G. Gordon Liddy - in 1988 he described how terrorists could cripple the U.S. with a few cheap tricks

G. Gordon Liddy is now 84 years old and he's enjoyed a very full life.  A former FBI agent and lawyer,  he served 4 and 1/2 years in prison for his part in the Watergate Scandal during the Nixon administration.  His life after prison was even more interesting.  He wrote books, performed in movies and television, and was host of a nationally syndicated Talk-Radio program. He must be content with all of that.

In 1988 OMNI magazine commissioned him to write a fictional projection of what happen to America if it were hit by a team of well trained and motivated terrorists. (It was published in their January 1989 edition.)  By coincidence, Mr. Liddy was writing his piece just about the time Osama bin Laden was founding "The Base" or Al-Qaeda, and it would be years before the young Saudi would appear on anyone's radar. Liddy's tale has the Soviets assisting in the attack, and at the time Liddy shared in America's total preoccupation with the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. This background dates the story, and as a result it will likely never be reprinted. That is a shame because on my recent second reading I found that it still holds up.  As a public service I thought I would take the time to extract the text from amid the vintage ads and other clutter.

It takes only fifteen minutes to read. I will meet you at the bottom.  (click on photos to enlarge)

"Liquid Metal Embrittlement (LME) agent"

"EHV  transformers"

Many Americans love putting up Girls and Guns type calendars.

Gordon Liddy was a master of self-promotion, and having served both 

in the FBI and in prison, he was a natural fit for the genre.

"The EMPG, cruder and more bulky than our own classified device..."

"the prayer of public officials has always been..."

"The Capital Hill Riot"

There you have it.  What is unique in this fiction is that the author resisted the temptation to describe the American retaliation, which is inevitable and is which is always disproportionally greater than the original offence against the Stars and Stripes. Of course we now know that it would be a cunning band of Saudi Arabians which would execute the most effective surprise attack on the Americans since Pearl Harbour. But there was no way at all for Liddy to know, in mid-1988, what the geo-political fallout would be to United States pro-insurgency in Afghanistan. 

And finally, the one thing in the story which seemed bogus, turns out to be true.  Liquid Metal Embrittlement or LME.  I had never heard of it, but there is a Wikipedia page and much more on the Internet.   In a few minutes I found plenty to catch up on, including a recent U.S. Army study on LME which might further improve the lethality of U.S. munitions by "making a round with selectable fragment distribution".  Just what the word needs. Improved lethality.

Liquid Metal Embrittlement (LME) for improving

the fragmentation properties of U.S. explosive ordnance.

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Gore Vidal's America - Neo paganism vs Orwellian Nightmare. Take your Pick

I haven't had to attend a funeral for several years, but I am aware of the fact that people do die, and some are very notable deaths.  I feel a loss when cultural icons pass on, and one of the more remarkable voices of our time, Gore Vidal, died just a few days ago.  In Vidal's case I do mean "voice" because my first exposure was not to his books, but rather his late night appearances on the TONIGHT SHOW (Johnny Carson) in the 1970s. For a kid attending a Catholic junior highschool in a decaying Tory enclave - Saint John, N.B., staying up late to watch Carson was a desperate attempt to absorb some sophistication.  At election time Vidal would share the guest couch with a bimbo plugging a movie and a stand-up comedian, merely to get in a few good zingers at the expense of the current Republican candidate.  Even though I knew Vidal was also mocking my budding political values, I enjoyed every witty word.  I often wondered if Vidal knew he was poking fun at the Canadian hinterland as much as to middle-America. Times change, people change, politics change - but I still admire Vidal's work.

I don't claim to have read many of his books. The man was so prolific that he wrote more in a lifetime than the average Canadian reads in a lifetime. Late in life he became a conspiracy theorist although he called himself a "conspiracy analyst".  One of lesser known books is a collection of essays entitled PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE. I don't have it but I've heard him speak on the issues and I certainly agree with his thesis that much of America's problem is that it antagonizes the World, and it doesn't know how to stop.  I also agree that America's commitment to a state of perpetual war, ("Defending Democracy" is the euphemism),  has become an ideological constant  very much akin to what the Communists call "permanent revolution" and which is fictionalized in Orwell's Nineteen-Eightyfour.  Vidal was an "isolationist Democrat" -  a very rare creature indeed.

PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE - if you want to check out what's covered in this book, the search page is at AMAZON.CA  - HERE

Obama - this is a man you all know and may even love. He also wrote a book. Have you read it?  As an antidote to carefully constructed autobiography might I recommend something a bit more honest? Try CONFRONT AND CONCEAL - Obama's Secret Wars And Surprising Use of American Power.  You can use the "Look Inside" feature at AMAZON.CA -  HERE.

Returning to todays subject... my favorite Gore Vidal novel has nothing to do with American culture.  It is JULIAN, published in 1964, which I found  time to read in 2003. Though dazzled by the story and the power of the prose, I felt I owed it to myself to compare fiction to conventional biography.  A week later I bought a copy of JULIAN the APOSTATE, by Giuseppe Ricciotti and also petitioned Uncle Google.  For too long I had carried in my head a simple construct of the reasons for the Fall of Rome -  a decadent society with an economy dependant on slave labour and fielding mercenary armies to protect its porous frontiers. I now understand the insidious role of organized Christianity which laboured to destroy Rome from within,  and then build the first Christian Empire atop and astride the ruins of what was Rome.  JULIAN was raised a Christian but later rejected its doctrines and devoted the remainder of his life to an attempt to restore the pagan gods to their rightful place at the centre of national culture.  

I can't help wondering about parallels in history. If we are truly, as some critics suggest, witnessing the  "Fall of the American Empire," then it stands to reason that we may also be witnessing the fall of the American God.   I grew up in a Canada where America's traditional values were freely mocked by opinion leaders - high school teachers, politicians, media celebrities and the like.  It took only one drawling reference to "Godless Communists" or "My Lord and Savior" to make a roomful of urban Canadians roll their eyes and groan in disdain. Be patient Canada... American Christianity is a shadow of what it was. Be also prepared for the Shock of the New. We are perhaps only a decade or two away from a legal requirement for NPR to broadcast the Islamic Muezzim's Call to Prayer, I hope I am still around, just to  witness Canadians who dare roll their eyes.

Vidal believed that the American government reaction to 9/11 did far more harm to his Nation than did the attack on New York by Bin Laden's assault team.  That is a just and reasoned verdict and it will stand the test of time. It matters not whether the American President is Christian or Muslim because it is not religion which is dividing their country. It matters a great deal that the U.S.A. is polarized politically, and that it's people fixate on the two-party system as if it were Democracy Perfected. To rely on the ideas and base motives of only two parties... (or two "brands") for another hundred years, is madness.  Some of Gore Vidal's ideas represent a heart felt slice of the alternative viewpoint which is derided by an arrogant media establishment, which has a vested interest in a two pony race.  A country which professes peace but constantly practices war is already Godless, and far more pagan than it realizes.

"BOMB The Hell Out of ..." somebody.  This was America in 1969. So what's changed?  Last week we read the news about America's new  SUPER - SUPER HEAVY bomb, now being readied to penetrate deeply buried nuclear bunkers in Iran... and to what end? How will they prevent the spread clouds of radioactive dust through the region?  read "Mega-Buster-Bunker-Bomb" on Wired.

War Porn - the masses cry "Show us the photos of the dead Bin Laden!"

Wow. Step back from news Blogging for two weeks, and the world continues to go ape.
U.S. Special Operators assassinate Bin Laden... (" he was unarmed ...a double tap to the left side of his head") a Danish F16 pilot murders four members of Gaddafi's family, including three of his grandchildren... (How's that for telling the Danish Muslims where they can stick their Jihadist threats? Remember the Jyllands Posten cartoon furor?)

And what to make of the Canadian electorate cancelling the tickets of TWO political leaders with a single blow at the ballot box. Talk about HOLLYWOOD SQUARES - voting to block the Bloc!
We hear that the White House is agonizing over whether to release the death photos of Osama Bin Laden. Why? Just so the conspiracy nuts don't get to create a whole industry around a myth that Bin Laden actually escaped and is now hiding out in a bunker under Berlin. I for one don't enjoy war porn. If I showed you photographs of what Canadian snipers have done to Taliban guerrillas with .50 Calibre sniper rifles, you would be offended. I would hope you could be equally offended by what NATO bombs are doing to children, including (recently) mentally handicapped children in Libya. In another life I am a military historian, and heaven knows it would be easy to illustrate some of my blog articles with atrocity photos. I would rather persuade with words. No, Mr. President. Please do not pass out the photos. We believe. We believe!

For those who are curious about the heated accusation that some Pakistani military officers, MUST have known that Osama Bin Laden has been resident in Abbotobad, here a few photos.

The first, (above) taken on May 2, the day after the U.S. raid, we see Bin Laden's compound with remains of a special op's helicopter, which the SEALS incinerated before exfiltrating Pakistan. Photos show the compound was festooned with electrical wires, (but no telephone) so it is likely the bird got tangled and its tail snapped off in a hard landing. This is a stealth aircraft with advanced sound suppression features, special fibre sheathing and paint.

The second photo shows Bin Laden's compound, [34 10' 09.40"N 73 14' 33.51"E] and the nearby (ie. 1.37 kilometers or less than five minutes away) Pakistan Military Academy. The entire city of Abbotobad is a military zone and civilians are subject to cordon and search activities every time there is a terror alert. How did Bin Laden and his personal security detail live amidst the Pakistani military undetected for six years?


This photo shows the tail section of the helo the American SEALs were forced to abandon inside the compound. It wasn't shot down, but deliberately destroyed with explosives. The Pakistani military removed it from the compound yesterday.

What will happen now? Well, the SEAL mission into Abbotobad was run from U.S. bases in Afghanistan. My guess is that the Taliban will do the honours on behalf of Islamic Fascism worldwide. They will do their best to kill the "puppet-president" of Afghanistan ASAP.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP - The best single-page, but very thorough, analysis of the raid... and with great photos, is on THE DAILY MAIL website. Just click - MAILonline.

UPDATED PHOTOS: a wealth of images is pouring out of Pakistan, much of it concerning the stealth helicopter which the Americans had to leave behind, after destroying as much as they could. This is the best photo available of the tail section. Almost certainly it has already been flown to China and is being poured over by Chinese engineers.

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