Terrorism ? Been there ... done that:In 1974, when I was drafted into the air-force, South Africa still administered German South West Africa in terms of its mandate received after the first world War, when Germany had to give up it's colonies to the allies. The South West African Peoples Organization (SWAPO) became increasingly militant from 1959 onward and it's military wing, the Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was formed in 1962. By early 1966 the first Russian trained SWAPO insurgents were based in Zambia. Their first incursion into South-West Africa occurred in September 1965, the second in March 1966. The first major clash between a South African unit, supported by SAAF (South African Air force) helicopters, and SWAPO occurred on 26 August 1966. And so began the 23 year long 'Border War' - a fight against terrorism and, by the time I began my 1-1/2 years of active service, it had been waging on for almost 9 years already and by then we had sufficient knowledge of the unconventional nature of terrorist attacks on civilians. So, the idea was to station our troops and planes on the northern border of South-West Africa from where we could hunt down the SWAPO terrorists inside neighboring countries where they were attending their "terrorist universities" - much the same as those in Afghanistan. Every so often, we would fly one of our crack anti-terrorist units into Angola or Zambia (at tree-top level) and have the choppers rise above the trees in a semi-circle - just at the perimeter of the terrorist training camp, from where they would then use their heavy machine-guns to shoot everything that moved within the camp. After that, they would land and the commandos would mop-up. Typically, we would kill several hundred terrorists at a time. How many innocent women and children's lives were spared by not allowing these trained terrorists to infiltrate Southern Africa and carry out their disgusting missions? Tough to say, but I have to believe the answer is MANY since those few that slipped through our fingers sure did a lot of damage. As you have seen, letting even 1 of these terrorists get away is bad news! What happened is that after a while, SWAPO (the terrorists) no longer had the stomach to fight. Why? Well, the commando raids we routinely launched across the borders destroying their terrorist training camps and those within them (for which we had to endure the criticism of the rest of the world) demoralized them badly ! You see, they were being trained to unleash terror on our civilian population, but before they had a chance to do so, we unleashed terror on them instead. Had we not done so, many more innocent people , buildings, churches etc. would have been destroyed. These so called "freedom fighters" - as they like to call themselves, were only brave enough to attack unarmed women and children. They only shot at us when cornered. Ultimately we were pressured to hand over South-west Africa (now called Namibia) to them, which they now rule, and they are recognized by the world as it's legitimate government. That is truly sad ! However, until world pressure forced us to give them, a bunch of cowardly terrorists, that country, we did hold them mostly in check and definitely in abject terror, paralyzed. As such the strategy of terrorizing terrorists was very effective! Many innocent people were spared from their terror. America, you should use your military might to do the same to the radical Islamic terrorist groups now trying to terrorize your citizens.I know there are many people that say that "2 wrongs do not make a right" ... but I would contend that it is "Right to prevent any further wrongs". Not sure what I mean? Well, years later, South Africa relaxed their aggressive attempts to keep terrorism in check in favor of negotiations designed to hand over power ( you know ... talking with the terrorists - trying to reason with evil ) ... that is when the PAC (Yet another terrorist group we were fighting) burst into St. James Church one Sunday evening ... here is one of many reports on what happened: "I asked God, `Why is it happening? Please stop it, God. Please don't let this happen."
This story exemplifies the tremendous power of
personal faith. It happened eight years ago in Cape Town, South Africa, when a
terrorist attack turned a peaceful church service into a bloodbath. Reporter
David Kithcart of the "700 Club" recently talked with survivors of
that terrible tragedy. Here's their story - unedited:
"I heard a loud noise and I turned to see where the noise had come from, and my friend said, `Duck,' and she got hold of my sleeve and she fell on the floor, and I thought, `I wonder why she's doing that?'", remembers St. James Church Member Kathy Rudznik-Noland. "I realized immediately what was happening, that it was a terrorist attack, and as I fell down to the floor, I started praying, but I was in shock," says church member Dawie Ackerman. "It didn't register that it was an attack. I only realized it when I actually saw the hand grenade," recalls church member Paul Williams. "I thought I was going to die, and my response was, `Please, Jesus, don't let this hurt,'" says Thy Cameron, another church member. "And I asked God, `Why is it happening? Please stop it, God. Please don't let this happen,'" says Ackerman. Kithcart: "What was happening wasn't taking place on some distant battlefield in a war. This was Sunday evening service at St. James Church in the Kennelworth section of Cape Town, South Africa. July 25th, 1993, the last days of white minority rule in the country. Plans were being worked out to hold free elections, but members of the armed guerrilla wing of the Pan Africanist Congress didn't believe that negotiations were going quickly enough. In an effort to shock whites into giving political ground to blacks, they attacked what they perceived as a white church in a white community, St. James Church." "My wife was sitting right at the door, says Ackerman. She was one of the first to be hit by gunfire at pointblank range. It was so quick, she didn't even have time to take any evasive action except to try instinctively to turn her back to the gunman, and he actually shot her in the side." "The girl in front of me dived under the pew and ended up face-to-face with me under the pew, says Cameron. She began to scream in my face, and I said, `Shut up, we're going to pray.' And I think I so shocked her by my rudeness that she did shut up, and I was able to pray extremely loudly, hoping that people further back in the church might hear this. I believe we don't pray like this unless the Holy Spirit is witnessing to our spirit. That was God's doings, not mine." Kithcart: "The attack lasted about 30 seconds, and I learned afterwards that there was an off-duty policeman in the congregation who happened to have his firearm with him, says Ackerman. He had returned fire, and in that way, the attack stopped. But immediately after the attack stopped, there was a deathly silence." Kithcart: "When the shooting ended, 11 people lay dead or dying with 58 others suffering from injuries." "I got up, says Ackerman. My first concern was for my wife. I walked over to her, having to step over three dead bodies of very badly mutilated people. And when I reached her, at first thought that she was dead, but then recognized that there was still some breathing. And we were the first to arrive at our main hospital here in Cape Town, and I tried to, in as calm as possible way, warn them of the inflow that they're going to get, the influx of wounded, and my wife died about 20 minutes after that." "And 22 years married, and at one time, your wife is next to you, says Smith. The next time, she's gone. It's like a big switch there. Just the switch of a button, you're gone." Kithcart: "In the days and weeks after the funeral, Dawie was asked to speak to the media because of his position as a leader elder in the church and the loss of his wife." "I knew immediately then the peace of God, says Ackerman. I knew immediately what I had to say and what the message that had to be sent out, and that is of no bitterness, that Christians are not exempt from suffering. My faith is the one thing that just has not cracked. And throughout it all, I never lost -- and I believe this was from God -- I never lost my faith in God." "Jesus Christ is the only person that will give you answers to all your questions and to give you love and the love that we speak about, a godly love, that you can go out and love someone irrespective of what they do, says Smith. And that's what I can say that happened to me." I do have a full interview, on tape, made right after the attack on St. James and, perhaps one day I will convert it to a MP3 file and place it on this web-site ? By the way, it is perhaps worth mentioning that the terrorists who did this never served a day in jail. They received a full pardon from their colleagues who took over the reigns of power a year later. Some people have the gall to call them "Freedom fighters" ... I don't know about you, but when a group of people attack God's people, it's pretty obvious whom they are working for ... Now you see, the story above is a little personal. My cousin Mervyn Eloff (who is the same age as me and who attended the University of Cape Town for a while with me) is a pastor, vice principal of a renowned South African theological college and a member of the team at St. James Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town. Rather than dwindle and fade away in the years after the terrorist attack, this church has flourished and grown ! It is amazing how God can turn Satan's attacks around so that they blow-up in his face! A day after the attacks in NY and Washington DC, our family started out on a journey that was to take us to the USA (Great Falls, Montana) to be with friends and Christian's down there, and now we are back home again. Yes, we did have to wait at the border, security was tight - but compared to the wait of those poor people down in NY, it really was a minor inconvenience. We went to their church in Great Falls on Sunday morning and again on Sunday evening in little Augusta, a ranching town nestled up against the Rockies just below Glacier National Park. As I watched these folks - sad, angry, but resolute, praising God and asking for His blessing on their families and on America, I knew that America was not going to roll over and play dead. I watched as the Johnson brother's family band played gospel songs and everyone in the church sang along and clapped ... and praised God till the air was heavy with the vapor of their perspiration. I watched as 16 adopted children, all ages, sizes and from many racial backgrounds, calling one of the Johnson brothers "Daddy", come up onto the stage to sing songs with their Dad and his band - about Jesus and God and Their special kind of Love. I saw the little one's clinging to their mothers skirts and others nestled in their arms. You know, I predict that America will emerge from these attacks ultimately stronger, more united ... and returning to their Godly roots as a nation, for it was in the REAL GOD that they put their trust, and thus became the mightiest nation this world has ever seen! We are counting on you, America, to lead the way in a united struggle against Terrorism ... and a revival, a return to God. You see, it was in no small part because of the love, patience and caring of these good Christian folks in Great Falls, Montana, that my whole family today is saved and Heaven Bound. Back In 1993 in the months before terrorists were shooting up Christians in a Church in Cape Town, they were witnessing to and praying for my family and I, and soon that wonder-filled day came, In Calgary, a little to the north of them, that I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. That special day, for me, was the evening of Saturday, July 24th, 1993, but, in Cape Town, it was already Sunday, July the 25th ... and so it was that a half a world away, good Christian folks, fellow countrymen from my youth and people just like you and your families, were getting ready to go to church ... in St James. Well, Satan did attack God's people that Sunday, but God healed his people's hurts and they are stronger than ever before! I just know that God will do no less for you folks too! May God Bless you all ... May God Bless America! PS. The men whom attacked the WTC and the Pentagon claimed to be doing so for God, but it's pretty obvious that they were not. When they get to their heaven, they will find it to be a pretty hot place and that their host is none other than hell's landlord. Still, it is very important to note that as many people die of food-poisoning each year in the USA, than have just died at the hands of these terrorists ... and none of us stop eating. People, even at the Wedgwood Baptist church in Fort-Worth Texas, can tell you that a crazed psycho, born and raised in the USA, can be used by Satan to shoot up a church - every bit as destructively as a group of foreign terrorists did - yet they returned to their church and declared: "Evil has touched us here, but evil has not won." And who can forget the bomb outside the federal building in Oklahoma City ... Now, it is a sad fact that drunk drivers and violent crime together impact us all more, and more frequently, than these evil terrorist acts, and yet people drink, drive and even tolerate criminals to walk freely on our streets, to live amongst us, without becoming overly paranoid or terrorized by it all. It is VERY important NOT to over-react and change your lives drastically. Let your government take care of these hate-filled psychopathic criminals (because that is really what they are) while you and your families live your lives as you always have. You had no problem flying before - and now it is safer than before, and maybe even cheaper. You went to work before - do so again. You went about buying and selling - why stop that now and have so many people lose their jobs (maybe even you) because of these terrorist acts? They would want that ... why help them. Very importantly, turn off the TV when it starts re-runs of the incidents, you know what happened by now, don't let Satan re-terrorize you and your family again and again and again with constant news and pictures etc. God values individual human freedom so highly, that He even does allow evil people to hurt good people. Satan has no respect for our freedom and peace of mind and likes to use those under his control to terrorize us and have them try to remove our peace of mind - but even then, if we depend on God, this fails. So, if you are to change in any way, now is probably a very appropriate time to re-evaluate your spiritual life. Strive to get to know God and Jesus and get serious about your life, for, even if you are never touched by any violence, at best you can hope for 70 - 90 laps around the sun ... and then what ?
If you would like some anonymous assistance in this regard (with absolutely no strings attached and no hidden agendas), then you are most welcome to visit with my wife and I and our family, where we live ... deep within the Canadian Rockies by clicking here. NOTE:It is interesting to note that the communist backed terrorists, targeting both Namibia and Angola, were held in check by South Africa until the collapse of the Soviet empire. After 23 years of keeping SWAPO (Just one of the terrorist groups we were fighting) at bay, and 13 years of keeping Cuba and their African cohorts, the MPLA (who were wanting to extend the reach of the Soviet empire throughout the region) at bay, South Africa now simply negotiated a conclusion to both conflicts and withdrew all of their forces - seemingly happy in the knowledge that communism was now not likely to spread and/or contaminate our homeland, or the region, any further. Had they done so just to satisfy only their own interests ? Not likely. No doubt they were being asked to do so (and helped) by the western powers (Great Britain, the USA, France, and others). How successful was the western effort in containing the Russians, Cubans and the MPLA in Angola as well as SWAPO in Namibia? Well, below is transcript of a actual telegram sent by the Russian Ambassador in Havana to his political masters in Russia. (By the way, Raul Castro is Fidel's brother, in charge of the Cuban military and widely rumored to be the person to replace Fidel when the time comes). I think you will see that they were more than a bit demoralized. The excerpts (below) taken from de-classified Soviet files from that era - acquired by the Woodrow Wilson international center for scholars, shows how (clearly) we really were fighting communism's spread. Now though, the major threat seems not to be communism anymore, but certain radical elements within ISLAM. Reading the following excerpt really shows just how deeply the Soviet Bloc was involved in the region: It contains signs of obvious sniping and infighting that had begun to take hold:
Transcript of CPSU CC Politburo Meeting, 18 October 1979 (excerpt)
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9. Telegram from Havana Spec[ial]. # 741 and 744 |
