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The CIA paid warlords like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who rose to fame by throwing acid in the faces of girls not wearing veils.
The Reagan plot worked. Muslim extremists from many nations streamed to Afghanistan to fight the infidels. The Soviets were driven out, and religious fanatics took control.
Afterward, many mujahideen (holy warriors) remained armed, and wealthy Osama bin Laden organized them into a concealed terror network called al-Qaida.
In 1998 he issued a "fatwa" (holy edict) which said in part: "We call on every Muslim who believes in God and hopes for reward to obey God's command to kill the Americans and plunder their possessions". Launch attacks against the armies of the American devils and against those who are allied with them among the helpers of Satan."
What idiocy, to be impelled by "God's command to kill the Americans." Only sickos think God wants them to murder people.
The blowback came home to roost when al-Qaida committed the 9/11 nightmare.
Every Sept. 11 should be a special day to reflect on the peril posed by crackpot extremists. England still celebrates Guy Fawkes Day to mark the thwarting of a 1605 Catholic plot to blow up Protestants in Parliament. America's tragedy was vastly worse.
(Adapted from The Charleston Gazette, Aug. 14, 2002 -- distributed by Knight-Ridder-Tribune syndicate - reprinted in 2019 book, Blasphemy for Thinking People.)
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