Death Records Now

Wikipedia encyclopedia refers to human rights as “basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled.” This exists in the areas of civil and political rights and particularly describes the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law, social, cultural and economic rights includes the rights to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work and the right to education. This is expressly summed up by Article 1 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR as:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Although this article will not delve into the history of Human rights which covers thousands of years and mainly drawn from almost every department of life such as culture, politics, religion and economy etc, it will merely look into a certain period of military rule in Nigeria when Buhari/Idiagbon and the Late General Abacha were in power as the rulers of Nigeria. It will seek to some extent objectively compare and contrast these two regimes for the purpose of establishing human rights situation in Nigeria within the period under study.

However, it is very germane to add here that so many ancient documents which can be recognized as concepts of human rights have existed globally, but credit should be given the United Nations Organization for the shaping of International Human rights Law as we have it today.

Human rights is agreed to be violated when a state or non-state actor within the International Community breaches any part of the United Nations Human rights treaty. This is hard to hard as such state or non-state actor may constantly risk condemnation by vehemently denying the act, and consequently covering up these acts of abuses with several sets of further acts which may prove difficult to demonstrate, particularly in several parts of the African continent. 

General Mohammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon (now deceased) came to power on Saturday December 31, 1983 although the regime of this duo was too short to appraise but the regime reigned in what many people of Nigeria could at best describe as dictatorial, even the successor regime of this regime led by General Ibrahim Babangida described the regime thus:

“He was too rigid and uncompromising in his attitude to issues of national significance”.

No sooner did Buhari/Idiagbon ceased government than the infamous Decree Number Four (DN4) of 1984 was promulgated by the duo; Buhari/Idiagbon became famous for coming down heavily against the Nigerian press, making the report of truth a very serious offence in the country, not many will for get the terrible situation of Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor of the Guardian who were imprisoned for making a ca report on the Government.  The Buhari/Idiagbon regime would also executed Bernard Ogedengbe, Bartholomew Owoh and Lawal Ojulope for an offence committed by them as alleged by the regime after a national debate in spite of public pleas, the execution of these gentlemen were made possible by a retroactive decree courtesy of Buhari/Idiagbon regime.

Buhari and his Deputy would again promulgate another Decree called Decree Number two (DN2) of 1984 which made it possible for Tunde Idiagbon to detain anybody whether such person is a citizen of the country or foreigner, this decree stripped the court of law of the powers to depend the reason such person is being detained. In essence, the decree did not recognize the significance of the judiciary but was merely interested in achieving its aims of dictatorial tendencies. In what would later follow, the world became amused to hear the verdicts of 125 years imprisonments handed down to the regime suspects.

Buhari was also noted to have utilized excessive force in handling drug peddlers caught, as he issued death penalties to them in what political commentators believed should not have attracted death sentences, still death was the fate of several of these suspects in laws that resembled that of Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.

The tactics of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime became too harsh for the survival of the people, with arbitrary creation of decrees to lead the regime but promulgated to harshly lure the Nigerian public into playing into the waiting ready-made hand of the regime. Victims who became preys of these draconian decrees were mostly detained and made to remain inside prisons for as many years as Buhari and Idiagbon pleased.

There are those have argued in favour of this regime, in that according them the regime came up with the famous War Against Indiscipline which re-awakened Nigerians to the social norms of the society and helped to maintain societal order and respect for the Nigerian society as a whole. But this is outside the human rights records of the time.

The regime of General Sani Abacha who lived from 20 September 1943-8 June 1998 and the de facto military leader of Nigeria between 1993 and 1998) suffered stiff opposition internally and externally because Pro-democracy activists made the regime unpopular. His regime was accused of gross human rights abuses both home and abroad. The heights of his human rights abuses was the arrest and detention of Chief Moshhod Kolawole Olawale Abiola, the man who won the 1993 Presidential election in the country, Abiola would later die in detention in a circumstance yet unclear till this day though this was not in the days of Abacha but his mere detention caused a global uproar as the appeals of several notable people from around the world to the Military leader to free Abiola was not heeded by him.

But the peak of the gross abuse of human rights in the country was ushered by the arrest, detention and hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an activist by the regime in what was globally condemned.

Some the activities that characterized his regime as a tool for the gross violations of human rights in the country were the trial in absentia of Prof. Wole Soyinka, charged for treason, and the arrest and detention of Olusegun Obasanjo also jailed for treason. Abacha was also notable for banning political parties, in what people viewed as a means of likely transformation of himself to the life president of the country, and the personal control of the press. Several human rights activists who opposed his policies whether from the military or civil society were either detained without trial or jailed. Many other persons, chiefly members of the press were also jailed. Allegations of coups and counter coups reined in this regime too. The regime abruptly ended when General Sani Abacha reportedly died of heart attack in June 1998 at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.   

Having narrated the background of certain of the human rights violations of two military regimes Nigeria during the military era of the nation, this article will go further in comparing and contrasting the regimes in terms of human rights violations.

In the first place, both regimes were not democratically welcomed by Nigerians as power was ceased through fraudulent means, Buhari/Iidiagbon overthrew a democratically elected government of shehu Shagari , while Abacha ceased power from an interim government led Ernest Shonekan. It is also a known fact that Buhari, Idiagbon and Abacha all participated in the coup that overthrew the government of Shehu Shagari. Abacha and Babangida would further bring down the government of Buhari/Abacha.  

While the regime of Buhari/Idiagbon reigned for too short a period that any political analyst could valuably access, one can still point out that certain violations of human rights charter were committed that resembled the Abacha regime. One can not forget the incessant arrest and detentions of pressmen many of whom were jailed after trials too unconvincing to justify their offences. Buhari/Idiagbon shut down some media houses which was also a major feature of Abacha, in trying to personally control information and limit it to the whims and caprices of the regimes. Innocent pressmen who heard the names of Buhari/Idiagbon and Abacha fled for their dare lives and often abandoned their cameras and materials.

The two regimes also shared in the executions of persons globally thought innocent, especially after unconvincing trials, Buhari/Idiagbon executed Bernard Ogedengbe Bartholomew Owoh and Lawal Ojulope in yet a controversial circumstance, while Abacha executed Ken Saro Wiwa and his kinsmen, yet in another controversial circumstances. General sani Abacha operated with many of the draconian decrees set up by Buhari/Idiagbon administration, which both regimes used to try to gag the press and haul many innocent people into prisons.

Both regimes were tough on Nigerians, operating with draconian laws without recourse to the rule of law and legalities. This affected Nigerians negatively and brought sufferings to the people without correcting the anomalies both regimes claimed brought them to power. Again, it would seem that none of these two regimes announced a set date for the return of power to a democratically elected government.

 Both regimes continuously received harsh criticism from the civil populace, and in fact, however, while the overthrow of Buhari/Idiagbon was very surprising to the people, many Nigerians may have rejoiced over the exit of Abacha which they attributed to divine intervention, believing it to be welcome development.

Again, the attitude of Buhari in present time, has been described as a desperate one as he continues to express absolute ambition to once again lead the people of Nigeria, the extent he has pursued this to the Supreme Court level amidst the lack of interest attitude of his party has been used as indices to conclude that Buhari is power thirsty and may not have concluded his plans within himselve as the Head of State of the country to hand over power to any democratically elected government, a date he never mentioned until he was overthrown by Babangida. Abacha also never expressed any desire to hand over to civilians; in essence, both regimes had no plans for transiting to civil rule. Buhari/Idiagbon and Abacha were no democrats.

I have so far tried in some way to compare the regimes and shall now dwell on the area differences between the two regimes, Buhari/Idiagbon we may conclude was a not self-centered one, while that of Abacha was considered selfish with a lot of looting, accountability was not considered a responsibility to the people of Nigeria by Abacha while Buhari/Idiagbon felt they owe the nation regular accountability and transparency.

The major point of departure of these regimes was a more vocal international condemnation of Gen. Abacha which would further lead to the suspension of the country from Commonwealth in November 1995, when the regime hanged Ken Saro Wiwa and nine other persons believed to be enemies of the military regime in the country. This was with further condition “That if no demonstrable progress was made towards the fulfilment of these conditions (democratisation and respect for human rights/release of political prisoners) within a time frame (of two years), Nigeria would be expelled from the association.”

As we later observed Abacha bluffed this condition and the nation was made a pariah State, and in fact a leper-State not deemed fit for relations by other good nations of the world, Abiola would soon die in Jail still die in detention in a controversial State, it was partly as a result of this that the country failed to make it to a particular nations cup in South-Africa.

With the reported recovery of huge sums by the Obasanjo regime from Overseas which has implicated the deceased general and his family in a wholesale looting of Nigeria’s coffers and some $3 or $4 billion USD in foreign assets have been traced to Abacha, his family and their representatives, $2.1 billion of which the Nigerian government tentatively came to an agreement with the Abacha family to return, the Abacha is regarded as highly corrupt, another major departure from the Buhari/Idiagbon regime.

However, we conclude this article by stating that in spite of the differences highlighted here no military government is ever considered good by the people, and as they say, the worst civilian government is better than the best military government.

Emeka Esogbue

Surely with all the global warming and so called CO2 pollution that has been going on, the 1922 record from almost 90 years ago would be broken!

In 1922 the temperature reached 136° Fahrenheit (58° C) in Libya.
Death Valley in California holds the record for the highest temperature in the U.S. at 134° in 1913.
Pearl your logic is flawed as those deserts are still there today but colder now after decades of so called global warming.
The non city locations are the best indicators of temperature as there is not urban heat island effect as can be seen in many of the locations here which are cities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records#Highest_temperature_ever_recorded
Stormwolf… what a stupid name is an idiot as hot weather is quoted all the time to support global warming/climate change… just a pity that most of the really hot weather records were so long ago… fool!

You do point out some (Inconvenient Truths) which the ‘believers’ wish to either ignore or attack, since their ‘faith’ is under attack and the faithful must defend.

There were a few valid points mentioned by other respondents, and it IS true that taking one particular year as an indication of any long-term events could be considered as ‘cherry picking’.
This is however what the believers have been doing themselves for the last decade!
It is a situation of the ‘pot calling the kettle black’, which they (the faithful) could not understand.

We require the ‘heat island effect’ in order to ‘PROVE’ AGW.
We also need to remove all monitoring stations and/or data which may alter our belief!
We must continue to ‘Fight to the Death’ against capitalism, and promote ‘Socialism’ until we are back in the ‘STONE AGE’!

The real science is nothing to pay any attention to.
History and science mean nothing unless your computer model agrees!

We are now living in a very sad time.
Greed, arrogance, corruption,ignorance abound in today’s society!
Is it any wonder that we are in such a mess?

1993 WTC 2001

Within a decade, the World Trade Center has been attacked twice. However, where the terrorists failed in 1993, they would succeed in 2001. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the events on those two tragic days, discuss the individuals involved, and to comprehend why the 1993 attacks were not the wake up call to prepare for the 2001 attacks. Perhaps even more disturbing than the 1993 attacks, not waking up the American public to terrorism, is why the other attacks on the U.S, between 1993 and 2001, were not wake up calls themselves. This article will attempt to explore these issues in depth.
On February 26, 1993, terrorists declared war on the United States, alas, we would not realize it for another eight years. On that terrible day Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the attack, had one of his accomplices, Mohammed Salameh, drive a truck filled with 1500 pounds of explosives into the parking garage of the World Trade Center. “The bomb was made of urea pellets, nitroglycerin, sulfuric acid, aluminum azide, magnesium azide, and bottled hydrogen,”(Wikipedia). The total cost of the bomb was estimated at only $300. The plan was to rupture the foundation of Tower 1 so that it would fall over and collapse into Tower 2, effectively destroying both Towers. Luckily, the plan failed and the Towers remained intact. Unfortunately, six people were killed and over 1000 were wounded.
The evidence left behind at the World Trade Center led investigators to Mohammed Salameh, a Palestinian, who rented the truck in his own name. His arrest led investigators to the arrests of his accomplices shortly after the bombing. The perpetrators were a mix of Arabs from different countries but according to government reports, they were all under the control of Omar Abd al-Raham, a radical Egyptian cleric. The arrest of Salameh eventually led investigators to Yousef’s apartment where they would find materials to make bombs and documents with names of people within his faction. It was during this investigation that authorities would first hear the name, Osama Bin Laden. After all the arrests were complete and the sentences handed down, all of the conspirators, including Omar Abdel-Raham, were sentenced to life in prison.
However, before the arrests were made, there was much speculation into who was responsible for the attacks. “One FBI investigator recalls that he initially suspected Serbian involvement, and later the prevailing opinion was that Libyans were behind the attack. Others thought that perhaps the Iraqis were seeking revenge for Operation Desert Storm. This theory gained support when it was discovered that Ramzi Yousef traveled to the United States with a valid Iraqi passport,”(White, Jonathan). Eventually intelligence came in that disproved these theories and the true perpetrators were apprehended. The confusion that befuddled the team of investigators and our government was caused by the simple fact that these were a new breed of terrorists. They did not operate under a flag or have a specific nation for which they fought. Their unity came from a shared hatred of the United States of America.
Perhaps one of the most puzzling questions of this tragedy is why were these attacks not the wake up call for America to prevent the September 11, 2001, attacks? With the exception of poor intelligence by our government, three possible reasons come to mind. The first is that there was minimal damage done to the building, unlike the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995. From the outside, not much damage to the World Trade Center could be seen. Another reason, there was relatively limited loss of life. Do not get me wrong, six dead is six too many, but in comparison to other tragedies, the death toll was relatively low. The final reason many people did not see the 1993 attacks as a wake up call is because the nation was too preoccupied with another newspaper headline. Incase you do not remember, the O.J Simpson trial was going on around the same time. With many Americans enamored with O.J, they simply did not notice the serious implications of the attack. This would prove to be one of the greatest blunders in American history.

OTHER ATTACKS ON THE U.S

Terrorism is nothing new in much of the rest of the world, but for Americans it is a relatively new concept. Just three years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States was hit again. Only this time it would not be on our own shores. The attack that I am referring to is the Khobar Towers bombing. The Khobar Towers were being used to hold military personnel of the United States Air Force in Saudi Arabia. It is believed that the attack came from a terrorist group that was hell bent on removing the United States from the region. The attack claimed the lives of 19 Americans and left close to 400 people wounded. The investigation led to the arrest of 13 Saudis and 1 Lebanese man, yet America had still not woken up. Why? The most obvious reason for our ambivalence to the situation was the sole fact that it happened in another country far from our homeland. It is like the old adage, “out of sight, out of mind.” And the sad truth is, it really was out of mind for most of the Aamerican public.
Then, just two years later the U.S was struck by terrorists again. As with the Khobar Towers bombing, the attacks took place in a distant land. This time it was Africa and entailed simultaneous attacks on three U.S embassies. The operation, led by Al Qaeda operatives, claimed the lives of 220 people and left nearly 4,000 injured. These attacks focused international attention on Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. It was also at this point that Osama Bin Laden began to foster his Allah-like status among Islamic radicals. To put it quite simply, Bin Laden became a hero. The United State’s response was swift and led to Cruise Missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan. Policies were also drafted by the Clinton Administration to make it illegal to do business with Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda warriors. This was an attempt to put a strangle hold on their financial support. It was around this point that Americans began to open their eyes to this grave new danger but we were still not ready to understand fully, the seriousness of the situation that confronted us.
The final attack on the United States, before 9/11, was the attack on the USS Cole, in 2000. The destroyer was docked at a Yemeni port in Aden when a boat filled with explosives trolled up beside it and detonated a bomb, tearing a gaping hole in the side of the ship. The attack claimed the lives of 17 Americans and injured 39 others. The attack was planned by Osama Bin Laden and was carried out by Al Qaeda suicide bombers, Ibrahim al-Thawr and Abdullah al-Misawa. This would be the first terrorist attack on a U.S. Navy vessel in the history of the United States. However, the ship did not sink and was carried back to the United States for repairs.
The attack on the USS Cole was, to say the least, very different from the previous attacks on the United States. The attack was considered an act of terrorism but under law, an attack on a military target could not be deemed a terrorist attack. According to the Annual Country Report on Terrorism, “the term terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetuated against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents.” Now, it is true that a group of sub national agents committed the attacks but their target was a combatant target and therefore it could not be viewed as a terrorist attack. It is because of this slight technicality that the American public still had not been awakened to the terrorist threat and also, because the attack happened in a distant place like the first two and received minimal news coverage, considering the severity of the event. However, it would not be long before America would wake up to a nightmare that finally brought the fear of terrorism into our reality.

A DAY OF INFAMY

On September 11, 2001, terrorists viciously attacked the United States of America. Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives, under the command of Osama Bin Laden, hijacked four commercial airliners with the intent of ramming them into buildings that were symbolic of American primacy. The World Trade Center, symbolic of America’s economic wealth, and the Pentagon, symbolic of American military power, made prime targets. According to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the fourth plane was intended to hit the Capitol Building or the White House, both symbolic institutions of American control. Fortunately, the plane never reached its target but, regrettably, all on board the plane were killed. The attacks on America claimed the lives of 2,986 people and left thousands injured.
Armed with nothing more than box cutters, the hijackers took control of American Airlines Fight 11. The plane departed from Logan International Airport at around 8:00am on a transcontinental flight for Los Angeles. Within approximately 15 minutes, the terrorists took the plane. According to voice transcripts from the plane, the hijackers killed three of the passengers at the begging of the assault, claimed to have a bomb, and sprayed pepper-spray into the first-class cabin. Presumably, this was done to prevent the passengers from fighting back and possibly retaking the plane. At approximately 8:45am; the plane, carrying 92 passengers and crew, slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds more in the tower instantly.
United Airlines Flight 175 also departed from Logan International. It was supposed to take off at the same time as Flight 11 but due to delays at the airport was held up. According to voice transcripts from the plane, the hijackers had box cutters and sprayed pepper spray into the front cabin as they did on AAF 11. “At approximately 9:03, Flight 175 flew into the south side of the southern tower of the World Trade Center, between floors 78 and 84. The plane was carrying 56 passengers (including the 5 hijackers) and 9 crew members”(Wikipedia). All people on board were killed including hundreds more in the building.
The two planes that hit the World Trade Center were bound for Los Angeles. Since they were making a transcontinental flight, they had both been filled to the brim with jet fuel. When the planes hit the buildings they both knocked off the fire proofing that covered the steel structures and disabled the fire sprinklers, rendering the building helpless to extinguish the fire. Experts believe that the heat created from the burning jet fuel was hot enough to weaken the support trusses of the building. After some time the floors began to sag and eventually came crashing down. The falling floors created a domino effect that brought the buildings to the ground. The South Tower was the first to go, followed by its twin. However, the buildings were able to stand for some time after the impact and did not fall for almost an hour. The collapse of the building left most of lower Manhattan covered in smoke for days. In all, seven buildings in Manhattan had been destroyed and another 25 seriously damaged.
American Airlines flight 77 departed from Dulles International Airport in Fairfax County Virginia at approximately 8:20a.m. It is believed that the flight was taken over at about 8:55a.m. because the transponder was turned off and the plane began to turn around at that point. Voice transcripts from the plane described four men with box cutters or knives forcing all the passengers and the pilots to the back of the plane. “Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C. at 9:37 AM EDT, killing all of its 58 passengers (including the hijackers) and 6 crew members” (Wikipedia). The Pentagon sustained some serious damage but because of its design, most of the building survived the attack. Flight 77 marked the third attack of the day but would not be the last.
United Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport at approximately 8:45a.m. Had there been no delays, the plane would have taken off at 8:00a.m like the other planes were scheduled to do. Unlike the other three planes, Flight 93 never reached its target and instead crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The plane was carrying 37 passengers and 7 crew members. All on board were killed instantly. It is widely accepted that the intended target was either the White House or the Capital Building in Washington, DC. According to voice transcripts and phone calls taken from the plane, the passengers knew of their impending doom and made an effort to retake control of the plane. In all, 10 phone calls were made and from the statements that were recorded, we have been able to construct the possible scenario that unfolded on the plane. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, some, if not all the passengers on board were aware that terrorist had been flying planes into buildings up and down the east coast. Calls taken from the plane suggest that the passengers tried to take back control of the plane and in doing so scared the terrorists into crashing the plane. That crash would mark the final attack of the day.
After nearly eight years and half a dozen attacks on the United States, we finally got the message. The attacks made the country fully aware that we were no longer living in a safe world and that not even the United States was safe from terrorism. The attacks brought about a huge international response. Governments from all over the world condemned the attacks and vowed support for the United States. A French newspaper, Le Monde, ran the headline, “We are all Americans,” in support of our tragedy, and many other countries came to our aid. Coincidentally, George Bush’s approval rating at the time was around 86%. Most Arab countries around the world also condemned the attacks while a small majority viewed the attacks as America’s comeuppance.
The final question that needs to be answered is why we were attacked and what was the specific motivation. There is much speculation as to why the attacks descended upon our cities. The Bush Administration claimed that the attacks by Al Qaeda were spurred by their intense hatred of freedom and democracy, while other government sources said that the attacks were an attempt to unify the Muslim world and pave the way for a world under Islamic control. However, there are less radical explanations of the motivations behind the attacks. “The motivation for this campaign was set out in a 1998 fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa’i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman”(Wikipedia). According to the fatwa, the attacks were carried out because of U.S. support of Israel, U.S. occupation of Arab lands, and previous U.S. aggression towards the Iraqi people. The fatwa goes on to state that the United States “plunders the resources of the Arabian Peninsula, dictates policy to the rulers of those countries, supports abusive regimes and monarchies in the Middle East, thereby oppressing their people, has military bases and installations upon the Arabian Peninsula, which violates the Muslim holy land, in order to threaten neighboring Muslim countries, intends thereby to create disunion between Muslim states, thus weakening them as a political force, and supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine” (Wikipedia). According to Osama Bin Laden and his followers, attacks upon the United States will continue until these grievances have been rectified.

AMERICA RESPONDS

Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, steps were taken to ensure our safety. Increased boarder control and airline security were the first steps taken to decrease the likelihood of another attack. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, beefing up agencies already in place, and the Patriot Act were among other measures taken by the Bush Administration. The attacks also brought about what is being called the “War on Terrorism.” This war has included an increase in satellite surveillance, increased information sharing between countries, sanctions on known terrorist states, and the 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan followed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. All of which have created much controversy throughout the entire world including the United States. Some attest that the U.S. decision to invade Iraq has effectively squandered the international good will toward our country and has in essence made us more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who say we are safer because the invasions have the terrorists on the run, making it difficult for them to plan and carry out attacks. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong but one thing remains certain: Americas days of ignoring terrorism are over and we can no longer stand idle while the looming threat of terrorism is upon us.
Wazzo_2005 …you loose all credability by referencing 9/11 loose change….that entire film,,,though well done, is the biggest sting of lies and ill truths I have ever seen…Therefore, if you believe what you saw in that movie, you too are a lier.

It’s in the past, get over it. You only have to blame your pathetic government for it. Bush read about goats to kids while it was going on.

I have 6 questions and I hope you can please help me!

-I know why she had the stage name "billie" but why did she choose "Holiday"?

-Did she live anywhere else but where she was born and where she died? (new york)

-How many records did she make?
-What was the cause of her death?
-did she ever marry or have kids?

please help! I can’t find this info anywhere.

I do believe there’s info on wikipedia and google on her.

Last name came from Clarence Holiday, her probable father.

She also lived in Baltimore.

She died from from cirrhosis of the liver.
She did not have kids.
She did get married.

1993 WTC 2001

Within a decade, the World Trade Center has been attacked twice. However, where the terrorists failed in 1993, they would succeed in 2001. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the events on those two tragic days, discuss the individuals involved, and to comprehend why the 1993 attacks were not the wake up call to prepare for the 2001 attacks. Perhaps even more disturbing than the 1993 attacks, not waking up the American public to terrorism, is why the other attacks on the U.S, between 1993 and 2001, were not wake up calls themselves. This article will attempt to explore these issues in depth.
On February 26, 1993, terrorists declared war on the United States, alas, we would not realize it for another eight years. On that terrible day Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the attack, had one of his accomplices, Mohammed Salameh, drive a truck filled with 1500 pounds of explosives into the parking garage of the World Trade Center. “The bomb was made of urea pellets, nitroglycerin, sulfuric acid, aluminum azide, magnesium azide, and bottled hydrogen,”(Wikipedia). The total cost of the bomb was estimated at only $300. The plan was to rupture the foundation of Tower 1 so that it would fall over and collapse into Tower 2, effectively destroying both Towers. Luckily, the plan failed and the Towers remained intact. Unfortunately, six people were killed and over 1000 were wounded.
The evidence left behind at the World Trade Center led investigators to Mohammed Salameh, a Palestinian, who rented the truck in his own name. His arrest led investigators to the arrests of his accomplices shortly after the bombing. The perpetrators were a mix of Arabs from different countries but according to government reports, they were all under the control of Omar Abd al-Raham, a radical Egyptian cleric. The arrest of Salameh eventually led investigators to Yousef’s apartment where they would find materials to make bombs and documents with names of people within his faction. It was during this investigation that authorities would first hear the name, Osama Bin Laden. After all the arrests were complete and the sentences handed down, all of the conspirators, including Omar Abdel-Raham, were sentenced to life in prison.
However, before the arrests were made, there was much speculation into who was responsible for the attacks. “One FBI investigator recalls that he initially suspected Serbian involvement, and later the prevailing opinion was that Libyans were behind the attack. Others thought that perhaps the Iraqis were seeking revenge for Operation Desert Storm. This theory gained support when it was discovered that Ramzi Yousef traveled to the United States with a valid Iraqi passport,”(White, Jonathan). Eventually intelligence came in that disproved these theories and the true perpetrators were apprehended. The confusion that befuddled the team of investigators and our government was caused by the simple fact that these were a new breed of terrorists. They did not operate under a flag or have a specific nation for which they fought. Their unity came from a shared hatred of the United States of America.
Perhaps one of the most puzzling questions of this tragedy is why were these attacks not the wake up call for America to prevent the September 11, 2001, attacks? With the exception of poor intelligence by our government, three possible reasons come to mind. The first is that there was minimal damage done to the building, unlike the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995. From the outside, not much damage to the World Trade Center could be seen. Another reason, there was relatively limited loss of life. Do not get me wrong, six dead is six too many, but in comparison to other tragedies, the death toll was relatively low. The final reason many people did not see the 1993 attacks as a wake up call is because the nation was too preoccupied with another newspaper headline. Incase you do not remember, the O.J Simpson trial was going on around the same time. With many Americans enamored with O.J, they simply did not notice the serious implications of the attack. This would prove to be one of the greatest blunders in American history.

OTHER ATTACKS ON THE U.S

Terrorism is nothing new in much of the rest of the world, but for Americans it is a relatively new concept. Just three years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States was hit again. Only this time it would not be on our own shores. The attack that I am referring to is the Khobar Towers bombing. The Khobar Towers were being used to hold military personnel of the United States Air Force in Saudi Arabia. It is believed that the attack came from a terrorist group that was hell bent on removing the United States from the region. The attack claimed the lives of 19 Americans and left close to 400 people wounded. The investigation led to the arrest of 13 Saudis and 1 Lebanese man, yet America had still not woken up. Why? The most obvious reason for our ambivalence to the situation was the sole fact that it happened in another country far from our homeland. It is like the old adage, “out of sight, out of mind.” And the sad truth is, it really was out of mind for most of the Aamerican public.
Then, just two years later the U.S was struck by terrorists again. As with the Khobar Towers bombing, the attacks took place in a distant land. This time it was Africa and entailed simultaneous attacks on three U.S embassies. The operation, led by Al Qaeda operatives, claimed the lives of 220 people and left nearly 4,000 injured. These attacks focused international attention on Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. It was also at this point that Osama Bin Laden began to foster his Allah-like status among Islamic radicals. To put it quite simply, Bin Laden became a hero. The United State’s response was swift and led to Cruise Missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan. Policies were also drafted by the Clinton Administration to make it illegal to do business with Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda warriors. This was an attempt to put a strangle hold on their financial support. It was around this point that Americans began to open their eyes to this grave new danger but we were still not ready to understand fully, the seriousness of the situation that confronted us.
The final attack on the United States, before 9/11, was the attack on the USS Cole, in 2000. The destroyer was docked at a Yemeni port in Aden when a boat filled with explosives trolled up beside it and detonated a bomb, tearing a gaping hole in the side of the ship. The attack claimed the lives of 17 Americans and injured 39 others. The attack was planned by Osama Bin Laden and was carried out by Al Qaeda suicide bombers, Ibrahim al-Thawr and Abdullah al-Misawa. This would be the first terrorist attack on a U.S. Navy vessel in the history of the United States. However, the ship did not sink and was carried back to the United States for repairs.
The attack on the USS Cole was, to say the least, very different from the previous attacks on the United States. The attack was considered an act of terrorism but under law, an attack on a military target could not be deemed a terrorist attack. According to the Annual Country Report on Terrorism, “the term terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetuated against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents.” Now, it is true that a group of sub national agents committed the attacks but their target was a combatant target and therefore it could not be viewed as a terrorist attack. It is because of this slight technicality that the American public still had not been awakened to the terrorist threat and also, because the attack happened in a distant place like the first two and received minimal news coverage, considering the severity of the event. However, it would not be long before America would wake up to a nightmare that finally brought the fear of terrorism into our reality.

A DAY OF INFAMY

On September 11, 2001, terrorists viciously attacked the United States of America. Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives, under the command of Osama Bin Laden, hijacked four commercial airliners with the intent of ramming them into buildings that were symbolic of American primacy. The World Trade Center, symbolic of America’s economic wealth, and the Pentagon, symbolic of American military power, made prime targets. According to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the fourth plane was intended to hit the Capitol Building or the White House, both symbolic institutions of American control. Fortunately, the plane never reached its target but, regrettably, all on board the plane were killed. The attacks on America claimed the lives of 2,986 people and left thousands injured.
Armed with nothing more than box cutters, the hijackers took control of American Airlines Fight 11. The plane departed from Logan International Airport at around 8:00am on a transcontinental flight for Los Angeles. Within approximately 15 minutes, the terrorists took the plane. According to voice transcripts from the plane, the hijackers killed three of the passengers at the begging of the assault, claimed to have a bomb, and sprayed pepper-spray into the first-class cabin. Presumably, this was done to prevent the passengers from fighting back and possibly retaking the plane. At approximately 8:45am; the plane, carrying 92 passengers and crew, slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds more in the tower instantly.
United Airlines Flight 175 also departed from Logan International. It was supposed to take off at the same time as Flight 11 but due to delays at the airport was held up. According to voice transcripts from the plane, the hijackers had box cutters and sprayed pepper spray into the front cabin as they did on AAF 11. “At approximately 9:03, Flight 175 flew into the south side of the southern tower of the World Trade Center, between floors 78 and 84. The plane was carrying 56 passengers (including the 5 hijackers) and 9 crew members”(Wikipedia). All people on board were killed including hundreds more in the building.
The two planes that hit the World Trade Center were bound for Los Angeles. Since they were making a transcontinental flight, they had both been filled to the brim with jet fuel. When the planes hit the buildings they both knocked off the fire proofing that covered the steel structures and disabled the fire sprinklers, rendering the building helpless to extinguish the fire. Experts believe that the heat created from the burning jet fuel was hot enough to weaken the support trusses of the building. After some time the floors began to sag and eventually came crashing down. The falling floors created a domino effect that brought the buildings to the ground. The South Tower was the first to go, followed by its twin. However, the buildings were able to stand for some time after the impact and did not fall for almost an hour. The collapse of the building left most of lower Manhattan covered in smoke for days. In all, seven buildings in Manhattan had been destroyed and another 25 seriously damaged.
American Airlines flight 77 departed from Dulles International Airport in Fairfax County Virginia at approximately 8:20a.m. It is believed that the flight was taken over at about 8:55a.m. because the transponder was turned off and the plane began to turn around at that point. Voice transcripts from the plane described four men with box cutters or knives forcing all the passengers and the pilots to the back of the plane. “Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C. at 9:37 AM EDT, killing all of its 58 passengers (including the hijackers) and 6 crew members” (Wikipedia). The Pentagon sustained some serious damage but because of its design, most of the building survived the attack. Flight 77 marked the third attack of the day but would not be the last.
United Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport at approximately 8:45a.m. Had there been no delays, the plane would have taken off at 8:00a.m like the other planes were scheduled to do. Unlike the other three planes, Flight 93 never reached its target and instead crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The plane was carrying 37 passengers and 7 crew members. All on board were killed instantly. It is widely accepted that the intended target was either the White House or the Capital Building in Washington, DC. According to voice transcripts and phone calls taken from the plane, the passengers knew of their impending doom and made an effort to retake control of the plane. In all, 10 phone calls were made and from the statements that were recorded, we have been able to construct the possible scenario that unfolded on the plane. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, some, if not all the passengers on board were aware that terrorist had been flying planes into buildings up and down the east coast. Calls taken from the plane suggest that the passengers tried to take back control of the plane and in doing so scared the terrorists into crashing the plane. That crash would mark the final attack of the day.
After nearly eight years and half a dozen attacks on the United States, we finally got the message. The attacks made the country fully aware that we were no longer living in a safe world and that not even the United States was safe from terrorism. The attacks brought about a huge international response. Governments from all over the world condemned the attacks and vowed support for the United States. A French newspaper, Le Monde, ran the headline, “We are all Americans,” in support of our tragedy, and many other countries came to our aid. Coincidentally, George Bush’s approval rating at the time was around 86%. Most Arab countries around the world also condemned the attacks while a small majority viewed the attacks as America’s comeuppance.
The final question that needs to be answered is why we were attacked and what was the specific motivation. There is much speculation as to why the attacks descended upon our cities. The Bush Administration claimed that the attacks by Al Qaeda were spurred by their intense hatred of freedom and democracy, while other government sources said that the attacks were an attempt to unify the Muslim world and pave the way for a world under Islamic control. However, there are less radical explanations of the motivations behind the attacks. “The motivation for this campaign was set out in a 1998 fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa’i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman”(Wikipedia). According to the fatwa, the attacks were carried out because of U.S. support of Israel, U.S. occupation of Arab lands, and previous U.S. aggression towards the Iraqi people. The fatwa goes on to state that the United States “plunders the resources of the Arabian Peninsula, dictates policy to the rulers of those countries, supports abusive regimes and monarchies in the Middle East, thereby oppressing their people, has military bases and installations upon the Arabian Peninsula, which violates the Muslim holy land, in order to threaten neighboring Muslim countries, intends thereby to create disunion between Muslim states, thus weakening them as a political force, and supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine” (Wikipedia). According to Osama Bin Laden and his followers, attacks upon the United States will continue until these grievances have been rectified.

AMERICA RESPONDS

Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, steps were taken to ensure our safety. Increased boarder control and airline security were the first steps taken to decrease the likelihood of another attack. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, beefing up agencies already in place, and the Patriot Act were among other measures taken by the Bush Administration. The attacks also brought about what is being called the “War on Terrorism.” This war has included an increase in satellite surveillance, increased information sharing between countries, sanctions on known terrorist states, and the 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan followed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. All of which have created much controversy throughout the entire world including the United States. Some attest that the U.S. decision to invade Iraq has effectively squandered the international good will toward our country and has in essence made us more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who say we are safer because the invasions have the terrorists on the run, making it difficult for them to plan and carry out attacks. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong but one thing remains certain: Americas days of ignoring terrorism are over and we can no longer stand idle while the looming threat of terrorism is upon us.
For the record, I wrote this paper on my own. It was an essay I wrote for Terrorism 442 in college…

you dont honastly expect people to read all that? but my answer to the first question is that terrorism is no more a problem today than it was in the clinton or first bush presidencys.

that fact is that bush screwed up and let the US get attacked and now he is just trying to scare us to stay in power and justify more wars.

clinton stoped about 8 large scale terror attacks in his administration bush only one out of 2.

please dont belive the fear mongoring, it just leads to hate and facism.

The reason I asked this question in the first place was because I watched the movie Emma Smith last week with Shay. The movie only lightly touched on the subject of polygamy which I thought was vary odd because it was the reason she left the church(1). So I did some research on wikipedia and read that she(2) and Joseph(3) never admitted publicly of being polygamists. Also that the RLDS witch was started by Emma and her son Joseph Smith III was based on the book of Mormon minus plural marriage. I’m not going to start copy and pasting a bunch of anti-Mormon junk that will only fall on deaf ears, but I am very troubled by how this commandment by god in the D&C specifically refers to Emma, and that she will be destroyed if she doesn’t comply(4). So how did it go down? Emma catches Joseph cheating(5) so he tells her that if she has a problem with it that god will kill her? The modern day Mormon church has a lot of good things going for it. I don’t think that being baptized or being on the records of any church has any power physically or spiritually over me. Should I have a problem with being counted as a member of an organization based on the teachings of someone who i believe to be a LIAR?

(1) Emma Smith was a tireless public campaigner against polygamy and stated: "We raise our voices and hands against John C. Bennett’s (acted as second in command to Joseph Smith, Jr. for a brief period in the early 1840s) ‘spiritual wife system’, as a scheme of profligates to seduce women; and they that harp upon it, wish to make it popular for the convenience of their own cupidity; wherefore, while the marriage bed, undefiled is honorable, let polygamy, bigamy, fornication, adultery, and prostitution, be frowned out of the hearts of honest men to drop in the gulf of fallen nature". The document The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo, signed by Emma Smith as President of the Ladies’ Relief Society, was published within the article Virtue Will Triumph, Nauvoo Neighbor, March 20, 1844. The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo is also referred to in LDS History of the Church 6:236, 241

(2) Throughout her lifetime Emma publicly denied knowledge of her husband’s involvement in the practice of polygamy and denied on her deathbed that the practice had ever occurred. Emma stated, "No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband’s death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of…He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have.Church History, Volume 3, pp. 355-356

(3) On May 26, just a few weeks before his death, Smith spoke before a large crowd of the Saints in front of the uncompleted temple and once again denied having any more than one wife. Smith stated "I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives….I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth’s sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves….What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers."Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo, History of the Church, Period I, 6:408–412.

(4) The Doctrine and Covenants/Section 132 Revelation through Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois, recorded on July 12, 1843.
47 And again, verily I say, whomsoever you bless I will bless, and whomsoever you curse I will curse, saith the Lord; for I, the Lord, am thy God.
48 And again, verily I say unto you, my servant Joseph, that whatsoever you give on earth, and to whomsoever you give any one on earth, by my word and according to my law, it shall be visited with blessings and not cursings, and with my power, saith the Lord, and shall be without condemnation on earth and in heaven.
49 For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father.
50 Behold, I have seen your sacrifices, and will forgive all your sins; I have seen your sacrifices in obedience to that which I have told you. Go, therefore, and I make a way for your escape, as I accepted the offering of Abraham of his son Isaac.
51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.
52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and ha
have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.
53 For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things; for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.
54 And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.
(5) Alger’s parents were neighbors of the Smiths, and Alger lived with Smith and his wife, Emma. Chauncey and Ann Eliza Webb, ex-Mormons, later recalled that rumors had been whispered while Alger lived with the Smiths about Smith and Alger. Alger stopped living with the Smiths as a result of a fallout with Emma and was dismissed as their housekeeper. The first contemporary reference to the alleged relationship was in a letter dated January 21, 1838. Oliver Cowdery wrote to his brother Warren stating that Smith had inappropriately spent time alone with Alger, referring to it as a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair." During this time Cowdery was estranged from Smith and they were disagreeing over leadership issues in the new movement. Fawn Brodie, in her famous work No Man Knows My History, also made the claim that Alger had been an affair of Smith’s.
Layla – As a member of the LDS faith i think i have a right to ask this question.
Rander1049 – You are probably right about that. haha
flora*and*fauna – Actually this is a real question that i think about and I’m really interested in others opinions.
Me – where in the bible is polygamy condoned by god?

I don’t know. But I bet members of the organization know how to spell "liar".

I want to know:

How do Mormons view Reid?

How does the state of Nevada feel about Reids comments?

Personally I cant stand him. After I researched his voting record, I realized that he is a man of contradictions.
He voted against a ban on assault wepons.
He voted for the Brady Bill
He is pro-life
He advocates the death penalty
He opposes the tax breaks for big oil companies
He opposes gay marriage
He has a lousy stance on illegal immigration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Reid
YOU BEEN- Gee dumbas.s, that was before Reid made his rants much like yours. And in regards to the email that you sent me, no! Im not into homosexual men but thanks for the offer I guess. Im sure somebody great will come your way.
NOT SO DEEP THOUGHT- So, your answer is that you dont know, right?

Let me add something to my question. If you are an ignorant liberal like these two, please, spare me your boring answers.

He’s a traitorous defeatist with an agenda

The reason I would like to know is because I believe that in Islam you get a hundred virgins upon death and I was wondering if the Mormons have surpassed that record. Below you will find a link with some of the statistics.

The first seven presidents of the Latter Day Saints committed bigamy. These Mormon men had several wives and the sixth cousin of the founder who was the second President of the Church and who happens to have a Mormon college named for him in Utah had 51 wives to himself. He allegedly had relations with the wives of his cousin and founding President, Joseph Smith.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_Church_%28Latter_Day_Saints%29

1 – Since the 1890’s.