911 + 17=..........  

"You Tube has banned a number of Syrian state-run and pro-government channels.....The reason provided was that these accounts allegedly violate 'You Tube's  Terms of Service'"

                                                     "Southfront"-9/10/2018 

"Around four weeks ago, we knew that British intelligence was working toward a chemical attack in order to blame the Syrian government, to hold Syria responsible"

Virginia State Senator Richard Black (R-Loudoun) quoted by "Washington Post" 9/8/2018    

"We've tried to convey the message in recent days that if there's a third use of chemical weapons, the response will be much stronger"

                                    National Security Adviser John Bolton 9/10/2018

"When it comes once again the debt crisis will come back and hit cause actually national borrowing, corporate borrowing and individual borrowing is even bigger than it was in back in 2008 when we had those huge problems..."

                                       Nigel Farage-"The Nigel Farage Show  9/10/2018

Some 17 years after Al-Qaeda terrorists, 15 of them Saudi Arabian citizens, hijacked four aircraft and killed some 3-thousand people, Saudi backed Al-Qaeda forces are holed up in northern Syria.   There might be 10-thousand of them, even more, along with Islamic State in the thousands and thousands of other fighting opponents of the Assad regime in Syria,

As the Syrian government's military with Iranian units on the ground and Russian air support begin their push against these forces the United States, United Kingdom and France are crying foul.

Back in 2001, there was shock and fear and emotions in our midst,  There was an economic shock from 9-11.

Tough talk came from political leaders along with praise for the heroism of Americans including the "first responders".

Even then with all air traffic officially grounded thousands of Saudi citizens including relatives of the attack's mastermind, Osama Bin Laden, were being flown out of the United States.   Fears of attacks on Muslims were expressed.

Eventually President George W. Bush got around to telling us that "Islam is a religion of peace".

And the United States moved forward driving Bin Laden out of Afghanistan into Pakistan and moving against Al-Qaeda leaders and operatives but also moving into Iraq taking out its leader Saddam Hussein, who had threatened the Saudis and Gulf Arabs with his military moves,

Justifying action there, the "Weapons of Mass Destruction".

The WMD's proved elusive to find in the end but stories were put out saying they ended up in Syria.

The financial problems seemed to be surging up in the aftermath of 9-11.   The United States proved to be a financial bulwark as Europe and the UK bled themselves into debts through two world wars.

But eventually in the 1960's government spending and inflation surged as the double whammy of the Vietnam War and the Great Society was unleashed.

The debts kept growing in all directions from government to banking to business to individuals as the decades went on culminating in the 2008 crisis which plunged the world as a whole into the worst economic conditions since the 1930's.

There was a lot of masking of the problems for political purposes and increased debt all around.

Someone I knew was up to something.  They were globetrotting for money in Asia and also the Gulf region including Saudi Arabia.   Money was collected for a non profit institution and a major corporation.

There were also plenty of young terrorist minded men on the "Arab street".

They were "Al Qaeda" in spirit and ready to fight potentially against Israel, the USA or even the Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia.

In retrospect it looks like battlefields were selected for these men to fight on and various governments including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey got in with their dollars and weapons.

Wars broke out in Libya and Syria.   In Egypt the Turkish backed Muslim Brotherhood deposed President Mubarak but the Egyptian people and army eventually overcame them.

In Libya, US, UK and French military power was employed to help the jihadist rebels oust Muammar Qaddafi plunging Libya into chaos and sending waves of refugees into Europe..

Syria got plunged into a similar chaos with another tide of refugees flooding into Europe.

But eventually Syria got aid and support from Iran and Russia and was able to turn back the chaos created by the jihadist rebels who in some cases morphed into the even more brutal Islamic State.

There were allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria and then President Barack Obama hinted at military action but a deal was cut to remove chemical stocks from Syria and military action was averted.

But the allegations continued and there were incidents duly reported by a group called the "White Helmets", funded by foreign sources.  The "White Helmets" of southwestern Syria were evacuated through Israel when government forces took over the area this summer and ended up being resettled in Germany, the UK and Canada.

Once Donald Trump became President of the United States these incidents continued with a US military response twice to two alleged chemical attacks.  At one point Trump even tweeted "animal Assad" in describing the Syrian president.

One of the big supporters of the opposition to Assad was the late Senator John McCain, who even visited northern Syria having himself photographed with the jihadists.   Just a few months ago as the senator was ill, his protégé, Senator Lindsay Graham, paid a visit to northern Syria.

Its also been revealed in the last week that Israel has attacked Syria 200 times in the last year firing a total of 800 missiles.  Israel sees its actions as being against Iran.  Its also been revealed that Israel funded jihadist opposition groups in southwest Syria until the recent government victory there.

Israel's financial lifeline has always been the United States starting with private donations at its inception to US government aid in more recent years.  During Barack Obama's presidency a 40 billion dollar 10 year infusion of US support for Israel's defense industry was announced.

Toasting employees at Israel's Foreign Ministry last week for the new year, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said Iran's nuclear program had brought Israel closer to major Arab countries.

The main nation that Israel depends on is 20 trillion dollars in debt and the US has a relationship with another nation going further back than Israel.  President Franklin Roosevelt met the Saudi king on a warship flying back from Yalta in early 1945 and in May 2017 President Donald J. Trump visited Saudi Arabia after Israel doing the "sword dance' with its leaders and getting promises of Saudi investment in American infrastructure and purchases of US weapons.

Its something worth thinking about when we consider what really happened in the aftermath of the horrible events we remember 17 years ago today.