Did you ever support Osama bin Laden? I admit it. I did

[NNN0LHI]

Back during the 1980's when he and his mujahideen where working for the CIA as per Ronald Reagan's orders and they were fighting to drive the Soviets from Afghanistan I did support their cause. At the time I thought it was the greatest thing in the world when the US began supplying Stinger missiles to Osama and his group to terrorize the Russians. Right or wrong I did support them. Anyone else?

Don

[bryant69]

1. I didn't even know about them--but i was in high school.

I suspect I would have, however. In the tenor of the times, working with them seemed logical. I mean as long as they were anti-Soviet . . . but that kind of thinking hasn't worked out so wll for the US.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[NNN0LHI]

5. In 1980 Dan Rather snuck into Afghanistan dressed like a mujahideen

Stayed with them for a few days. It was a great report too. I can remember watching it.

Don

[NNN0LHI]

27. Here is a photo from Rathers report

[malmapus]

35. I remember that one too

With him sneaking across the mountains by night. Wow childhood memory there..

[DrWeird]

2. Any friend of Rambo's was a friend of mine.

That said, I had no idea what was going on at the time in Afghanistan. I wouldn't have supported it if I had been old enough to understand.

[mike_c]

3. I really didn't....

I considered them religious extremists, although I also thought of them as underdogs in the struggle against the big bad Red Army. Still, I never supported them the way I supported, say the Sandinistas.

[H2O Man]

4. Can you tell us

what articles you read about him in the 1980s? Can you give a reference to a single article from the 1980s that said he "worked for the CIA"?

[NNN0LHI]

10. A single article? How about a few thousand. Lets start with BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/155236.stm

Who is Osama Bin Laden?

<snip>Born in Saudi Arabia to a Yemeni family, Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia in 1979 to fight against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The Afghan jihad was backed with American dollars and had the blessing of the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

He received security training from the CIA itself, according to Middle Eastern analyst Hazhir Teimourian.

While in Afghanistan, he founded the Maktab al-Khidimat (MAK), which recruited fighters from around the world and imported equipment to aid the Afghan resistance against the Soviet army.

more

[H2O Man]

18. That article is dated

September 18, 2001. Cool that you read it in the 1980s! You were, shall we say, ahead of your time.

[Medium Baby Jesus]

11. Try this

http://msnbc.com/news/190144.asp?cp1=1

[H2O Man]

19. Dated 8-24-98

These are among those articles from the 1980s. Amazing.

[Old and In the Way]

20. Google "Tim Ossman"

lots of interesting things about OBL....

[H2O Man]

21. Thank you

I wasn't asking because I am interested in learning more about UbL. The poster made reference to his supporting him in the 1980s. I was asking what knowledge he had about UbL in the 1980s. I'm not asking people to google. I am asking only for the poster to tell what he knew in the 1980s.

[w13rd0]

28. Why not?

Reagan sure as hell did. Declared a Mujahadeen day and everything...

[H2O Man]

33. I'm not sure what you

are saying/asking?

[w13rd0]

45. Reagan supported the Mujahadeen...

...declared some damn day mujahadeen day or some such. Hell, I'm sure Ossama and Saddam are thinking that with friends like Bush I, Bush II, Reagan & Rumsfeld...

[H2O Man]

47. I think you missed my point ....

in fact, I'm sure you did.

[Minstrel Boy]

39. In the '80s I read a lot about Dostum and Hekmatyar,

but the name Osama bin Laden didn't make an impression on me until the '90s.

I never supported the Mujahideen, and knew well whose proxies they were. Though I didn't know until Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted it a few years ago that the US was sponsoring them before the Soviet incursion, in order to draw the Red Army into its Vietnam.

[ConsAreLiars]

49. Creating the Islamic fundies as a counterforce against the USSR

was the worst policy decision since Eisenhower's decision to subvert the Geneva accords in Vietnam for the same reason. I spend a few months in Afghanistan in 1970-71 and it was both mind-fuckingly alien and yet still was moving in its own way toward a better life for its people. It was thewn regarded by the superpowers as a "buffer state" and left alone.

The Brezinski strategy ( http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Afghanistan/Afghanistan_CIA_Taliban.html ) meant the slaughter of thousands and thousands of people who I had learned to see as family.

[spotbird]

6. No, never.

He was a nut when he was on our side also.

It would be those currently in power who have to account for treason.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. to defeat the Soviet occupation

a bad rap no matter who is doing it....

[KC21304]

8. I believe our support for them started during the Carter administration.

Wasn't it all Brezinski's idea ?

[NNN0LHI]

16. I don't think the Stingers came until after Reagan if my memory is correct?

The mid 80's or so. But other than that you are probably right.

Don

[KC21304]

22. Yes Reagan got us in whole hog, CIA etc

http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/terrorists/osama-bin-laden/


Young Osama graduated from a Jeddah university in 1979 with a degree in civil engineering. Naturally, this training inspired him to become a freelance warmonger. The chic venue at the time was Afghanistan, which the Soviet Union had invaded in 1978. With the support of the Saudi and U.S. governments, bin Laden took up the struggle of the mujahideen rebels who were working to repel the Soviets.

bin Laden used his personal fortune and connections to raise funds for the mujahideen, providing aid with logistics, supplies and "humanitarian" aid. He took part in fighting, by all accounts fearless and focused in working to fortify mujahideen positions. He also helped recruit Muslims for the battle from a headquarters in neighboring Pakistan.

As with so many of America's worst nightmares, bin Laden and his cronies received financial support and training from the CIA during this period. The CIA had come up with this fabulous notion that it could incite the entire Arab world into jihad against the godless Soviets. It looked great on paper! What could possibly go wrong?

President Ronald Reagan authorized the covert release of funds, high-end armaments and CIA "specialists" to assist the mujahideen in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan, an effort that ultimately succeeded in 1989.

[MercutioATC]

54. Yes, Carter started funding the mujhadeen through a Pakistani front.

[BamaLefty]

9. This Was NOT good

People copy outrageous posts like this on other sites to laugh at us. Thanks for contributing to the fools who do this.

:eyes:

[Calmypal]

14. No...

No reasonable person could possibly see this as a target. OBL and the gang were the enemy of our enemy.

[pleiku52cab]

17. They can take the very air you breath

and twist it out of context. We can't continually be worrying what the freepers do with our posts.

[Old and In the Way]

24. Why?

People can't change their thinking over time? Back then, we were supporting the freedom fighters. Now we're fighting them. Back then, Saddam was our friend and proxy in the ME, now he is an Evil Doer.

Republicans were in charge at both times. So one can conclude that they apply moral relativism in their international agenda. Their only constant being, there's money to be made in war.

[indigobusiness]

32. We should not be governed by others opinions,

misguided or not.

People should speak freely in a free country.

[Nordic]

12. and you would put a headline on DU that says this because ....

:shrug:

I just don't understand some people at DU.

[NNN0LHI]

13. Its our history. So I supported our presidents decisions at the time

Something wrong with that? Want to hide from it? I don't get it?

Don

[Ian David]

15. Have you seen Rambo 3?

John Rambo's former Vietnam superior, Colonel Samuel Trautman, has been assigned to lead a mission to help the Mujahedeen rebels who are fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but the Buddhist Rambo turns down Trautman's request that Rambo help out. When the mission goes belly up and Trautman is kidnapped and tortured by Russian Colonel Zaysen, Rambo launches a rescue effort and allies himself with the Mujahedeen rebels and gets their help in trying to rescue Trautman from Zaysen.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095956/plotsummary

[Quakerfriend]

23. I remember supporting Bin Laden back then too

I had just finished reading James Mitchner's book Caravans, set in the Hindu Kush Mts. And, I was so furious about the invasion of that beautiful country by the Soviets, and the rest of the worlds refusal to help. Amazingly enough, Mitchner predicted the invasion by the Soviets in the preface to the book (written in 1858).

I suppose I am getting old!

[0007]

29. I've read this masterpiece twice and I do indeed think your getting

old if you read 'Caravans' in 1858, LOL!! Could pass that one up! Sorry

[quaker bill]

25. No, I protested Raygun's arming of "freedom fighters" everywhere

In this case it was an American war by proxy with the Russians. I thought then and still think now that Raygun's cold war policy was stupid, dangerous, and immoral.

Intentionally working to destabilize a government that possessed 10,000 thermonuclear weapons was utter lunacy. We are very lucky to be alive today despite that jerk's idiotic moves. One can only hope that none of the loose nukes ended up in the hands of terrorists.

We may have gotten lucky, but it was not due to competent planning.

[knowbody0]

26. raygun

ha. going thru stuff last night, i came across the old poster

"missle head" rockets coming out of his wrinkles.

[Calmypal]

43. Alright, Mr. Secretary of State...

What would you suggest?

[SnohoDem]

30. I used to have a "Rock Against Russia"

"Arms for the Afghan Rebels" t-shirt in the 80s. There was a picture of a Kalashnikov below the text. It was one of my favorites. It was from a concert in Britain, I think.

Although I didn't support Reagan, I did support the struggle of the Afghanis against the Russians.

[indigobusiness]

31. The only thing I root for in war

is for it to end.

[212demop]

34. Never heard of him until 9/11- I'm 32 now so when Afghanistan

was in the news in the US (in a big way) I was a wee lass. But now I know more about him and his damn family than I care to. What a waste of brain space.

[Deja Q]

36. Ever try watching 'The Living Daylights'? Since 9/11, it's damn hard for

me to.

There are a lot of great villains, but it's a gigantic kiss-up movie for the Mujahedeen (who just happen to be the Taliban).

[agitprop]

37. well

to be honest : the video that was released : all points made were valid : however I suspect he is a CIA operative : which makes it irrelevant

[Nordic]

38. Now we're the Russians. Hated by all, doomed to failure

[shakerbaker]

48. Bushalini Facism n/t

[UpsideDownFlag]

40. in the eighties? I was still watching the transformers cartoons in the 80

's.

[Bouncy Ball]

41. I was old enough to know and understand it

but being a teenager, my attention was taken up with dating and football games.

Sorry!

[NNN0LHI]

42. How many remember that bin Laden was still on good enough terms...

...with the US and the west that he offered the services of his mujahideen to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991? The US turned Osama down on the offer but Afghan "soldiers" (Taliban? Mujahideen?) were part of the multi-national force that did eventually remove the Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Yep. All true.

Don

[onager]

46. I was in Saudi Arabia and distinctly remember bin Laden's offer.

I went to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in late 1989 to work, so I had a ringside seat for the invasion of Kuwait etc.

The Arab News and other English-language papers had front-page articles about an "indigenous Arab army" offering to drive Saddam out of Kuwait. Accompanying editorials said this was preferable to "infidels" (i.e., us) coming into Saudi.

They meant Osama bin Laden, who offered to bring his Mujhadeen out of Afghanistan and fight the Iraqis.

I also remember exactly when this line of propaganda stopped: the day SecDef Dick Cheney came to town with his satellite photos of the Iraqi armored divisions sitting on the Saudi border. (Photos we've since heard were faked. Big surprise there.)

I also have an "Afghan War Bond" still hanging on my wall. These were rugs that the Afghans knitted while they were sitting in Pakistani refugee camps.

Mine is brown with the phonetically-rendered word "Kalishnikov" across the bottom, under pictures of Russian helicopters, tanks and armored vehicles. Oh, and AK-47's, of course.

If I'd known then what I know now, I would have never bought the damn thing.

[Nordic]

55. story has it that's what REALLY pissed OBL off about Saudi Arabia

because the deal was made with the Saudis to have the Americans come in and fight, instead of OBL's fighters. Saudi Arabia chose US troops over OBL's.

Story sez that's what really turned him over to the dark side.

Of course I don't believe any "stories" anymore. Most of them are bullshit.

[Kenneth ken]

44. no, but

I can see his point about wanting non-Muslims to stop running/influencing Saudi Arabia, and other middle-east countries.

I've never been keen on empire/colonization - by anyone.

[gottaB]

50. No

I took some interest in his cause, but after the 1998 embassy bombings I regarded him as an enemy and a criminal.

[NNN0LHI]

51. Reagan wasn't president in 1998

The period of the Reagan/Bush1 administration is the time frame I am speaking of in this post.

Don

[gottaB]

52. I was just replying to the question in the title

At what point did you cease to support bin Laden, If you don't mind my asking?

[NNN0LHI]

53. When the Afghan/Soviet war ended in 1989

Never heard any more about him again until 1991 when he offered to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. I assumed he was still on the US payroll at that time.

Don