Been There. Done That.

Unless some compelling reason emerges in future years, this will be my last 9-11 anniversary post.

It’s been an educational twenty years, to say the least. The first three anniversaries came up before Dymphna and I started blogging in October of 2004. During those years we had begun our studies of Islam and sharia, eventually launching Gates of Vienna to make our own small contribution to what later became known as the Counterjihad. From 2005 onward, one or the other of us always did a commemorative post when September 11th rolled around.

I still remember what I was doing when I heard the news on that bright, cool September morning, and how the day subsequently unfolded, but I’m not going to write about all that — I’ve covered it too many times before. And I’ll stay away from the political sequelae, except to note that the way the Patriot Act was eventually abused was at least as bad as the most skeptical libertarians predicted, and probably worse.

Over the next decade I spent a lot of time educating myself about Islam and sharia. Beginning in 2009, retired Major Stephen Coughlin was especially helpful in furthering my education. He made me understand the depth and breadth of the penetration of the federal government and the military by the Muslim Brotherhood, to the point that we had written sharia into the constitutions that we devised for Iraq and Afghanistan.

At first it seemed that a combination of ignorance and cluelessness had led to such foolhardy behavior, but as time went by — especially after the Islamophiles in the Obama administration got going full throttle — I realized that there was more than mere ignorance at work. Yes, there were plenty of ill-informed and stupid people at the upper levels of the government and the military, but John Brennan — just to pick an example — was not one of them. There was no way that he could have failed to understand exactly what the Muslim Brotherhood was up to. Thus we can only conclude that Islamization is part of the Deep State’s plan for the deconstruction of Western Civilization.

As the teens wore on, my cynicism and disillusionment about our government got worse and worse. I had started out with the naïve idea that there were decent people among our political leaders who really were attempting to do their best for the country. However, the true state of affairs eventually became ineluctable: corruption and malevolence were (and are) the norm, from the lowest to the highest levels of government. There are a few very rare exceptions, but they play no meaningful role in steering the ship of state.

The five years since Donald Trump stormed onto the political scene have really clarified the extent of the evil rot that has eaten out the core of our political and cultural institutions. The investigation and impeachment of Mr. Trump revealed the true purpose of the Patriot Act. And last fall’s election showed that the Deep State now has full control over the counting of the votes, so that no future elections will show any results other than those they intend. Diehard Republicans who are salivating over the midterms or 2024 are the most clueless of all. If they haven’t yet realized the nature of our new totalitarian dystopia, they probably never will. There’s no voting our way out of this.

So here we are, twenty years later. Afghanistan has reverted to what it was in 2001, except with much better roads, airfields, telecommunications, and surveillance equipment. We just handed the country over to the mujahideen we overthrew back then, lavishing upon them such quantities of state-of-the-art munitions and equipment that they will be the most powerful jihad army ever assembled, courtesy of the United States of America.

Here at home we are entering the full Corona despotism that the paranoid cynics among us have been predicting ever since the start of the “pandemic”. Since I intend to remain unjabbed, by this time next year I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get medical treatment, or eat in a restaurant, or even shop in a supermarket. By September 11, 2022 I might be unable to post a 9-11 commemoration, even if I wanted to.

I remember the ubiquitous “Never Forget” banners that popped up all over the place after 9-11. I didn’t forget.

I remember the “Let’s roll!” spirit that emerged. I rolled as best I could.

I remember when George W. Bush promised to hunt down the evil perpetrators and bring them to justice. And he did manage to round up quite a few of them and stash them in Gitmo until they were released to become ministers in the new government of Afghanistan.

And I remember when President Bush announced “Mission Accomplished” from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Well, maybe it was accomplished; it just wasn’t the mission most of us thought it was.

If the mission was to flatten the country under mountains of debt, then we accomplished it.

If the mission was to start a series of “forever wars” intended to further enrich the military-industrial complex and send millions of Muslim “refugees” to take up a pampered residence throughout the West, then we accomplished it.

If the mission was to deconstruct American society and inject cultural Marxism into every level of the media, the educational system, and the political establishment, then we accomplished it.

If the mission was to make it impossible to criticize Islam in public, then we accomplished it. And while we were at it, for good measure we made it impossible to criticize brown people, women, sexual deviants, and any other group favored by our Marxist handlers.

So that’s the legacy of September 11th. Twenty years later, all I can say is: Been there, done that.

It’s become clear that the destruction of the United States has been accomplished through good old-fashioned corruption. Yes, there were a few evil power-hungry people sprinkled into the mix, but most of those who managed to bring down the country were clearly co-opted through their venality. If you don’t believe in God, and are lacking in morality, then you don’t turn down a chance to make the big bucks. Hunter Biden’s laptop gave us a little peek into the way people at the highest level of power do business. Now we know why the CCP owns the country.

To wrap up this dysphoric remembrance, I’d like to post the following poem by Edwin Muir. I know I’ve featured it several times in the past, but it’s still a timeless reminder of what causes mighty empires to collapse:

The Castle
by Edwin Muir

All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away.
They seemed no threat to us at all.

For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.

Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us, have us dead or quick.
Only a bird could have got in.

What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true…
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.

Oh then our maze of tunnelled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.

How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold;
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.

40 thoughts on “Been There. Done That.

  1. Baron – I had occasion, not long ago, to dip (once again !) into my copy of Maj. Stephen Coughlin’s magnificent book “Catastrophic Failure.”

    I first discovered that book here on G of V, bought a copy based on your endorsement, and discovered it to be invaluable.

    What I discovered for the first time, recently, was this, in Coughlin’s ‘Acknowledgments’ :

    ” By 2009 , the “Red Pill” briefings I had been giving for some time had gained a degree of notoriety. … … We got started soon thereafter, with CSP [Center for Security Policy] recording my briefings, transcribing them, and then embedding the proper source citations. That thankless job went to Ned May. … “

    Well, I for one want to thank you – profusely. That had to have been a massive amount of work ! I wonder how many of today’s G of V audience appreciate what an enormous contribution you and Dymphna made – and you are still making – to the counterjihad?

    I never cease to be amazed at the volume of material you continue to produce, day after day ! Now operating solo, without your ‘partner in crime’ assisting, Gates of Vienna continues to be first-rate. (I suspect Dymphna continues to provide inspiration, even if no longer at the keyboard herself. You do her memory great honor.)

    ( For those unfamiliar with Coughlin’s book, I believe his original briefings to gov’t agencies were also converted into a 10-part video series on YouTube, where it may still be available. )

    Coughlin, Phil Hainey (RIP), and Robert Spencer – all of whom were experts recognized (and hired) by government – have been de-platformed, censored and vilified (thanks to Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood). I put you right up there with them … but you (and Dymphna) showed great foresight and prudence in maintaining G of V as an independent platform.

    I’m inspired to maintain my financial support … if you were writing books, I would be buying them. The least I can do is to put some shekels in the quarterly tin-cup fundraiser. God bless …

    • Thank you. Yes, I did the first edit of Steve’s book, based on the transcripts. It went through numerous subsequent revisions, including several by Steve himself, before it was finally completed.

      I learned an awful lot from all that close editing — when you get that close to the material, it stays with you.

  2. Baron- thanks very much for this brilliant essay and I certainly hope that next September 11th we are both able to at least shop for necessities and write our political commentary.

    You really nailed it with your observations which certainly mirror my own, speaking as one of the unvaxxed and unbowed, and the Castle poem is eerily prescient.

    I live in the slave gulag of NY where today is another absolutely perfect September 11th, as it was 20 years ago on that fateful day. The weather is wonderful this time of the year here in the Northeast and fall is my particular favorite.

    But I digress. I am including a link to Mark Steyn’s article about today that in some way mirrors what you wrote. Certainly there is no cause for celebration, not under the circumstances under which we live today.

    I have been enjoying GoV for I don’t know how many years as one of my daily “must reads” and you are one of my favorite Freedom Fighters.

    As far as getting jab- whatever reservations and fears I might have had about the Fauci Flu that made me even consider getting it are now gone. The only way they will get me to take that shot will be to have several grown men hold me down and shoot me up.

    I am taking my supplements which no doubt will soon be illegal and trying hard to get Ivermectin and HCQ. I suggest to everyone who uses vitamins that you stock up while you can on Quercetin, Vitamin D, NAC, zinc, bromelain and all the other immune enhancers that have been shown to fight the CCP Corona. I believe most of them have a long shelf life.

    Good luck my friend, and thanks for the work you are doing for Western Civilization.

    https://www.steynonline.com/11682/the-years-we-wasted

  3. I wonder what the ‘physical’ size of G of V is, in computer terms of megabytes (gigabytes?!) The archive of all past Daily News Briefings, the Author archive, etc. ?

    The ‘footprint’ must be massive …

    • Shockingly, it’s probably not that big. My guess would be under 1 GB. That’s because it’s mostly text.

      A very valuable GB!

      Baron and Dymphna have done an AMAZING job, that much is very clear. This is one of the primary counterjihad resources worldwide.

  4. Notice how the past month or so has been nothing but bad news, dooooom, and also gloom? I wouldn’t put it past our quasi-govt to double down and go for more than broke. Never let a crisis go to waste, eh? There was a cable series on for a while, forget the name, but the protagonist always said, “Work the problem”, and that’s how he got out of some very sticky situations. Our enemies continue to work the problem. Maybe we need to be something besides reactionaries, and work the problem ourselves. Remember Gen. Washington wasn’t really successful in a strategic way until 1781. Each age is different. Each solution is unique.

    • gringo, Big Country has you pegged – fed. and the name he gives you – “Dog[excrement]” – is better than you deserve. FOADIAF, .gov toad

    • When the times comes, leftist like you will be singing a very different tune, mostly for mercy, and there will be none.

  5. God Bless you and the soul of Dymphna. While exciting chapters in our history are playing out right now, think about how many 1775 American colonists had ever heard of Geo Washington. God speed.

  6. @ Baron Bodissey

    Re: “Yes, there were plenty of ill-informed and stupid people at the upper levels of the government and the military, but John Brennan — just to pick an example — was not one of them. There was no way that he could have failed to understand exactly what the Muslim Brotherhood was up to. ”

    Indeed. John Brennan is a practicing Sunni Muslim, and has been since early in his career at the CIA when he was posted to Saudi Arabia, and was targeted in a special influence operation designed to “turn” him by converting him into a member of the umma. Not only does he know what are the Ikhwan – the Muslim Brotherhood – he is in all likelihood a member. De facto if not de jure, or in secret for the necessary deniability.

  7. Baron, all the great and wonderful work that you do is invaluable, there are hundreds of worker bee’s in government and regular volk that read all the data that you input that puts together some very interesting patterns, when taken as a whole, that paints a picture of what, who, where and why of the system of what we are all witnessing with horror, and everybody with two brain cells to rub together knows how this ends, but are immobilized by fear, inertia and consequences for taking a stand( who will be the first to stick his head above the parapet). Soon, there will be a leader to emerge from the chaff that is being thrown up who will sound the call to arms and he will be followed. So dear Baron, the valuable work you do is not in vain for people around the world appreciate and take it to heart.

  8. The only appropriate memorial for 9/11 would be a firing squad for every elected [epithet] that brought us the patriot act.

    We’ve been played

    • The playing started with the destruction of the WTC. The entire country was played for fools by those who really brought down the towers while tricking us into believing it was the work of a bunch of camel jockeys with box cutters, and thus kickstarted 20 years of war profiteering.

      • Pssst, Moon, the camel jockey’s did bring down the towers. What happened afterward was unscrupulous pols and people took complete advantage to the situation to where we are now.

  9. I have more confidence the biblical prophets will play a role in destroying the murderous jihad than I do in our western governments. These prophets certainly deserve this, since the qu’ran made an unjustified assault against them. The writer of the qu’ran attacked them by saying it is a crime to believe Jesus is the Son of God, after agreeing Mary became pregnant without sex. They also threw out the detailed accounts of the crucifixion and replaced it with a vague claim Jesus did not not die, it just appeared that way. A lot of people have been murdered due to the division created by this dubious testimony.

    It is obvious the biblical prophets were well prepared to overcome this assault. In Daniel 7, he states God will judge the world in lamb’s wool, an act of support for the idea Jesus is the Lamb of God. In Psalm 20, David claims someone will successfully petition God to intervene against murder. Other scripture was made to coordinate with the claim of David. Isaiah 18 describes the country where the petition takes place. Joel 2 states God will practice with deaths in the air on the ground, and prove how much more intelligent He is than people are when someone is being killed. Psalm 88 tells of someone who knows when God is fulfilling the word of Joel on God’s intimate and superior knowledge of death.

    This strategy by the biblical prophets to build a relationship with God to intervene against murder is the perfect response to the perverted assault by the qu’ran against the bible. This work of the prophets is an act of defense for themselves after having their identity assaulted. It is also an act of support for those murdered due to false testimony. It produces evidence it is worth it to support the bible. It is also great for Jesus because His prophets successfully combined His return with an overthrow of murder. The fact numerous prophets who never met before were used over thousands of years to build an intervention strategy against murder is strong evidence that God intends to overthrow the murderous acts of jihadists.

  10. Twenty Years ago I was the Active Duty Manager for a Texas Air National Guard Special Operations Weather Flight.
    – I had just gotten back to the office from our Ops Group weekly meeting. I heard on the radio that there had been an explosion at the World Trade Center. I remember the last explosion and wondered if it was another Terrorist bombing. I went down to storage and pulled out a small TV from one of the Team kits. I had it set up and tuned in just in time to see the second plane hit live on TV.
    I called the Boss at his job and said “We are at war”
    He had been watching as well and we started discussing plans for the next two weeks.
    I hung up that call and started the Recall Roster…
    I notified my unit members to tell their employers to prepare for their absence, and to pack their bags, triple check their gear, and prepare their families.
    I then called AFSOC and notified them that all unit members are accounted for and prepared for 72 hour deployment as required.
    My first team went out the door in December 2001, our unit had at least one person deployed in support of OEF and OIF from 2001 until I was medically retired in 2010.
    While I was in Kabul in 2003 the backstabbing POS that I voted for in 2000 changed the ROE to handcuff the Heroes who won the war, and installed Islam as the government of Afghanistan,
    AND started the purge of our military leadership to install the Pro-Islam brigade that runs it today.
    I was NOT surprised when bush voted for Hillary or when he voted for biden.
    We as a Nation have forgotten 911…
    The proof is that we have actual Terrorist sympathizers elected to congress,
    AND
    We have a Dictator that actually said for the record that he is losing patience with Law Abiding American Citizens,
    And we haven’t Tarred and Feathered him and Strung up those who are controlling him.

    We as a Nation HAVE FORGOTTEN 911

    Just Imagine a World WITHOUT Islam.

    Then and only then can we forget 911

  11. I’ve despised Bush ever since he uttered the words, “Islam is a religion of peace”. Right there, in our faces, a boldface lie. And the lies continue to this day.

    • @ Kathleen

      Re: “I’ve despised Bush ever since he uttered the words, “Islam is a religion of peace”. Right there, in our faces, a boldface lie. And the lies continue to this day.”

      Once I found out that the Bush political dynasty and the Saudis were “as thick as thieves,” as the saying goes, I felt the same thing. But my revulsion for them reached a new level when Barbara Bush, the former first lady, revealed her evident disdain for everyday Americans by attacking Sarah Palin. It’s not that I am a fan of the former Alaska governor, per se, it is simply that she’s never done a thing to hurt the Bushes, or anyone else for that matter – by my reckoning she is a thoroughly decent human being – and did not deserve such treatment.

      The Bushes are globalists/NWO types all the way. They regard themselves as “Americans” only insofar as it benefits them and their powerful friends. They’re not on “our side,”and never have been.

      And as much as I dislike giving the political left credit for anything, they were right about GWB. He was not the sharpest knife in the drawer…and Jeb is even worse. That “Islam is a religion of peace” nonsense says that he is either stupid, a liar, or both.

      The only way in which Islam means “peace” is for you become a Muslim and a member of the umma, the worldwide community of believers. And in any case, the more-correct meaning is that Islam means “submission.”

      And years after 9-11 the full extent to which Bush protected Saudi royals in this country, was laid bare for all to see.Including people who were “persons of interest” to the authorities.

      To this day, the full extent of Saudi involvement in the attacks themselves is not completely known to the public, since large portions of the 9-11 commission report are still redacted. But it is safe to say that their fingerprints are all over it.

  12. What if…the twin towers were losing money due to not being fully occupied, as in the case of the Empty, I mean Empire, State Building. What if… the Rockefellers figured that the buildings’ untimely destruction would stick it the insurance companies with paying the amount due on the mortgage prior to the lender’s foreclosure on the note for the property.
    Okay, so I am a semi-retired appraiser.

    • There was a truly gargantuan asbestos abatement cost that the new owner (incidentally an elite American jew) would be responsible for. And like you said, the occupancy rate was abysmal. So, like any fraudster, the new owner took out an insurance policy that covered loss due to terrorism and just happened to pay the full amount for each separate attack which the two aircraft strikes were ultimately ruled to be. For a 20 million initial investment, Larry Silverstein received billions in insurance payouts. Tell me there wasn’t a rock solid motive for scheming to have the WTC destroyed, and that the owner didn’t benefit quite handsomely from it.

      • So the whole thing was planned with MSM playing its scripted roles. If I recall correctly, the area (in general) where the Pentagon was hit was due for repair, (never mind that it was built out of unreinforced concrete).
        I am reasonably certain that sonny boy was told what to say by daddy-o as the Bush family was involved with the Al Saud family since WWII or possibly before. We know that the Saudis wouldn’t sell us their oil until we turned back a boatload of escaped Jews who were escorted to Vienna, and we know the rest of the story.
        So we got a good kick in our pride and then kicked while we were down with the Patriot Act. We have since, for the past twenty years, thumbed our ‘collective’ nose at the Lord which is why we are where we are at today.
        Yeah, I worked on the scenario this morning and found it frighteningly plausible.

      • So Netanyahu paid off Osama to get him to blow up the trade center for Larry Silverstein and insurance money?

        Make sense bro.

        • and all that had to be said to the conspirators was the owner of the twin towers was a Jew, and quite possibly had a suite which he lived in.

        • Osama had a minimal role if any in what happened on 9-11. He was a convenient scapegoat which allowed a way for the US to attack Afghanistan and hold strategic locations in the surrounding countries for the greater planned wars in the Middle East. If Netanyahu had anything to do with the planning behind the attacks it was likely that he was a realist and understood that taking down Iraq, Iran, and possibly the Saudis would only be a positive for his country. There was certainly enough motive to go around, not withstanding a greedy real estate investor who knew he had a white elephant on his hands sitting on top of prime Manhattan real estate.

          As to the destruction of the Towers, it is beyond dispute that they were hit by aircraft; the size of which incidentally they were designed to withstand. The videos of the aftermath and the collapse are pretty clear that something untoward was going on; spouts of molten steel flowing from windows prior to collapse, squibs detonating thirty floors or more below the collapsing building, and the indisputable videos of massive steel beams being hurled at a 45° angle from the building and landing hundreds of feet away. A gravity collapse of a structure doesn’t have the kind of energy to produce the observed effects. And this ignores the problematic collapse of WTC 7 which hadn’t been struck by an aircraft and had sustained minimal damage from the debris launched from the towers. I believed the propaganda as you did for years until other actions of my government which I personally witnessed forced me to get my head out of my fourth point of contact and seriously look at the irregularities and discrepancies between the official account and the actual evidence and physics. I suggest you do the same.

          • Yeah I know bro.

            The joos worked with osama to blow up the trade center so that Larry could get the insurance money.

            Makes sense bro. In fact, you convinced me.

            The planes were all fake and the WTC was blown up by the mossad dressed as Arabs.

            Very logical analysis.

      • So Netanyahu paid off osama to get him to blow up the trade center for Larry Silverstein and insurance money?

        Make sense bro.

  13. Reading “The Castle” by Muir, reminded me of the The Battle of Westport, American Civil War. The Confederates held a wonderful piece of high ground, bordered on the north and west by creek and marsh, the site of current day Loose Park. Of course, some well intentioned farmer had to give up a hidden goat path that led to the turning of the Confederate flank and precipitated a rout of Sterling Price’s Army.

  14. I remember I was living in Bozeman, Montana when 911 happened. I remember being totally in shock. I also believe the terrorists were aided by the Deep State but that doesn’t make the terrorists innocent.

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