliban continue to harbor him and
his network, Pakistan will break diplomatic relations with the Taliban government, end support for the Taliban and assist
us in the aforementioned ways to destroy Usama bin Laden and his Al Quaida network.
President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan immediately
accepted all seven.
An unconfirmed source has also reported that at about the same
time, then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had a USAF General pas through to President Mushrraf the comment that
Pakistan would either cooperate in full with the above ultimatum, or it would be bombed back into the Stone Age.
According to the Association Recommendation Three cited,
if the facts of the paragraph above are true, that is exactly what was needed.
Fourth, by publicly announced Executive Policy, tell every OPEC nation: lower your crude
prices substantially, immediately, and for the forseeable future, and support our war on terrorism, or we will deal with you
individually, one by one.
UPDATE, Summer, 2006:
Nobody was ever told to lower crude prices, and by Summer,
2006, crude prices had risen to an all time high, thanks to OPEC, of over $70 a barrel.
Fifth, by legislation, nobody but U.S. citizens may attend any flight school in the U.S.
UPDATE 10/19/2004:
Effective this date,foreigners will have to undergo background checks before being
enrolled in any U.S. flight school.
A halfway measure, better late than never.
Sixth, by classified Executive Order, and with approval, in secret session, of the two
Congressional Intelligence Committees, don't arrest, but have a domestic operations division of the CIA look closely at every
Arab, Persian or Muslim group of whatever nature or kind operating in the U.S. and keep track, as a foreign intelligence reporting
matter, of every one of their foreign members.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
Certain strong domestic measures
were taken in this direction by the FBI, not the CIA, but still with not enough law enforcement manpower to satisfy this
Association, considering the other activities those manpwer resources could still, today, be taken from.
Seventh, by Executive Order, with public approval of Congress, worded carefully: Visas
granted by U.S. Consulates to any Arab, Persian or any foreign Muslim need to be resrtricted severely to neutralize, with
the burden of proof going against each and every individual applicant, any threat to the U.S.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
These visas are harder to get, but the specific burden of
proof we asked to be placed on the applicant never was applied.
Eighth, by classified Executive Order, worded carefully: Consider any applicant for a
classified work position with any agency of the U.S. Government who has an Arab, Persian or Muslim background, to have a serious
and substantial prejudicial mark against their application.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
This matter remains classified, but the Recommendation has
certainly not been applied in principle.
Ninth, by Executive Order, and within budgetary constraints approved by Congress, increase
the budget for the CIA's Directorate of Operations and especially its Near East Division, to acquire agents to infiltrate
any and every foreign Arab, Persian and Muslim group to report their plans and intentions.
UPDATE November, 2004:
President Bush finally proposed a substantial 50% increase in both the CIA's DDO
and DDI manpower levels. Congress still has got to approve that budget as of this date.
Tenth, by order of the DCI, lift any and all restrictions on the recruitment of foreign
agents based on the background of that agent.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
Matter remains classified.
Eleventh, without regard to cost, have every foreign Arab and Persian male in the U.S.
randomly surveilled by the FBI.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
Domestic enemies of the FBI say over 80,000 foreigners
of Muslim descent were personally identified and targetted for investigations of suspicious terrorist activity in the period
2001-2004, and that none were convicted.
The DoJ says that the figure of convictions ran into the thousands.
Our opinion: If 80,000 were targetted, and we've seen no hard
evidence it was anything like that figure, but, if it was, it was too few. These terrorists in our midst need to be put in
their place. The place they currently operate out of, by their own choice, is secrecy and darkness, and that place makes it
difficult, and will continue to make it difficult, to convict these enemies of the United States of anything.
UPDATE August 2005: Sources within the FBI have confidentially
let the Association know that only approximately 1,000 individuals are under active FBI surveiilance as of this date as suspected
terrorists.
One major problem, as the Association had previously
alluded to in its Recommendations when it spoke to the issue of costs, is that FBI is relying on tipsters to establish
suspicion for domestic surveillance, many of the tips being, as usual in the case of tips in general, false tips motivated
by vengeance for some perceived slight. What is needed, instead, is random surveillance of logically profiled groups
and individuals. This, in turn, would require at least two things currently non-existent within the Bureau: (1) a tenfold
increase in fluent Arabic speaking agents, and (2) a tenfold increase in agents detailed to this category of terrorist surveillance,
as opposed to detailing that manpower to investigations of less pressing national threats, less important types of crimes.
To date there has been, certainly, some transfer of
FBI assets out of other sorts of investigations and into terror related-cases , but not enough to satisfy the thrust of this
Association recommendation.
Twelveth, by Executive Order, seize (not freeze) all accounts of any named person associated
with Usama bin Laden. Deal with any country, on a case by case basis, with the highest prejudice, that refuses to do the same.
These named persons should include, at a minimum, any identified person associated with bin Laden, Al Quaida, Hamas, the Taliban,
the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Gama'a, Saddam Hussein, the Governments of Iraq, Syria and Iran, bin Laden's father, bin Laden's
brother in Boston and every Boston cab driver associated with bin Laden.
UPDATE Summer, 2003:
Some were frozen; some were not.
Thirteenth, by Executive Order, no foreigner from the Armed Forces of any Arab or Persian
state should be trained in any intelligence-related course of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces or of the Intelligence Community;
nor should any such person be placed in any intelligence or combat sensitive operations position in any of our Armed Forces'
facilities in CONUS.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
Policy remains classified.
Fourteenth, by whatever means necessary, place impregnable doors (laser stun fields operable
upon command only from within the cockpit recommended) on every cockpit door of every U.S. flag commercial airliner, starting
tomorrow.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
The doors were strengthened. They are still not impregnable.
Some pilots were also armed.
It is still possible to smuggle a disabling agent or
bomb on board a plane. It is still possible to shoot down a civilian aircraft with a shoulder fired surface-to-air missile.
It is still possible to place an Islamic fundamentalist sleeper agent in the crew of an aircraft with the intent to destroy
the flight.
Fifteenth: Recommendation as to what not to do: Do not take any action to resrict or
alienate in any way any freedom, but especially the freedom of movement, of the average American citizen. To do otherwise
would be to give the terrorists one of their primary goals, the institutionalization of fear in the U.S.
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
The Bush Administration did the exact opposite with
CAPS II, the Patriot Act, Amendments to the Patriot Act, similiar pieces of legislation, and similiar executive policies.
Our Sixteenth and Final Recommendation:
Kill Usama bin Laden.
Period."
UPDATE Summer, 2006:
Still America's Most Wanted.
We print these now-dated Recommendations here for
a number of reasons:
First, we'd like the reading public to know where the
Association stood on this very important date on policy issues of importance to veterans and patriots. We are former
combat sailors and naval aviators and we're not afraid, trust us, of people who call us names.
Second, we refer to these Recommendations by number, sometimes seemingly ad nauseam,
in the editorial comments on our Newstands and elsewhere on our Site, and we need a reference point where anybody can actually
look them up verbatim.
Third, since 9/11, anybody should be able to compare and contrast what we recommended with
actual USG policy and legislation on the War on Terror.
So here they are, above.
And here they will remain.
We also point out here that this Association is as proud of its Policy and Legislative proposals
and efforts as we are of our Public Information activities and our Veterans' Outreach Programs. All are equally important in the work of any real veterans' group, and each one complements the others. To have one of these
activities, moreover, without the others, marginalizes the non-profit group that goes that route.
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2001 was a critical and watershead year for the United States, which is why we give it its own
Page. It was a beginning of a new century. It was also a year of a great tragedy which occurred on a day no American
will ever forget.
And it was a year we, as Americans, began a New Patriotism which carries this country forward.
America's best days still lie ahead.
The United States Navy Veterans Association hopes you enjoy this Page, our other three Newstands, and this Website,
the Website of the American people.
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2001 NEWS AND ANALYSIS
THE ANTI-TERRORISM ACT OF 2001 ("Patriot USA Act")
This Act was signed
by President Bush October 26, 2001. We support most, but not all, of the Act. As we promised in our 9-15-01
Recommendations to the Nation made that date, and printed above on this Page, we are bringing you both news and
analysis of this Act, as well as news and analysis in general on our Recommendations to the Nation, and some specific applicability
of action taken under this Act to those Recommendations. These will be updated here from time to time, as well as on our WOT Newstand:
The Act has provisions which will expire unless renewed by Congress, and that is good. These enemies
of the United States, as well as the current emergency, will pass, as all of America's enemies, bar none, have passed, and
at that time we can and should get back to normal.
The Act addresses our Recommendation #2 by putting air marshals
on our planes. It is estimated that the funding provided would be enough to put air marshals on 1% of U.S. flights randomly
as opposed to the 25% called for in our Recommendation.
Recommendation #6: There will be more reporting going to the
CIA as to financial matters as to foreign groups operating in the U.S., as called for in our Recommendation, but the heart
of the Recommendation has not been carried out.
Recommendation #10 has been carried out effectively by Executive
Order.
Recommendation #11: These people will be arrested for "spitting on the sidewalk," but the surveillance
of them is still insufficient.
Recommendation #12: Many of these accounts have been frozen. (None seized.) The
Saudis are not cooperating.
Recommendation #14: Ad hoc steps only are being taken, like permitting pilots to
carry stun guns. New locks are being installed on all cockpit doors.
Recommendation #15: Exactly what we said
not to do, they're doing. Fingerprint kits, eye-scanners, body searches, etc., all of which governments are pushing, will
not catch Arab terrorists, but they will harass and intimidate 65-year old Jewish grandmothers, African-Americans and others
from trying to travel, as we've seen on TV already. This is all nonsense, has no effect on secure travel, and is primarily
merely a humiliating harassment of the average, and law-abiding, American.
Recommendation #16: This Order has
gone out.
USA PATRIOT ACT UPDATE 5-21-03:
To date fewer than 50 people have been detained as material
witnesses without charges in the investigation of the 9/11 attacks. 90% were detainesd for 90 days or less, and 50% for
30 days or less. Fewer than 10 FBI Offices have conducted investigations involving visiting mosques. About 50 public
libraries have been visited by FBI agents, with court permission, under the Act.
NEW INS POLICIES 10-31-01
Pursuant to coordination between the Departments of Justice and
State, new visa policies were announced 10-31-01, addressing our Recommendation to the Nation #7. This policy statement named
46 Arab, Muslim and terrorist groups. Anyone affiliated with these groups will not be granted a visa to enter the U.S., period.
The policy does not go far enough and is too difficult to administer, in our opinion. Embassies may run visa applicants
through the CIA database, but at least 75% of the terrorists in the world are not in that database. Intelligence services
of states which sponsor terrorism are unlikely to report the terrorist background of someone to the U.S. Finally, basic criminal
databases of friendly states in the Third World don't amount to squat.
What is called for, instead, is our Recommendation
# 7: Put the burden of proof on the applicant from these countries; if he can't meet it , deny the visa. If they don't like
it, tough!
All 19 of the September 11 hijackers received visas to enter the U.S. granted by U.S. consulates abroad.
While some may have been carrying phony i.d.s, all of them were in the country legally because of those visas. It was
not the phony i.d.s which permitted them to carry out 9/11. It was the granting of their visas. Fifteen were granted
their visas in Saudi Arabia.
We will continue to bring you news on the Government's response to foreign terrorism
as events unfold.
| A Firefighter Stands Watch |
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| At the Ruins of the World Trade Center |
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| Naval Air is an Integral Arm |
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| Of the United States Navy |
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