Austin Bay remembers terror 1998

Austin Bay reminds us that August 7 is the 7 year anniversary of the terror attacks on the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and reprints his column from that time.

The bomb blasts that killed some 250 people in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, have brought new attention to East Africa, in particular to Kenya’s frail internal political condition and its conflict with Sudan.
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While speculation has focused on Iranian radicals or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or anti-American terrorists (Saudi financier Osama bin Laden, for example ) as the bombings’ orchestrators, regional African frictions may have played some role in the attacks.
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Why bomb Tanzania as well?

That might be a terrorist’s advertisement: “Beware. We are strong, sophisticated and well-funded enough to conduct simultaneous attacks.”

The Clinton administration has vowed that America will bring the terrorists to justice. Good. Perhaps the CIA’s covert operations wing will get a boost from the president and Congress. Human spies, not satellites, track terrorists.

Adding spies, however, may be the easiest response. Kenya is a vulnerable country with a corrupt autocrat at the helm. The bombs may be only the beginning of U.S. policy challenges in the region.

Hmmm…we never did get the human spies (the Clinton Administration put the kabosh on getting intelligence help from ‘hard’ people who might not be morally pristine), and we know the CIA wasn’t talking to the FBI, the CIA director was not meeting with President Clinton…lots of things could have been done, not enough was. After this attack, of course, came the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which the USA did not answer at all and then 9/11/01.

Reading Bay’s remarks reminds me of Osama bin Laden’s videotape after 9/11, and his words about the “weak horse” vs the “strong horse.” “…when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.”

In the years between the first WTC attack in early 1993 and 2001, America watched its interests and vessels attacked and did not respond. America seemed a “weak horse.” That the terrorists felt emboldened cannot really be denied.

Terrorism did not begin on Bill Clinton’s watch. Nor did it begin on George W. Bush’s watch. It can be traced back several decades – some say it began with the eviction of the Shah from Iran and the taking of American hostages. I don’t know. I only know that when our Marines were attacked in Lebanon, not enough was done to send a message to the Islamofascists. When we left Iraq without taking out Saddam, not enough was done to send a message. When we were attacked every two years throughout the 1990’s and we made no response, not enough was done to send a message…in fact, I am wrong, a message was sent. The message was: GO AHEAD AND KICK US, WE WON’T FIGHT BACK.

We still have a long way to go. President Bush needs to focus some attention on sealing up our pourous borders. We still are lacking human intelligence and the Islamofascists are notoriously difficult to infiltrate.

But it must be acknowledged. Things have changed, the world is finally awake. Hopefully, this fight – which is destined to go on through at least a generation – will eventually find the Arab nations embracing Democratic values, entering into the global marketplace of goods and ideas. If that can happen, then we will survive. And intellectually honest people will admit that none of that would have happened had one man not rejected a continuence of the status quo in the Middle East and dared to face down the world.

And his initials are GWB.