I was going to do a piece about all of the rumors going around, but in my research, I found a site that accurately exposes and explains the bulk of them in great detail. Go to Urban Legends and actually read the explanations. At the bottom of every explanation, there is a list of sources that were used to compile the explanations. I suggest that everyone read into the sources as well before you form any thoughts on the matter. And if I see any one of you running around this site propagating any one of these rumors that are decidedly and obviously false, there's gonna' be hell to pay.


    Now, of all of the rumors I see circulating, there is one which even the urban legends page doesn't touch. I see it running around the internet, on this web site and even in my very own forum. This will be my focus for the day, as I am tired of hearing this lame and unfounded argument over and over and over again.

"The US does not have enough evidence to warrant their current military and political actions"

    This is the rumor/misconception that aggravates and sickens me the most. To disprove this theory, one only needs to consider the issue on three levels.

    First of all, who knows what evidence has specifically been collected and is being used as part of the basis for our current course of action? The US government, the NATO governments, military officials, law enforcement officials and investigators around the world. No one else has any specific knowledge of the entire scope of the evidence. Those in possession of this evidence have not released it to the general public, so not one of us really knows enough to condemn the governments involved for their actions. Anyone who claims to be justified in doing so is blatantly lacking enough information to formulate such an opinion.

    Now some would point out that the fact that these governments have not released the information points to some sinister attempt at covering up their lack of justification and evidence. This theory only holds water if you are ignorant enough to believe that any body of legal enforcement would normally release sensitive information to the public which is essential to their particular case. This rarely, if ever happens even in the most trivial of legal cases. Consider the fact that this evidence is on a global scale and that it most likely implicates not only Osama Bin Laden, but many other international terrorists, entities, individuals and governments as well. Bin Laden is not the only fish we're going to fry, he is simply the first and most highly publicized...this will not end with him. If we were to release the evidence to the public domain, anyone implicated by this evidence would have a tremendous opportunity to dispose of the evidence, any trails of evidence leading to them or their associates and potential witnesses long before the US and NATO officials had time to locate and prosecute these individuals. Releasing the evidence and intelligence would be the equivalent of legal suicide, and from a strategic view, this is not acceptable. I would personally love for the government to be able to release the evidence, but I understand why they cannot and will not do so.

    Now, some will also say that I am a hypocrite for criticizing people for passing judgment based on information they do not have. This brings me to the second point. I fully support the actions of the US and NATO officials and this does not make me a hypocrite. I am basing my decision on the reactions of EVERY government and official who has been privy to the evidence. How many nations or officials have spoken out against the actions? Has any nation or official raised any doubt regarding the quality of the evidence or any suspicions of a lack of evidence at all? Not one has done such a thing, which makes it reasonable to assume not only that the evidence exists but that it is quite credible as well. We're looking at a %100-success rate for the generation of support for the actions based on having evidence made available to these governments. Even the world leaders that were initially speaking words of caution and restraint before being made aware of this evidence have since changed their tune. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who once said that it would not necessarily or directly support military actions has since offered FULL military and political support "without reservation" to the US and the rest of the nations involved. Even those that we normally would not expect any support from, countries like Libya and Cuba, which have a history of antagonism with the United States, have also expressed sympathy and support. The moderate Arab states and the 57 Islamic nations that make up the Organization of the Islamic Conference have unanimously condemned the terrorist attacks against the United States and they offer full support in our actions. This clearly shows the quality and the scope of evidence against Bin Laden and the Taliban to be nothing short of credible. These countries and nations would not offer support for something of this scale without sufficient reason. In an arena of this size, even the mighty United States of America could not flex enough muscle to intimidate and bully these nations into a condition of support...especially those that have a long-standing history of defiance against many American actions and political operations. It's just not a feasible or reasonable speculation.

    The third and final level that needs to be explored is probably the one which I am most passionate and often aggravated about. Let me make this clear for those of you who have not understood this yet:

    This is NOT just about the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This is about terrorism as a whole, about ALL acts of terrorism; both past and present, foreign and domestic. So then why are we only going after Bin Laden right now? Well, we're not, and you'd be deluded to think otherwise. We are going after 'Al Qaeda', the largest and most widely distributed terrorist organization in the world. We are going after the Taliban, as their support for 'Al Qaeda' makes them guilty by accomplice and association. Osama Bin Laden is the 'emir' (prince) of the group known as 'Al Qaeda'. He has been the FBI's most wanted terrorist for many, many years. I have read all 157 pages of the original indictments against Bin Laden and his co-conspirators for acts committed before the September 11th attacks. Osama Bin Laden is guilty of almost every charge brought against him. The proof of this guilt comes from his own specific and deliberate admissions in interviews and his own propaganda video tapes. We demanded he be released to US custody to face trial for the crimes outlined below. The Taliban first said that he mysteriously disappeared and that they did not know where he was. Then they said they that had him under strict control and that he would not be able commit any terrorist acts from Afghanistan. We did not want a war with the Taliban, so we put a price on Bin Laden's head and maintained efforts to capture more of his associates and gather more evidence against him. We warned the Taliban that if he was ever under any suspicion to be connected to any further terrorist attacks, either by himself or through association with 'Al Qaeda', that we would be back to get him and we would hold them responsible by accomplice and association. We bided our time and it came around and bit us in the ass. This is the reason for the new policy of zero tolerance and zero reservations. September 11th was the catalyst of this situation, it was not the cause and it is not the reason for our current actions. It is only part of a much larger whole. We have good and credible reason to believe that Osama Bin Laden may be connected with the terrorist attacks through the association and administration of 'Al Qaeda'. The US government and NATO have what seems to be more specific evidence against Bin Laden. Now we're back, and we're making good on our warnings to the Taliban. Bin Laden is unquestionably guilty of the majority of the counts against him below, he is suspected to be guilty of at least some significant facet of the September 11th attacks. We reserve the right to bring him to justice and try him for his crimes, both past and present... by any means necessary.


The Original Indictment:

COUNTS ONE THROUGH SIX:
CONSPIRACIES TO MURDER, BOMB AND MAIM


COUNT ONE:
CONSPIRACY TO KILL UNITED STATES NATIONALS

COUNT TWO:
CONSPIRACY TO MURDER, KIDNAP AND MAIM AT PLACES OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

COUNT THREE:
CONSPIRACY TO MURDER

COUNT FOUR:
CONSPIRACY TO USE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AGAINST NATIONALS OF THE UNITED STATES

COUNT FIVE:
CONSPIRACY TO DESTROY BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES


COUNTS SEVEN THROUGH TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX
THE AFRICA BOMBINGS

COUNT SEVEN:
BOMBING OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA, RESULTING IN MORE THAN 200 DEATHS

COUNT EIGHT:
BOMBING OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, RESULTING IN AT LEAST 11 DEATHS

COUNT NINE:
USE AND ATTEMPTED USE OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AGAINST NATIONALS OF THE UNITED STATES IN NAIROBI, KENYA

COUNT TEN:
USE AND ATTEMPTED USE OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AGAINST NATIONALS OF THE UNITED STATES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA



COUNTS ELEVEN THROUGH TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE:
MURDERS IN NAIROBI, KENYA
--Insert the names of the 212 victims murdered in the Kenya bombing--

COUNTS TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR THROUGH TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR:
MURDERS IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
--Insert the names of the 10 victims murdered in the Tanzania bombing--

COUNTS TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE THROUGH TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIVE:
MURDER OF EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES IN NAIROBI, KENYA
--Insert the names of the 40 US employees murdered in the Kenya bombing--

COUNT TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-SIX:
ATTEMPTED MURDER OF EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES IN NAIROBI, KENYA



COUNTS TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-SEVEN AND TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-EIGHT:
MURDER OF EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES
IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
--Insert the names of the 2 US employees murdered in the Tanzania bombing--

COUNT TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY-NINE:
ATTEMPTED MURDER OF EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA



COUNTS TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY AND TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-ONE:
MURDER OF INTERNATIONALLY PROTECTED PERSONS IN NAIROBI, KENYA
--Insert the names of the two diplomats murdered in the Kenya bombing--

COUNT TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-TWO:
ATTEMPTED MURDER OF INTERNATIONALLY PROTECTED PERSONS IN NAIROBI, KENYA

COUNT TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-THREE:
ATTEMPTED MURDER OF INTERNATIONALLY PROTECTED PERSONS IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA

COUNT TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-FOUR:
USING AND CARRYING AN EXPLOSIVE DURING COMMISSION OF A FELONY

COUNT TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE:
USING AND CARRYING A DANGEROUS DEVICE DURING THE BOMBING OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN NAIROBI, KENYA

COUNT TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX:
USING AND CARRYING A DANGEROUS DEVICE DURING THE BOMBING OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA



COUNTS TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN THROUGH THREE HUNDRED EIGHT:
PERJURY BEFORE FEDERAL GRAND JURIES AND FALSE STATEMENTS

--Insert 21 counts of perjury and false statements given by the men who were detained to be prosecutedó



*Counts Three Hundred Nine through Three Hundred Nineteen deal with hostage taking, conspiracy to escape and attempted escape, conspiracy to murder and the attempted murder of a federal official, assaults on federal officials, and possessing a weapon while incarcerated.

    Bin Laden has explicitly admitted to issuing the Fatwah's (religious orders coming from rulings by Islamic law) against all Americans and 'infidels'. He has explicitly admitted to the USS Cole attack. On May 29, 1998, bin Laden issued a statement entitled 'The Nuclear Bomb of Islam', in which he stated that "it is the duty of Muslims to prepare as much force as possible to terrorize the enemies of God." The men that were captured and prosecuted shared identical stories of being members of 'Al Quaeda' and having been trained by camps run by Bin Laden. The orders for the bombings were the directives of "Al Qaeda". Bin Laden can be shown to be directly responsible for most of the charges in this indictment through his own admissions or through his associations in 'Al Quaeda'. We as public citizens can read and research, and through that, we can truly know that Bin Laden is guilty of the charges against him in the original indictment. We knew this years ago, but we let it go. Now, we have good reason to believe that Bin Laden is responsible for the attacks on September 11th. There is no burden of proof for trying a suspect, there is only a burden of proof for convicting one. But, when a suspect evades justice and refuses to be tried, he/she is automatically and unquestionably guilty of being a fugitive from justice. Anyone who knowingly helps or harbors this person is also guilty of aiding and abetting a fugitive. There is no debate about this. If and when we can get Bin Laden into a court of law, the burden of proof for current suspicions will be necessary. But until then, the current actions are sufficiently justified as they are legal and supported by the entirety of the NATO nations and the majority of the free world. Even if the US government, along with every NATO nation was lying about the credibility of their current evidence against Bin Laden, based on previous charges and previous evidence, Bin Laden is guilty, the Taliban is guilty and the world is justifiably hunting them down and will bring them to justice one way or another. For all intensive and current purposes, 'The Burden of Proof' has been satisfied...

"There's No Mystery Here"