KSM and the 9/11 Mystery

All right, boys and girls. Apparently, you weren’t paying attention months ago when we discussed the Islamic concept of As-Sirat, the Islamic Bridge to Paradise. Not one pundit mentioned it in connection with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any of the terrorist attacks. Not even the inestimable Andrew McCarthy.

I’m so disappointed. With gas prices soaring, the dollar plummeting, and the Royal Wedding approaching, we must rehash KSM and 9/11. You’re still trying to connect the dots, after I told you the Big Connection is As-Sirat, the bridge.

Thanks to Wikileaks, you now know something went wrong on 9/11. Two hijackers, instead of going to their assignments, took a plane to London, instead. Why? Now we’re told KSM mentioned the ancient Brooklyn Bridge caper, a fantastical plot to cut the cables on the Brooklyn Bridge with blow torches. But that’s old news. You remember the Detroit truck driver. This is almost as tiresome as the birth certificate issue.

KSM claims that he was planning post-9/11 attacks in a post-9/11 America, even though he proudly announced that on 9/11 he had planned to “land” a plane in Lower Manhattan (yeah – good luck with that), jump out, proclaim his loyalty to Islam, then set off a bomb.

Instead, he somehow escaped to Pakistan. The Feds say he was never here in the first place. But then that’s what they said about Mohammed Atta, until they learned he’d been right there in New York City, at the Twin Towers, mere weeks before 9/11.

The Brooklyn Bridge is the most iconic of New York’s hundreds of bridges. But not necessarily the most strategic. The Brooklyn Bridge was not first on Sheikh Abdel Rahman’s list of targeted infrastructure. Incidentally, as Andrew McCarthy can attest since he was the prosecuting attorney on the case, Rahman is serving a life sentence for attempting to blow up New York’s Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the Federal Building, the United Nations, and a bridge the Feds are loth to discuss – the George Washington Bridge.

The terrorists had intended to cut or blow up the GW’s cables, too, but found they were much too strong. McCarthy, in his book, “Willful Blindness, dismisses the attempt on the GW as too far-fetched and beyond their capabilities at the time. If you didn’t think it was possible on the GW, why would you think they’d succeed on the Brooklyn Bridge? Still, one should never underestimate the determination of the Islamists, especially when it comes to bridges.

It was on account of that bridge – and the tunnels (evidence concerning the Holland Tunnel convicted Rahman) that Rahman was sent to prison. The Islamists, particularly the Egyptians (Rahman was Egyptian and spent time in jail with Al-Qaeda No. 2, Zayman Al-Zawahiri), weren’t too happy. This week, the Eyptians held a protest demanding Rahman’s release.

So let’s go over again what As-Sirat means to the Islamists. According to Islam, As-Sirat is a bridge as narrow as a pencil and sharp as sword which every person must pass on the Yawm ad-Din (Day of Resurrection) in order to enter Paradise. Below this bridge, are the fires of Hell, into which sinners fall. The faithful, who performed good deeds in life, are transported across, where they’re led to the Hauzu’l-Kausar, the Lake of Abundance.

So let’s say it a few times so we don’t forget – As-Sirat, As-Sirat, As-Sirat. The next time you see or cross a bridge, say to yourself “As-Sirat.” Visual images are said to aid memory. One thing we don’t ever want to do is forget.

So what went wrong, you might ask. Well, it’s possible only two people ever actually knew the answer to that question, and KSM wasn’t one of them. He was in the dark. That’s why he can’t tell the Feds any more than what he already has, because he doesn’t know any more. If you recall 9/11 history, KSM and Osama Bin were said to have been surprised when they saw the planes plow into the Twin Towers. Why? Wasn’t that the plan, after all?

KSM – or maybe even Bin Laden himself – may have called the whole thing off, but apparently Mohammed Atta didn’t get the memo. Or did he ignore it? Why would he have done that, the Feds might want to ask themselves? What would have dissuaded Osama Bin Laden himself, but not Mohammed Atta? Was he simply “braver” or did he know something they didn’t? If so, why didn’t he tell his boss?

You may not be able to answer the questions. But you might want to think about asking them, because asking questions is the only way you’re going to get questions answered. Or are you afraid of the answers you might get? Until you can say, “As-Sirat,” you’ll simply be repeating only what you already know, like an old-fashioned record-player whose needle is stuck in a groove.