While America and the George W. Bush administration ostensibly slept, Muslim terrorists were already plotting a terrorist act that would rock the country as never before. While the U.S. intelligence community had some vague inkling of the threat emanating from the Middle East and Central Asia in the form of Muslim extremists, there was at least one public figure who appeared to be prescient about the coming catastrophe on 9/11.
In the book he published in 2000, The America We Deserve, Donald Trump wrote that such an attack was a virtual inevitability. “I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers.” Suggesting that intelligence analysts could aver his concerns, Trump wrote “No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen.”
In his criticism of American foreign policy that appears to jump from one issue to the next, Trump names Osama bin Laden – the founder and leader of the al-Qaeda terror network. “One day we’re told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin-Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jetfighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan,” wrote Trump. “He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later it’s on to a new enemy and new crisis.”
The book was published four years before his reality show, The Apprentice, first aired but just months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, along with the failed attempt on the White House itself. In The America We Deserve, Trump argued that American ignorance of terrorist threats was the biggest threat to national security. He wrote, “I may be making waves, but that’s all right…Making waves is usually what you need to do to rock the boat, and our national-security boat definitely needs rocking. Let’s point fingers. The biggest threat to our security is ourselves, because we’ve become arrogant. Dangerously arrogant. It’s time for a realistic view of the world and our place in it. Do we truly understand the threats we face? And let me give a warning: You won’t hear a lot of what follows from candidates in this campaign, because what I’ve got to say is definitely not happy talk. There are forces to be worried about, people and programs to take action against. Now.”
Trump wrote that some individuals wish to rain terror on the United States and are determined to do so. “We face a different problem when we talk about the individual fanatics who want to harm us.” He added, “We can kid ourselves all we want by mocking their references to the Great Satan, but also keep in mind that there is no greater destiny for many people than to deal the Great Satan a major kick in the teeth.” He also wrote that such terrorists despise America for its support of Israel. “Our teenage boys fantasize about Cindy Crawford; young terrorists fantasize about turning an American city (and themselves) into charcoal,” Trump wrote.
In his book, Trump foresaw a devastating attack on American soil involving weapons of mass destruction. “Yet it’s time to get down to the hard business of preparing for what I believe is the real possibility that somewhere, sometime, a weapon of mass destruction will be carried into a major American city and detonated.”
Trump wrote that despite preparations, the U.S. will not be able to forestall terrorist attacks, noting that terrorists are willing to immolate themselves to score points against the country. This was the case, for example, with the 9/11 terrorists as it is with Islamist terrorists who detonate suicide bombs to kill themselves and others. America military response, he wrote, will inevitably breed more terrorists. “Whatever their motives — fanaticism, revenge — suffice it to say that plenty of people would stand in line for a crack at a suicide mission within America,” Trump said. “In fact the number of potential attackers grows every day. Our various military adventures — some of which are justified, some not — create new legions of people who would like to avenge the deaths of family members or fellow citizens."
“It is one cost of peacekeeping we should keep in mind. I am not a hard-core isolationist. While I agree that we stick our noses into too many problems not of our making and that we can’t do much about, I strongly disagree with the idea that we can pull up the drawbridge to hide from rogue nations or individual fanatics.”
In comparison, during the recent Democratic presidential debate, the assembled candidates – who were four-square in their criticisms of Trump – were asked to name the primary threat to the national security of the United States. While Hillary Clinton, Lincoln Chaffee and Martin O'Malley ticked off Iran, the Islamic State, and nuclear weapons, and Jim Webb added China to the mix, in the case of Sen. Bernie Sanders - the Vermont socialist said that global climate change is the biggest threat of all.
In the book he published in 2000, The America We Deserve, Donald Trump wrote that such an attack was a virtual inevitability. “I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers.” Suggesting that intelligence analysts could aver his concerns, Trump wrote “No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen.”
In his criticism of American foreign policy that appears to jump from one issue to the next, Trump names Osama bin Laden – the founder and leader of the al-Qaeda terror network. “One day we’re told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin-Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jetfighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan,” wrote Trump. “He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later it’s on to a new enemy and new crisis.”
The book was published four years before his reality show, The Apprentice, first aired but just months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, along with the failed attempt on the White House itself. In The America We Deserve, Trump argued that American ignorance of terrorist threats was the biggest threat to national security. He wrote, “I may be making waves, but that’s all right…Making waves is usually what you need to do to rock the boat, and our national-security boat definitely needs rocking. Let’s point fingers. The biggest threat to our security is ourselves, because we’ve become arrogant. Dangerously arrogant. It’s time for a realistic view of the world and our place in it. Do we truly understand the threats we face? And let me give a warning: You won’t hear a lot of what follows from candidates in this campaign, because what I’ve got to say is definitely not happy talk. There are forces to be worried about, people and programs to take action against. Now.”
Trump wrote that some individuals wish to rain terror on the United States and are determined to do so. “We face a different problem when we talk about the individual fanatics who want to harm us.” He added, “We can kid ourselves all we want by mocking their references to the Great Satan, but also keep in mind that there is no greater destiny for many people than to deal the Great Satan a major kick in the teeth.” He also wrote that such terrorists despise America for its support of Israel. “Our teenage boys fantasize about Cindy Crawford; young terrorists fantasize about turning an American city (and themselves) into charcoal,” Trump wrote.
In his book, Trump foresaw a devastating attack on American soil involving weapons of mass destruction. “Yet it’s time to get down to the hard business of preparing for what I believe is the real possibility that somewhere, sometime, a weapon of mass destruction will be carried into a major American city and detonated.”
Trump wrote that despite preparations, the U.S. will not be able to forestall terrorist attacks, noting that terrorists are willing to immolate themselves to score points against the country. This was the case, for example, with the 9/11 terrorists as it is with Islamist terrorists who detonate suicide bombs to kill themselves and others. America military response, he wrote, will inevitably breed more terrorists. “Whatever their motives — fanaticism, revenge — suffice it to say that plenty of people would stand in line for a crack at a suicide mission within America,” Trump said. “In fact the number of potential attackers grows every day. Our various military adventures — some of which are justified, some not — create new legions of people who would like to avenge the deaths of family members or fellow citizens."
“It is one cost of peacekeeping we should keep in mind. I am not a hard-core isolationist. While I agree that we stick our noses into too many problems not of our making and that we can’t do much about, I strongly disagree with the idea that we can pull up the drawbridge to hide from rogue nations or individual fanatics.”
In comparison, during the recent Democratic presidential debate, the assembled candidates – who were four-square in their criticisms of Trump – were asked to name the primary threat to the national security of the United States. While Hillary Clinton, Lincoln Chaffee and Martin O'Malley ticked off Iran, the Islamic State, and nuclear weapons, and Jim Webb added China to the mix, in the case of Sen. Bernie Sanders - the Vermont socialist said that global climate change is the biggest threat of all.
