"In one of the tragic ironies of history, the enemy we know today as al-Qaeda was brought together largely by the actions of the United States. In December [25] 1979, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan, fearful that their puppet Communist government was falling, and that, should it fall, the United states would be able to step […]
Category: quotes
12/25/1979
“…in December [25] 1979, the Soviet Union toppled its own puppet regime in Afghanistan with a massive invasion of airborne special forces, paratroopers, tanks, and self-propelled artillery.” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 9 […]
12/25/1979
"After Russian tanks rolled into the Afghan capital of Kabul on Christmas Day 1979, the incoming Reagan administration strategized that a surrogate battle against the Soviets might hasten an end to the Cold War. The same president who turned tail in the face of Islamic terrorists in Beirut [Lebanon], now began arming their spiritual 'brothers,' […]
12/25/1979
” ‘When the invasion of Afghanistan started [on December 25, 1979], I was enraged and went there at once,’ he [Osama bin Laden] told British journalist Robert Fisk… ‘I arrived within days, before the end of 1979.’ ” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 9 […]
12/24/1979
“Today’s jihadist movement in the Sunni Muslim world has its roots in Afghanistan in the resistance to the massive Soviet invasion launched in December [24] 1979. Elements of the Soviet Fortieth Army marched in after the Soviet intelligence service, the KGB, had the country’s communist dictator assassinated for failing to deliver a stable Marxist government. […]
11/20/1979
“In 1979 Saudi Arabia experienced its first open rebellion by Wahhabis [hardline Islamists]. On 20 November [1979] several hundred zealots, headed by the radical imam Guhiman al-Utaibi, seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, accusing the Al Saud of decadence and corruption. It was eleven days before they could be dislodged. The Al Saud were obliged […]
11/15/1979
“On November 15, 1979, Iran canceled all of its contracts with U.S. oil companies, including Standard Oil of New Jersey (ExxonMobil), Standard of California (Chevron), and Gulf (BP).” – Antonia Juhasz, The Bush Agenda, Page 155 […]
11/6/1979
On November 6, 1979, “in Islamabad [Pakistan]‘s serene diplomatic quarter near the university, local Iranians draped their embassy with provocative banners denouncing the United States and calling for a global Islamic revolution against the superpowers.” – Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, Pages 26-27 […]
11/5/1979
“…on November 5, 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, sacked its offices, and captured hostages.” – Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, Page 26 […]
11/4/1979
“In November [4] 1979, Islamic extremists led a coup in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The Iranian revolution showed to bin Laden and his generation of Islamists that their dream of a Koranic theocracy was actually possible.” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 8 […]