|
||
|
||
9/11: A Time to Review the Legacy of W and the Quiet Coup
As we mark the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center I think it’s worth talking about it once again in terms of the events leading up to and following the attacks and what that might tell us about a larger agenda this administration has for us and the world.
Revelations from the military intelligence operation code-named "Able Danger" have cast light on a missed opportunity that could have potentially prevented 9/11. Specifically, U.S. Army Col. Anthony Shaffer, a veteran intelligence officer, publicly revealed that the Able Danger team had identified Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers by mid-2000 but were prevented by military lawyers from giving this information to the FBI. One week later, Navy Capt. Scott J. Phillpott, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who managed the program for the Pentagon's Special Operations Command, confirmed "Atta was identified by Able Danger by January-February of 2000."
Also, the FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001, Greg Smith, testified that he spent almost four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but 'criminal negligence' by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks."
The Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001 was given the title Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US and contained information on the following:
Surprisingly, but then again perhaps not, President Bush may never have actually read the memo.
Following the attacks, there were claims by administration officials including Secretary of State Rice, that such an attack could not have been foreseen. Well, no I guess you couldn’t have if you didn’t read the memo.
After 9/11, amidst the calls for swift revenge on the perpetrators, a commission was thrown together to investigate what was perceived as failings of the intelligence community. However, the 9-11 Commission could only subpoena a witness or document if both Republican and Democratic Chairs concurred in writing, or six of the other eight members agreed. Even when subpoenas were used, the 9-11 Commission had no power to compel testimony with grants of immunity. Moreover, the 9-11 Commission had no mandate to conduct an independent review of "matters relating to the intelligence community."
Now look at statements made in The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) whose stated goal is "to promote American global leadership." Fundamental to the PNAC are the views that "American leadership is both good for America and good for the world" and support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity." It has exerted strong influence on high-level U.S. government officials in the current administration of George W. Bush and strongly affected the Bush administration's development of military and foreign policies, especially involving national security and the Iraq War.
On January 26, 1998, in the PNAC's open letter to President Bill Clinton, its members explicitly called for a U.S. ground campaign to oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
This is the chilling part, Section V of Rebuilding America's Defenses, entitled "Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force", includes the sentence: "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor" .
“A new Pearl Harbor”. That phrase will ring in my ears for the rest of my life. Almost wistfully, the likes of Wolfowitz, Libby, Cheney, Jeb Bush, and Kristol wish for a catastrophic event to devastate the American psyche and instill it with so much fear that they would allow their political leaders to do whatever it takes to extract it’s pound of flesh in revenge even if it means invading and occupying a sovereign nation, kidnapping, detaining, and torturing innocents, illegally wire tapping it’s own citizens, and suspending habeas corpus. And they have. I call this the “Quiet Coup”. An elite group has taken over our country aided by money, power, aided by a complicit media, and an apathetic public.
So, where does all this leave us? We have an administration that was given ample information and warnings concerning the potential for attacks like those on 9/11 before they happened. This same administration seemed to thwart investigations which may have led to the prevention of those attacks. Then, after that horrific day, established a sham of a commission to placate calls for an investigation, giving it no real power to find the well-hidden truth. Then, using the fear generated by the attacks, labels Iraq as responsible for the attacks so that they can launch their long planned invasion and occupation to regain a foothold in the oil-rich region.
And what is that truth? Perhaps we’ll never know, but the above well-documented facts tell me that this administration was very likely complicit with the attacks. That, once they saw the possibility that the attacks might take place, they saw it as their opportunity to have their “new Pearl Harbor”, giving them their mandate to enact their plan of world domination through military force as laid out in the Project for a New American Century.
As FBI agent Greg Smith stated, this constitutes criminal negligence. As such, there should be an investigation, a REAL 9/11 Commission, to determine whether or not the President and others should be charged with criminally negligent homicide for the thousands of deaths that occurred on 9/11. This may be the only way that Americans can take back their country. Unfortunately, this will probably never happen. This Democratic led Congress doesn’t have the political will to stop the illegal wire tapping much less the will to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of the thousands who died that day even though their surviving families still cry for it. That’s because they are part of the problem, not part of the solution. They are “on the take” from the same profiteering war machine corporations who view all of this as a good thing. “This” being the system of legalized bribery implemented by lobbyists and special interest groups that puts politicians in their pockets. “This” being the military/industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about. While we pray for peace, they pray for war. “War Without End, Amen.”
Sources:
http://www.justresponse.net/Hirschhorn062.html
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf
http://www.antiwar.com/rothschild/?articleid=2342
http://aquilinefocus.blogspot.com/2005/08/abel-danger-retrospective-hero-of-9...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Laden_Determined_to_Strike_in_U.S.