It Did Not Start On 9-11
Philadelphia
outside agency headquarters in
merica's war on ter-
Langley, Va.
rorism did not
• February 1993: six people
begin in September
killed at the World Trade
2001. It began in
Center in New York City.
November 1979.
• March 1994: an Orthodox
That was shortly after
Jewish boy killed on the
Ayatollah Khomeini had seized
Brooklyn Bridge.
DANIEL
power in Iran, riding the slogan
• February 1997: a Danish
PIPES
"Death to America" — and
tourist killed at the Empire State
Special
sure enough, the attacks on
Building in New York City.
Commentary
Americans soon began. In
• October 1999: 217 passen-
November 1979, a militant Islamic mob
gers killed on an EgyptAir flight near
New York City.
took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran,
the Iranian capital, and held 52
In all, 800 persons lost their lives in
Americans hostage for the next 444 days.
the course of attacks by militant Islam
The rescue team sent to free those
on Americans before September 2001
hostages in April 1980 suffered eight
— more than killed by any other
fatalities, making them the first of mil- enemy since the Vietnam War.
itant Islam's many American casualties. (Further, this listing does not include
Others included:
the dozens more Americans in Israel
• April 1983: 17 dead at the U.S.
killed by militant Islamic terrorists.)
embassy in Beirut.
And yet, these murders hardly regis-
tered. Only with the events of a year ago
• October 1983: 241 dead at the
U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.
did Americans finally realize that "Death
• December 1983: five dead at the
to America" truly is the battle cry of this
eras most dangerous foe, militant Islam.
U.S. embassy in Kuwait.
• January 1984: the president of the
In retrospect, the mistake began when
American University of Beirut killed.
Iranians assaulted the U.S. embassy in
Tehran and met with no resistance.
. • April 1984: 18 dead near a U.S.
airbase in Spain.
Interestingly, a Marine sergeant present
• September 1984: 16 dead at the
at the embassy that fateful day in
U.S. embassy in Beirut (again).
November 1979 agrees with this assess,-
• December 1984: two dead on a
ment. As the militant Islamic mob invad-
plane hijacked to Tehran.
ed the embassy Rodney V. Sickmann fol-
• June 1985: one dead on a plane
lowed orders and protected neither him-
hijacked to Beirut.
self nor the embassy. As a result, he was
After a letup, the attacks then restarted:
taken hostage and lived to tell the tale.
five and 19 dead in Saudi Arabia in 1995
(He now works for Anheuser-Busch.)
and 1996, 224 dead at the American
In retrospect, he believes that passivi-
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in
ty was a mistake. The Marines should
August 1998 and 17 dead on the USS
have done their assigned duty, even if it
Cole in Yemen in October 2000.
cost their lives. "Had we opened fire on
Simultaneously, the murderous
them, maybe we would only have last-
assault of militant Islam also took
ed an hour." But had they done that,
place on U.S. soil:
they "could have changed history."
• July 1980: an Iranian dissident
Standing their ground would have
killed in the Washington, D.C., area.
sent a powerful signal that the United
• August 1983: a leader of the
States of America cannot be attacked
Ahmadiyya sect of Islam killed in
with impunity. In contrast, the
Canton, Mich.
embassy's surrender sent the opposite
• August 1984: three Indians killed
signal — that it's open season on
in a suburb of Tacoma, Wash.
Americans. "If you look back, it start-
• September 1986: a doctor killed in ed in 1979; it's just escalated," Sick-
Augusta, Ga.
mann correctly concludes.
• January 1990: an Egyptian free-
To which one of the century's great
thinker killed in Tucson, Ariz.
geo-strategist thinkers, Robert Strausz-
• November 1990: a Jewish leader
Hupe, adds his assent. Just before
killed in New York.
passing away earlier this year at the age
• February 1991: an Egyptian
of 98, Strausz-Hupe wrote his final
Islamist killed in New York.
words and they were about the war on
• January 1993: two CIA staff killed
terrorism: "I have lived long enough ,
to see good repeatedly win over evil,
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle
although at a much higher cost than
need have been paid. This time we
East Forum and author of the book,
have
already paid the price of victory.
"Militant Islam Reaches America." E-
It
remains
for us to win it." ❑
Pipes@ME:Forum.org
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to all our
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