The Two UN Invasions
September 22nd - October 13th 2001
In response to the September 11th attacks, President Al Gore had called upon the United Nations to take a more direct role in keeping the peace in nations that were internationally considered to be failed states. The two most prominent examples in the world, which were hotbeds of crime and terrorism, were Somalia and Afghanistan. Gore had even mentioned these nations by name and, soon afterwards, the United Nations began working towards achieving the goals he outlined. The fifteen members of the UN Security Council were China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the United States, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ireland, Jamaica, Mali, Mauritius, Norway, Singapore, Tunisia, and Ukraine. When the resolution came to a vote, China and Russia abstained while every other member voted in favor of the resolution.
UN Peacekeepers in Somalia
The invasion of Somalia began on October 4th and the invasion of Afghanistan, through Pakistan, began on October 11th. It was at this point that Al Qaeda released an official statement taking responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and promising “There are thousands of the Islamic nations' youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live.” The Gore Administration responded to this statement: “We find the murder of innocents intolerable and plan to hunt those responsible to the ends of the Earth to extract our lawful and just vengeance.”
While the American public was full of fear and anger targeted at Al Qaeda, the CIA and the Gore Administration were coming up with disturbing findings involve Saudi officials operating in the United States. Omar al-Bayoumi had been arrested in the United Kingdom and reportedly had housed two 9/11 attackers at his home in Los Angeles, California in 2000. With encouragement from the Gore Administration, the CIA dug deeper into their investigation and discovered his ties with both the Saudi government and terrorist organizations. When this news was broke to Al Gore, a creeping feeling came over him. This was a rather weak connection, but it offered up some doubt to the worried president. Doubt as to whether the United States has been barking up the right tree by going after failed states when it could be well established and functioning nations.
Gore ordered the investigation to expand its search, with the specific purpose as to see where the government of Saudi Arabia had anything to do with the attacks. He also held several meetings with his cabinet, namely Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, and Secretary of State, Richard Holbrooke. They began to devise a plan as to what the US response should be if the investigation finds that Saudi Arabia had something to do with the 9/11 attacks.