Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Cheney Admits that He Lied about 9/11

Cheney Admits that He Lied about 9/11

What Else Did He Lie About?

The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd writes today:
In a documentary soon to appear on Showtime, “The World According to Dick Cheney,” [Cheney said] “I got on the telephone with the president, who was in Florida, and told him not to be at one location where we could both be taken out.” Mr. Cheney kept W. flying aimlessly in the air on 9/11 while he and Lynn left on a helicopter for a secure undisclosed location, leaving Washington in a bleak, scared silence, with no one reassuring the nation in those first terrifying hours.
“I gave the instructions that we’d authorize our pilots to take it out,” he says, referring to the jet headed to Washington that crashed in a Pennsylvania field. He adds: “After I’d given the order, it was pretty quiet. Everybody had heard it, and it was obviously a significant moment.”
***
When they testified together before the 9/11 Commission, W. and Mr. Cheney kept up a pretense that in a previous call, the president had authorized the vice president to give a shoot-down order if needed. But the commission found “no documentary evidence for this call.”
In other words, Cheney pretended that Bush had authorized a shoot-down order, but Cheney now admits that he never did. In fact, Cheney acted as if he was the president on 9/11. *
Cheney lied about numerous other facts related to 9/11 as well. For example, Cheney:
* Indeed, Cheney initiated Continuity of Government plans on 9/11 which essentially nullified America’s constitutional form of government.
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Terrorists explode aircrafts into buildings, kill thousands: that’s US drone warfare

Terrorists explode aircrafts into buildings, kill thousands: that’s US drone warfare

How You Ended The War from PuppetGov on Vimeo.
The US regularly flies explosive vehicles into buildings to kill civilians in their own countries. US Senator Lindsay Graham admits to 4,700 drone-murders. The US regime orders these murders with dictatorial authority, including assassinating American citizens.
US “leadership” claims drones assassinate “terrorists” who “hate us for our freedoms” and intend to harm Americans. They also claim these are armed attacks/wars the US did not choose.
Let’s examine those claims.
First: US leaders have oaths to support and defend the US Constitution. The US Constitution literally and legally defines what it means to be an “American.” The only way to act “American” is to uphold the Constitution. Article 6 of the Constitution states that US treaties are our “supreme law;” that is, an explicit requirement in being American. The intent of this Constitutional law is for everyone to know when a US President and 2/3+ of the US Senate (ratification) say we’ll do something, we will do it.
After two world wars with all our families’ most dear sacrifices, the US led creation of two treaties to forbid any armed attacks unless in response to a narrow definition of self-defense: nations can never attack another nation unless under attack by a nation’s government. All other armed attacks on other nations are unlawful Wars of Aggression.
Moreover, the US Constitution provides detailed rights to all “persons” in the US Bill of Rights from harm by the US government. These rights include freedom of speech and press without fear of being declared an enemy of the state, freedom from searches unless government obtains a specific warrant from a judge upon probable cause of having committed a crime, right to juries (both a Grand Jury to examine the evidence before a trial, and then to determine the facts of the case for innocence or guilt), freedom from helping the government’s case through one’s own testimony, a speedy and public jury trial, being informed of the government’s charges of alleged crimes, freedom to engage directly with government evidence and witnesses, immediate right to attorney representation, no excessive bail, and no torture.
When a government is no longer limited by the laws in its constitution, we have to change its description from “constitutional republic” to another term. In this case, because drone-assassination applies whenever a leader says so/dictates, that is the exact definition of dictatorship. 
As you know, “leadership” violates the law in “emperor has no clothes” fashion in other central areas to what it means to be American. These include related War Crimes such as torture, in banking and other cartels that loot the 99% and then hide $20 to $30 trillion in off-shore tax havens, and corporate media that criminally lie in commission and omission to “cover” these facts.
The trillions of dollars/billions of lives question for each American: Is dictatorship what you want, or do you choose freedom under unalienable rights?
Now is the time to choose, live your choice, and voice your choice.
Choose carefully: choices have consequences, including non-action. Consider How you ended the war, Billy Vegas’ of PuppetGov’s 8-minute video.
Hat tip to Mike Rivage-Seul in catching the 9/11-drone irony.

Top Legal Expert: “President Obama … Says That He Can Kill [Any American Citizen Without Any Charge and] On His Own Discretion. He Can Jail You Indefinitely On His Own Discretion”

Top Legal Expert: “President Obama … Says That He Can Kill [Any American Citizen Without Any Charge and] On His Own Discretion. He Can Jail You Indefinitely On His Own Discretion”

Government Says It Can Assassinate or Indefinitely Detain Americans on American Soil Without Any Due Process of Law

I’ve previously noted that Obama says that he can assassinate American citizens living on U.S. soil.
This admittedly sounds over-the-top.  But one of the nation’s top constitutional and military law experts – Jonathan Turley – agrees.
Turley:
  • Is the second most cited law professor in the country
  • Has worked as both the CBS and NBC legal analyst during national controversies
  • Ranks 38th in the top 100 most cited ‘public intellectuals’ in a recent study by a well-known judge
  • Is one of the top 10 lawyers handling military cases
  • Has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues
  • Is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues
Turley said yesterday on C-Span (starting at 15:50):
President Obama has just stated a policy that he can have any American citizen killed without any charge, without any review, except his own. If he’s satisfied that you are a terrorist, he says that he can kill you anywhere in the world including in the United States.
Two of his aides just … reaffirmed they believe that American citizens can be killed on the order of the President anywhere including the United States.
You’ve now got a president who says that he can kill you on his own discretion. He can jail you indefinitely on his own discretion
***
I don’t think the the Framers ever anticipated that [the American people would be so apathetic]. They assumed that people would hold their liberties close, and that they wouldn’t relax …

The Government Has Never Given a Rationale for Assassination

While one might assume that the government has given a valid justification for the claim that it can assassinate anyone anywhere, the Washington Post noted yesterday:
In outlining its legal reasoning, the administration has cited broad congressional authorizations and presidential approvals, the international laws of war and the right to self-defense. But it has not offered the American public, uneasy allies or international authorities any specifics that would make it possible to judge how it is applying those laws.
***
“They’ve based it on the personal legitimacy of [President] Obama — the ‘trust me’ concept,” [American University law professor Kenneth Anderson] said. “That’s not a viable concept for a president going forward.”
***
Under domestic law, the administration considers [assassinations] to be covered by the Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In two key sentences that have no expiration date, the AUMF gives the president sole power to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against nations, groups or persons who committed or aided the attacks, and to prevent future attacks. [But the government just broadened the authorization for use of military force from those who attacked us on 9/11 to include the Taliban and the vague category of "associated forces".]
***
The authorization did not address targets’ nationality or set geographical boundaries, and there was “nothing about the permission of the government” of any country where a terrorist might be found, the former official said.
And see this.

Almost Any American Could Be Arbitrarily Labeled a “Terrorist”

As I’ve previously noted, this is especially concerning when almost any American could be labeled a “terrorist” if the government doesn’t happen to like them:
It is dangerous in a climate where you can be labeled as or suspected of being a terrorist simply for questioning war, protesting anything, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold, or stocking up on more than 7 days of food. [And the FBI says that activists who investigate factory farms can be prosecuted as terrorists.] And see this.
And it is problematic in a period in which FBI agents and CIA intelligence officials, constitutional law expert professor Jonathan Turley, Time Magazine, Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post have all said that U.S. government officials “were trying to create an atmosphere of fear in which the American people would give them more power”, and even former Secretary of Homeland Security – Tom Ridge – admitst hat he was pressured to raise terror alerts to help Bush win reelection.
And it is counter-productive in an age when the government – instead of doing the things which could actually make us safer – are doing things which increasethe risk of terrorism.

And it is insane in a time of perpetual war. See this, this, this and this.

And when the “War on Terror” in the Middle East and North Africa which is being used to justify the attack on Americans was planned long before 9/11.

And when Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser told the Senate in 2007 that the war on terror is “a mythical historical narrative”. And 9/11 was entirely foreseeable, but wasn’t stopped. Indeed, no one in Washington even wants to hear how 9/11 happened, even though that is necessary to stop future terrorist attacks. And the military has bombed a bunch of oil-rich countries when it could have instead taken out Bin Laden years ago.
***
And – given that U.S. soldiers admit that if they accidentally kill innocent Iraqis and Afghanis, they then “drop” automatic weapons near their body so they can pretend they were militants – it is unlikely that the government would ever admit that an American citizen it assassinated was an innocent civilian who has nothing at all to do with terrorism.

Obama Administration: Yes, We Can Kill Americans on US Soil

Obama Administration: Yes, We Can Kill Americans on US Soil
John Glaser, March 05, 2013
Obama chair
The controversy, arising out of the drone war, that President Obama has the authority to assassinate US citizens abroad in non-war zones just got even more disgraceful.
The Obama administration’s Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter in response to persistent inquiries from Senator Rand Paul, who vowed to block the confirmation of John Brennan to CIA chief if the White House didn’t respond. In the letter, Holder maintains that the President does have the authority to kill US citizens on US soil without any due process.
“It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States,” Holder wrote.
Holder’s caveat is that this scenario is “entirely hypothetical” because “the US government has not carried out drone strikes in the United States and has no intention of doing so.” Furthermore, “as a policy matter…we reject the use of military force where well-established law enforcement authorities in this country provide the best means for incapacitating a terrorist threat.”
Still, the concluding legal opinion represents a radical betrayal of constitutional limits imposed on the state for depriving citizens of life, liberty and property. Officially now, Obama’s kingly authority to play Judge, Jury, and Executioner and deprive Americans of their life without due process of law applies not only to Americans abroad but to citizens that are inside the United States.
“The US Attorney General’s refusal to rule out the possibility of drone strikes on American citizens and on American soil is more than frightening – it is an affront the Constitutional due process rights of all Americans,” Sen. Paul said in a statement.
Holder, along with the Obama administration, is making it seem as if the President’s use of lethal force, as in the drone war, would only be used in circumstances like another impending 9/11 attack or something. Only when an attack is imminent.
But that categorical limitation on the President’s authority to kill depends upon their definition of “imminence,” which we learned from a leaked Justice Department white paper last month, is extremely broad.
The memo refers to what it calls a “broader concept of imminence” than what has traditionally been required, like actual intelligence of an ongoing plot against the US.
“The condition that an operational leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future,” the memo states, contradicting conventional international law.
Instead, so long as an “informed, high-level” US official claims the targeted American has been “recently” involved in “activities” that pose a threat and “there is  no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or abandoned such activities,” then the President can order his assassination. The memo does not define “recently” or “activities.”
Holder also insists that in the case of such “extraordinary circumstances,” like another impending 9/11, he ”would examine the particular facts and circumstances before advising the president of the scope of his authority.”
Boy, do I feel comforted.

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

Posted by TCA STAFF On August - 23 - 2012

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” - Proverbs 22: 3

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

by Enoch
The soldiers of the global communist conspiracy are on the march. There is tension in the air, a static type of electricity pregnant with meaning to those who can see the malevolent forces lurking beneath the surface.
Some would say this is the most dangerous time in the history of mankind. Over 7 billion people populate the Earth. Technological advances allow for mass brainwashing on a level never before seen in human existence. Psychotic delusion is reaching stratospheric levels.
The few clearheaded patriots in America correctly discern that the nation is teetering on the precipice, gazing out into the abyss beneath us. All it takes is one careful nudge by the appropriate dark forces. All that matters is when.
The United States in late 2012 is not dying, it is dead. It is not going bankrupt, it is insolvent. Two economic prophets in particular have been predicting a devastating crash for years. The fiercely independent financial prognosticator Peter Schiff authored a book entitled “The Real Crash“, arguing that it is only a matter of time before America undergoes a catastrophic economic Great Depression. Schiff argues persuasively that the recent economic history of the U.S. has been one of the government creating bubbles which subsequently crash and burn.
We are on the last bubble, according to Schiff. The debt bubble. The government currency bubble. This is truly the final stage for any nation, when it is so badly in debt that it’s terrified of balancing its budget and resorts to either destroying its currency or being forced into bankruptcy by its creditors.
Another powerful warning has been sounded by capital markets trader Karl Denninger. Author of Leverage and columnist at The Market Ticker, he writes that the U.S. will soon experience as much as a 40% reduction in GDP growth, 4X the Great Depression. Denninger argues that the economic forces combining to create a perfect storm of destruction have been slowly building in scope for over 30 years.
Once the average American understands just how long these destructive forces have been building, they get that much closer to understanding the terrible judgment hovering over the United States. We have been the children of good fortune. We were pampered, coddled, and spoiled for decades upon decades. And now it is time to pay the piper.
And behind it all lurks the depravity and evil of the communists, corroding the foundations of human civilization, reveling in the creation of new underclasses steeped in suffocating poverty, eradicating morality and virtue in their maniacal dash towards the New Global Hell.
The news from Russia comes with breathtaking speed and devastation nowadays. We hear of bases in Cuba and Vietnam, mobile nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba, attack submarines sitting off our coastline completely undetected for weeks. 20,000 Spetznaz forces, the elite of the elite, have reportedly already infiltrated America’s borders and are patiently awaiting the signal, according to TruNews publisher Rick Wiles, in preparation for a Russian/Chinese attack.

Illumination can be found in Spetznaz, the undisputed authority on the Soviet special forces, written by former GRU officer Viktor Suvorov:
The overture is a series of large and small operations the purpose of which is, before actual military operations begin, to weaken the enemy’s morale, create an atmosphere of general suspicion, fear and uncertainty, and divert the attention of the enemy’s armies and police forces to a huge number of different targets, each of which may be the object of the next attack.” – Spetznaz
The overture is the stage at the beginning of the Third World War. Spetznaz forces are primarily used during this stage of the coming attack, in addition to “mercenaries”, known to Westerners as Islamic terrorists:
“The overture is carried by agents of the secret services of the Soviet satellite countries and by mercenaries recruited by intermediaries. The principal method employed at this stage is ‘grey terror’, that is, a kind of terror which is not conducted in the name of the Soviet Union. The Soviet secret services do not at this stage leave their visiting cards, or leave other people’s cards. The terror is carried out in the name of already existing extremist groups not connected in any way with the Soviet Union, or in the name of fictitious organisations.” – Spetznaz

The Soviet strategists have been patiently biding their time and building up their military forces. The fool who sneers that “the Cold War is over” would be interested to know that the current President of the country is a former operative of the very same institution that ruled the country with bloody brutality during its most heinous years: the KGB.
The names may have changed, they may stage elections like theater productions for gullible Western “intellectuals”, but the main institutions and players have never changed.
Contrary to what the clinically psychotic in America believe, U.S. Presidents before Obama have never committed “false flag” attacks against their own nation. The same cannot be said about Russia and the depraved psychotics that rule it with brutal force. The highly respected KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko stated this truth to the world, before he was hunted down and poisoned in Britain.
In Blowing Up Russia, Litvinenko stated that the FSB, the current incarnation of the KGB, intentionally destroyed Russian apartment complexes and intentionally murdered their own citizens as a false pretense for waging war against Chechnya and passing anti-civil liberties laws.
The premeditated evil that the FSB committed within Russia is the exact same model of propaganda that was disseminated throughout the U.S. by the Russians after 9/11. It was classic projection, but also a pre-emptive strike designed to neutralize the future criticism that will be leveled towards the Obama administration should they move in the direction anticipated. Even at this late stage in 2012, we hear constant reports of planned false flag attacks being planned by the hardcore communists in the White House, spanning the spectrum from the fringe to the mainstream. Clearly something is occurring in America. Even the formerly “moderate” are realizing that something has gone horribly wrong in their country.
But the vast majority of Americans are still fast asleep. They are brainwashed, neurotic, and addicted. The communists wish for them to remain that way until they are no longer necessary, until they no longer pose a threat to their designs. Let the games continue. Let the immorality roll on. Continue with the pro-drug propaganda in films, songs, and the intelligentsia.
There will soon be a time in America when the lights go out. There is swiftly approaching a moment where the brainwashed Americans will have outlived their usefulness, when all their money has been stolen by the communists, their guns have been confiscated, their liberties destroyed. There is a Damocles sword of economic death and destruction hovering over the sleeping citizenry. Beyond these fragile walls, the hordes sharpen their knives and prepare for the assault.
When the economic crash occurs, the cities will burn with a fervent intensity. Woe to those who have not prepared oil for their lamps, to those who did not foresee the evil approaching. When the food runs out, when the electricity stops, when civil society breaks down, understand that this moment has been in the making for a lifetime. When gangs rule the streets, when the tanks roll in, when the communists begin their ascent to power, you must be prepared and knowledgeable of the facts. You must be armed with the correct construct within which you can place these seemingly disparate actions.
When the lights go out, when the party stops, everything changes. When the violence begins, when the cities riot, the mass population becomes more pliant, more fearful. The entire paradigms of hundreds of millions of people will change overnight to one of simple survival. When the chaos escalates and evil ascends, there will be a great spiritual awakening. But it is in the midst of chaos, fear, and bloodshed that communists have historically made their greatest gains, and every action of theirs will be calculated to play the Economic Crash card to its greatest power efficiency. Their advantage will be that they have known for years what is coming, and have laid their plans accordingly.
The global communist forces and their agent Obama are all aware of the approaching crisis. The Department of Homeland Security sounds as if it is becoming Obama’s personal security service with each passing day. They have certainly not been idle. They are clearly preparing for something, as evidenced by their recent purchases of hundreds of millions of rounds of hollow point ammunition.
The average American citizen will need a personal supply of food, water, currency, and protection in order to even have a chance at surviving the coming anarchy. They must connect with likeminded people, but simultaneously be aware of government-paid, communist infiltrators whose mission it is to gain anti-communists’ trust and subsequently betray them. The cities are the worst places to be. Some are even leaving the country. Regardless of how the common man reacts, if they refuse to heed the multiple warnings and signs, they will have nobody to blame when the day of reckoning ultimately arrives.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/609809/holder-response-to-rand-paul.pdf

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/609809/holder-response-to-rand-paul.pdf

Attorney General Holder: Prez Can Assassinate Americans On U.S. Soil

Attorney General Holder: Prez Can Assassinate Americans On U.S. Soil

THE SINKHOLE OF LIBERTYImage by William Banzai

Because America Is a Battlefield In The Eyes of the Government

Attorney general Eric Holder wrote the following to Senator Rand Paul yesterday:
On February 20, 2013, you wrote to John Brennan requesting additional information concerning the Administration’s views about whether “the President has the power to authorize lethal force, such as drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial.”
As members of this administration have previously indicated, the US government has not carried out drone strikes in the United States and has no intention of doing so. As a policy matter moreover, we reject the use of military force where well-established law enforcement authorities in this country provide the best means for incapacitating a terrorist threat. We have a long history of using the criminal justice system to incapacitate individuals located in our country who pose a threat to the United States and its interests abroad. Hundreds of individuals have been arrested and convicted of terrorism-related offenses in our federal courts.
The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States. For example, the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances like a catastrophic attack like the ones suffered on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001.
Were such an emergency to arise, I would examine the particular facts and circumstances before advising the President on the scope of his authority.
There’s more to the following statement than appears at first blush:
As a policy matter moreover, we reject the use of military force where well-established law enforcement authorities in this country provide the best means for incapacitating a terrorist threat.
Specifically, Holder did not say “we are legally constrained by the Constitution from depriving people of life, liberty or property without due process of law, and from using military force on U.S. soil”.  Instead, he said that the Obama administration was so far abstaining from using a power it already has as a current “policy” decision.
John Glaser notes:
The concluding legal opinion represents a radical betrayal of constitutional limits imposed on the state for depriving citizens of life, liberty and property. Officially now, Obama’s kingly authority to play Judge, Jury, and Executioner and deprive Americans of their life without due process of law applies not only to Americans abroad but to citizens that are inside the United States.
“The US Attorney General’s refusal to rule out the possibility of drone strikes on American citizens and on American soil is more than frightening – it is an affront the Constitutional due process rights of all Americans,” Sen. Paul said in a statement.
Holder, along with the Obama administration, is making it seem as if the President’s use of lethal force, as in the drone war, would only be used in circumstances like another impending 9/11 attack or something. Only when an attack is imminent.
But that categorical limitation on the President’s authority to kill depends upon their definition of “imminence,” which we learned from a leaked Justice Department white paper last month, is extremely broad.
The memo refers to what it calls a “broader concept of imminence” than what has traditionally been required, like actual intelligence of an ongoing plot against the US.
“The condition that an operational leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future,” the memo states, contradicting conventional international law.
Instead, so long as an “informed, high-level” US official claims the targeted American has been “recently” involved in “activities” that pose a threat and “there is  no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or abandoned such activities,” then the President can order his assassination. The memo does not define “recently” or “activities.”
Holder also insists that in the case of such “extraordinary circumstances,” like another impending 9/11, he ”would examine the particular facts and circumstances before advising the president of the scope of his authority.”
Boy, do I feel comforted.
This is not entirely surprising.  As we noted in December 2011, a top constitutional expert confirmed that Obama was claiming the authority to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil.   We reported that month:
For more than a year and a half, the Obama administration has said it could target American citizens for assassination without any trial or due process.
But now, as shown by the debates surrounding indefinite detention, the government is saying that America itself is a battlefield.
AP notes today:
U.S. citizens are legitimate military targets when they take up arms with al-Qaida, top national security lawyers in the Obama administration said Thursday.
***
The government lawyers, CIA counsel Stephen Preston and Pentagon counsel Jeh Johnson … said U.S. citizens do not have immunity when they are at war with the United States.
Johnson said only the executive branch, not the courts, is equipped to make military battlefield targeting decisions about who qualifies as an enemy.
The courts in habeas cases, such as those involving whether a detainee should be released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, make the determination of who can be considered an enemy combatant.
We pointed out a year ago, the director of the FBI said he’d have to “check” to see if the president had the authority to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil. We reported last October that form Department of Justice lawyer John Yoo – the guy who wrote the memo justifying torture, even of children, which was used to justify torture of innocent people, including children – said that the president has the power to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil in times of war.
And Mother Jones notes:
In a Google+ Hangout last month, President Obama refused to say directly if he had the authority to use lethal force against US citizens. As Mother Jones reported at the time, the reason the president was being so coy is that the answer was likely yes. Now we know that’s exactly what was happening.
It is not very reassuring that the same unaccountable agency which decides who should be killed by drones also spies on all Americans.
Indeed:
You might assume – in a vacuum – that this might be okay (even though it trashes the Constitution, the separation of military and police actions, and the division between internal and external affairs).
But it is dangerous in a climate where you can be labeled as or suspected of being a terrorist simply for questioning war, protesting anything, asking questions about pollution or about Wall Street shenanigans, supporting Ron Paul, being a libertarian, holding gold, or stocking up on more than 7 days of food. And see this.
And it is problematic in a period in which FBI agents and CIA intelligence officials, constitutional law expert professor Jonathan Turley, Time Magazine, Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post have all said that U.S. government officials “were trying to create an atmosphere of fear in which the American people would give them more power”, and even former Secretary of Homeland Security – Tom Ridge – admitst hat he was pressured to raise terror alerts to help Bush win reelection.
And it is counter-productive in an age when the government – instead of doing the things which could actually make us safer – are doing things which increase the risk of terrorism.
And it is insane in a time of perpetual war. See this, this, this and this.
And when the “War on Terror” in the Middle East and North Africa which is being used to justify the attack on Americans was planned long before 9/11.
And when Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser told the Senate in 2007 that the war on terror is “a mythical historical narrative”. And 9/11 was entirely foreseeable, but wasn’t stopped.   Indeed, no one in Washington even wants to hear how 9/11 happened, even though that is necessary to stop future terrorist attacks.  And the military has bombed a bunch of oil-rich countries when it could have instead taken out Bin Laden years ago.
As I noted in [an analogous context]:
The government’s indefinite detention policy – stripped of it’s spin – is literally insane, and based on circular reasoning. Stripped of p.r., this is the actual policy:
  • If you are an enemy combatant or a threat to national security, we will detain you indefinitely until the war is over
  • But trust us, we know you are an enemy combatant and a threat to national security
See how that works?
And – given that U.S. soldiers admit that if they accidentally kill innocent Iraqis and Afghanis, they then “drop” automatic weapons near their body so they can pretend they were militants – it is unlikely that the government would ever admit that an American citizen it assassinated was an innocent civilian who has nothing at all to do with terrorism.
Read this if you have any doubt as to how much liberty Americans have lost.
Senator Paul told MSNBC:
The response by Holder could lead to a situation where “an Arab-American in Dearborn (Mich.) is walking down the street emailing with a friend in the Mideast and all of a sudden we drop a drone” on him. He said it was “really shocking” that President Barack Obama, a former constitutional law professor, would leave the door open to such a possibility.
True … but you don’t have to be Arab-American to get in trouble.