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Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘September 11’

Democrats Once Opposed the Post-September 11th Expansion of the Surveillance State

Posted by M. C. on September 12, 2023

The Dept. of Homeland Security, once viewed as an Orwellian power grab, is now championed by Democrats to police “dangerous” political speech.

https://www.leefang.com/p/democrats-once-opposed-the-post-september?utm_campaign=email-post&r=iw8dv&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Lee Fang

In the wake of the September 11th terror attacks, President George W. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security, a new sprawling federal agency with over 170,000 employees and new intelligence powers dedicated to domestic national security.

At the inception of this agency, Democratic lawmakers challenged its authority and raised concerns that this consolidation of government power would jeopardize civil liberties.

Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., led the opposition. Feingold criticized the formation of DHS, stating it came “at the expense of unnecessarily undermining our privacy rights” and “weakening protections against unwarranted government intrusion into the lives of ordinary Americans.”

Representative Chris Bell, D-Tex., fumed at the agency and warned against the creation of an “Orwellian surveillance state” that would be used to settle “partisan political” disputes.

Civil libertarian opposition once held sway within the party. Democrats worked closely with the ACLU and other privacy groups to question DHS powers, particularly around data mining, surveillance, and interference into domestic politics.

The fear that the newly created agency would weaponize homeland security concerns to advance partisan politics quickly materialized in the 2004 elections. Tom Ridge, after serving as the head of the agency, wrote that the Bush administration officials pressured him to raise the DHS terror threat level just before voting got underway in a bid to influence the electoral outcome.

Even as recently as 2012, House Democrats raised concerns in Congress about DHS violating American civil rights and privacy rights by inappropriately monitoring First Amendment-protected speech on social media. “I am looking forward to learning from the witnesses exactly how DHS uses social media and what DHS is doing to make sure that in its use of social media, it is not being perceived as being a Big Brother,” said Representative Jackie Speier, D-Calif., during an oversight hearing over the Department of Homeland Security’s social media surveillance efforts. 

But as the threat of Islamic terror attacks has diminished, the Department of Homeland Security has pivoted and recalibrated its reach, finding new political support for its growth.

See the rest here

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Never Forget: Smoking Gun Intel Memo From 1990s Warned Of ‘Frankenstein The CIA Created’ | Zero Hedge

Posted by M. C. on September 12, 2020

But it was all the way back in 1993 that a then classified intelligence memo warned that the very fighters the CIA previously trained would soon turn their weapons on the US and its allies. The ‘secret’ document was declassified in 2009, but has remained largely obscure in mainstream media reporting, despite being the first to contain a bombshell admission.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/never-forget-1993-smoking-gun-intel-memo-warned-frankenstein-cia-created

by Tyler Durden

As Americans pause to remember the tragic events of September 11, 2001 which saw almost 3,000 innocents killed in the worst terror attack in United States history, it might also be worth contemplating the horrific wars and foreign quagmires unleashed during the subsequent ‘war on terror’.

Bush’s so-called Global War on Terror targeted ‘rogue states’ like Saddam’s Iraq, but also consistently had a focus on uprooting and destroying al-Qaeda and other armed Islamist terror organizations (this led to the falsehood that Baathist Saddam and AQ were in cahoots). But the idea that Washington from the start saw al-Qaeda and its affiliates as some kind of eternal enemy is largely a myth. 

Recall that the US covertly supported the Afghan mujahideen and other international jihadists throughout the 1980’s Afghan-Soviet War, the very campaign in which hardened al-Qaeda terrorists got their start. In 1999 The Guardian in a rare moment of honest mainstream journalism warned of the Frankenstein the CIA created — among their ranks a terror mastermind named Osama bin Laden.

1998 CNN still of Osama bin Laden, right, along with Egyptian jihadist Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan, CNN/Getty Images

But it was all the way back in 1993 that a then classified intelligence memo warned that the very fighters the CIA previously trained would soon turn their weapons on the US and its allies. The ‘secret’ document was declassified in 2009, but has remained largely obscure in mainstream media reporting, despite being the first to contain a bombshell admission.

A terrorism analyst at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research named Gina Bennett wrote in the 1993 memo “The Wandering Mujahidin: Armed and Dangerous,” that—

“support network that funneled money, supplies, and manpower to supplement the Afghan mujahidin” in the war against the Soviets, “is now contributing experienced fighters to militant Islamic groups worldwide.”

The concluding section contains the most revelatory statements, again remembering these words were written nearly a decade before the 9/11 attacks:

US support of the mujahidin during the Afghan war will not necessarily protect US interests from attack.

…Americans will become the targets of radical Muslims’ wrath. Afghan war veterans, scattered throughout the world, could surprise the US with violence in unexpected locales.

There it is in black and white print: the United States government knew and bluntly acknowledged that the very militants it armed and trained to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars would eventually turn that very training and those very weapons back on the American people.

And this was not at all a “small” or insignificant group, instead as The Guardian wrote a mere two years before 9/11:

American officials estimate that, from 1985 to 1992, 12,500 foreigners were trained in bomb-making, sabotage and urban guerrilla warfare in Afghan camps the CIA helped to set up.

But don’t think for a moment that there was ever a “lesson learned” by Washington.

Instead the CIA and other US agencies repeated the 1980s policy of arming jihadists to overthrow US enemy regimes in places like Libya and Syria even long after the “lesson” of 9/11. As War on The Rocks recounted:

Despite the passage of time, the issues Ms. Bennett raised in her 1993 work continue to be relevant today.  This fact is a sign of the persistence of the problem of Sunni jihadism and the “wandering mujahidin.” Today, of course, the problem isn’t Afghanistan but Syria. While the war there is far from over, there is already widespread nervousness, particularly in Europe, about what will happen when the foreign fighters return from that conflict.

On 9/11 we should never forget the innocent lives lost, but we should also never forget the Frankenstein of jihad the CIA created.

* * *

The U.S. State Dept.’s own numbers at the height of the war in Syria: access the full report at STATE.GOV

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The Afghanistan Papers Propaganda at the WashPo Fooled Many – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on January 4, 2020

The Post it seems just did the job it was tasked to do by publishing this story in order to place just enough blame on the system at large so that the rest of society would feel better, and then go right back to sleep.

There is no mention of war crimes, no mention of the senseless murder of hundreds of thousands, and nothing said of the millions of innocent lives destroyed by this purposeful slaughter for the sake of power and control.

The stage is now set for a major continuation of this war on humanity. Iran will be the next and most important victim in this game of death and empire.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/01/gary-d-barnett/the-afghanistan-papers-propaganda-at-the-washington-post-fooled-many-now-on-to-iran/

By

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country”. ~ Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928), p. 10

All of a sudden, and out of the blue, the “truth-telling” Washington Post informed us that Afghanistan was a failure. They claimed that they were able to gain this valuable and previously unknown information by gaining access to “secret documents,” that were actually not secrets or documents at all, but so-called hidden interviews with those who were actually responsible for prosecuting this heinous war against an innocent people. As stated by the Post “We’re basically fighting the wrong way,” and “This was an original way to tell the story of all the failures in Afghanistan.” Propaganda at this level deserves respect for its blatant and open dishonesty, because the pathetic American populace, including many of those in the alternative press and many of those falsely claiming to be champions of liberty, will easily swallow these outright lies.

In the quote above by Edward Bernays, the “conscious and intelligent manipulation” of the masses is somewhat misleading in that the manipulation may be intelligent, but only because the collective masses are consumed by blind ignorance…

Afghanistan was never a failure; it was a resounding success for the ruling elite puppet masters, their pawns in government, and the entirety of the military industrial complex. The war against Afghanistan and the Middle East was planned far in advance of the staged events of September 11, 2001. A war was certainly desired, but times had changed, and some of the people were tiring of war. What was needed was a solidifying event, one that would corral the emotions of the masses so they would once again accept carnage for false safety, but this time it was to be forever. A simple war was not enough, so a never-ending war was sought, and the era of the bogus war on terror was conceived. Afghanistan was only the beginning.

What the Post story has attempted to accomplish, and apparently achieved, is to bring some sort of mental closure to a situation that was always meant to be the linchpin in a much more aggressive universal war that could lead to a one-world dominate economic system. While the CIA probably did not actually write this Post article, it certainly planted the information, and put all the pieces together in order to set the narrative going forward. The Post it seems just did the job it was tasked to do by publishing this story in order to place just enough blame on the system at large so that the rest of society would feel better, and then go right back to sleep…

The stage is now set for a major continuation of this war on humanity. Iran will be the next and most important victim in this game of death and empire. It has already begun, but this time the consequences could be far more dangerous, and fatal for the future of freedom.

My position is to believe nothing and question everything. It is the only way to achieve sanity, to find the truth, and to see the evil that exists in this world. That evil is far more prevalent than can be readily imagined, and only truth can expose the risks we face. Beware of false flags. Beware of state and media lies. Beware of false prophets wearing the robes of kings, and beware of those that continue to paint a picture of terror in order to advance more war. We are in a time of great danger, and that danger is already upon us today.

“It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning. They shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid the general applause from all the wits who believe that it is a joke.”

~ Søren Kierkegaard

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A Timeline of CIA Atrocities - Veterans Today | News ...

 

 

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“There exists a government within a government within the United States” -Osama bin Laden | Zero Hedge | Zero Hedge

Posted by M. C. on November 20, 2019

Said a different way, the USA invaded and occupies a nation on the other side of the planet that fucking borders Iran and China, then complains about Persian and Chinese aggressive behavior in the Persian Gulf and South China Sea.  

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-11-18/there-exists-government-within-government-within-united-states

by hedgeless_horseman

“I was not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States nor did I have knowledge of the attacks. There exists a government within a government within the United States. The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself… That secret government must be asked as to who carried out the attacks. … The American system is totally in control of the Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States.” 

-Osama bin Laden statement, published by BBC

 

In essence, this article is about a map, a video, a timeline, and a chart.  Please, take a few minutes to carefully examine each.

The Map

I have asked dozens, if not hundreds, of Americans to please tell me why, exactly, America is at war with Afghanistan, the longest war in American history.  Some say, “Because they attacked us.”  Most have no answer, whatsoever, but instead ask me, “Why?”   I respond by asking them what large oil-producing nation borders Afghanistan in the west.  Some guess, “Iraq.”  Nobody knows.  I then ask what large oil-consuming nation borders Afghanistan on the East.  Nobody knows.  I tell them the answers are Iran (Israel’s and Saudi Arabia’s arch enemy) and China.

0 miles: Distance from Afghanistan to Iran

0 miles: Distance from Afghanistan to China

7,477 miles: Distance from Afghanistan to Washington, D.C.

Said a different way, the USA invaded and occupies a nation on the other side of the planet that fucking borders Iran and China, then complains about Persian and Chinese aggressive behavior in the Persian Gulf and South China Sea.

lol

 

The Video

It is highly unlikely that you have seen the interviews in this 4 minute and 13 second video, a compilation of FDNY firefighters talking about the explosions inside the WTC on 9-11-2001.  Watch it now, before it is memory holed by The Ministry of Truth.

 

The Timeline

  • 1979-1989 Operation Cyclone – CIA program to arm and finance Afghani insurgents, including those organized by Saudi Arabian, Osama bin Laden
  • 9-10-2001 US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, declares $2.3 trillion in missing Pentagon receipts
  • 9-11-2001 Thousands of Americans killed when three World Trade Center towers are destroyed and two unidentifiable flying objects crash into the Pentagon and the ground in Pennsylvania
  • 10-7-2001 US goes to war against the general concept of “terror” and attacks the nation of Afghanistan, because they decline to extradite former Operation Cyclone ally and Saudi Arabian citizen, Osama bin Laden, without some evidence of his involvement in 9-11-2001 attacks, which US refuses to provide
  • 10-26-2001 USA Patriot Act signed into law
  • 11-21-2001 Five Dancing Israelis arrested by NYPD on 9-11-2001  are quietly released by FBI to return to Israel
  • 9-2-2004 US Presidential election with essentially zero discussion or debate about the War in Afghanistan
  • 9-4-2008 US Presidential election with essentially zero discussion or debate about the War in Afghanistan
  • 5-2-2011 Osama bin Laden reportedly shot in face in Pakistan and his body immediately buried at sea
  • 9-6-2012 US Presidential election with essentially zero discussion or debate about the War in Afghanistan
  • 9-8-2016 US Presidential election with essentially zero discussion or debate about the War in Afghanistan
  • 9-3-2020 US Presidential election with essentially zero discussion or debate about the War in Afghanistan

 

The Chart

President Donald J. Trump has expressed his desire to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R45122.pdf

Watch what they do, not what they say.

On September 7, 2019, President Trump revealed in a series of tweets that he had invited “major Taliban leaders” and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to meet with him separately at Camp David on the following day. He wrote that, because a Taliban attack killed several people, including a U.S. soldier, in Kabul on September 5, he had “immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.”

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R45122.pdf

U.S. air operations have escalated considerably under the Trump Administration, as measured by the number of munitions released (see Figure 2). These operations have contributed to a sharp rise in civilian casualties; the U.N. reported that the third quarter of 2019 saw the highest quarterly civilian casualty toll since tracking began in 2009, with over 4,300 civilians killed or injured from July 1 to September 30.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R45122.pdf

Oceania is at war with Central Asia.

Oceania has always been at war with Central Asia.

Oceania will always be at war with Central Asia.

 

11-17-2019

US Army’s new card decks feature Russian, Chinese & Iranian weapons ‘to learn more about adversaries’

https://www.rt.com/usa/473664-us-army-playing-cards/

 

Peace, liberty, love, and truth,

h_h

 

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TERMINAL MADNESS: What Is Airport Security?

Posted by M. C. on April 17, 2018

http://www.askthepilot.com/essaysandstories/terminal-madness/

– James Fallows, 

IN AMERICA AND ACROSS MUCH OF THE WORLD, the security enhancements put in place following the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, have been drastic and of two kinds: those practical and effective, and those irrational and pointless.

The first variety have taken place almost entirely behind the scenes. Comprehensive explosives scanning for checked luggage, for instance, was long overdue and is a welcome addition. It’s the second variety, unfortunately that has come to dominate the air travel experience. I’m talking about the frisking, X-raying, body scanning, and confiscating that goes on at thousands of concourse checkpoints across the globe — activities that by and large waste our time, waste our money, and humiliate millions of us on a daily basis.

Read the rest of this entry »

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