Reviewing
Michel Chossudovsky's America's War on Terrorism
By Stephen Lendman
19 June, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Michel
Chossudovsky is a noted academic, author, activist and relentless researcher
concentrating on America's imperial crusade to control planet earth
for its markets, resources and cheap exploitable labor. He's a Canadian
economist by profession having taught at the University of Ottawa as
well as at academic institutions in Western Europe, Latin America and
Southeast Asia. In addition, he's been an economic adviser to developing
countries' governments and a consultant for many international organizations,
including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean, International Labour Organization
(ILO), and World Health Organization (WHO). He's also the editor of
the Centre for Research on Globalization and its web site, Global Research.ca.
"America's War
on Terrorism" - An Overview
Chossudovsky's book is a
greatly expanded version of his 2002 book titled, "War and Globalization:
The Truth behind September 11." The current newly titled 2005 edition
(post-9/11 and the 2003 Iraq invasion and occupation) includes 12 new
chapters with those in the original edition updated. The author states
the book's purpose is "to refute the official narrative and reveal
- using detailed evidence and documentation (not speculation based on
opinion alone)" - the true nature of America's "war on terrorism,"
that's as relevant now as when the book was first published.
Chossudovsky calls it a complete
fabrication "based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden
(from a cave in Afghanistan and hospital bed in Pakistan) outwitted
the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus." He calls
it, instead, what, in fact, it is - a pretext for permanent "New
World Order" wars of conquest serving the interests of Wall Street
and the financial community, the US military-industrial complex, Big
Oil, and all other corporate interests profiting hugely from a massive
scheme harming the public interest, in the name of protecting it, and
potentially all humanity unless it's stopped in time.
On the morning of 9/11, the Bush administration didn't miss a beat telling
the world Al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center (WTC) and Pentagon
meaning Osama bin Laden was the main culprit - case closed without even
the benefit of a forensic and intelligence analysis piecing together
all potential helpful information. There was no need to because, as
Chossudovsky explained, "That same (9/11) evening at 9:30 pm, a
'War Cabinet' was formed integrated by a select number of top intelligence
and military advisors. At 11:00PM, at the end of that historic (White
House) meeting, the 'War on Terrorism' was officially launched,"
and the rest is history.
Chossudovsky continued "The
decision was announced (straightaway) to wage war against the Taliban
and Al Qaeda in retribution for the 9/11 attacks" with news headlines
the next day asserting, with certainty, "state sponsorship"
responsibility for the attacks connected to them. The dominant media,
in lockstep, called for military retaliation against Afghanistan even
though no evidence proved the Taliban government responsible, because,
in fact, it was not and we knew it.
Four weeks later on October 7, a long-planned war of illegal aggression
began, Afghanistan was bombed and then invaded by US forces working
in partnership with their new allies - the United Islamic Front for
the Salvation of Afghanistan or so-called Northern Alliance "warlords."
Their earlier repressive rule was so extreme, it gave rise to the Taliban
in the first place and has now made them resurgent.
Chossudovsky further explained
that the public doesn't "realize that a large scale theater war
is never planned and executed in a matter of weeks." This one,
like all others, was months in the making needing only what former CentCom
Commander General Tommy Franks called a "terrorist, massive, casualty-producing
event" to arouse enough public anger for the Bush administration
to launch it after declaring their "war on terrorism." Chossudovsky,
through thorough and exhausting research, exposed it as a fraud.
He's been on top of the story
ever since uncovering the "myth of an 'outside enemy' and the threat
of 'Islamic terrorists' (that became) the cornerstone (and core justification)
of the Bush administration's military doctrine." It allowed Washington
to wage permanent aggressive wars beginning with Afghanistan and Iraq,
to ignore international law, and to "repeal civil liberties and
constitutional government" through repression laws like the Patriot
and Military Commissions Acts. A key objective throughout has, and continues
to be, Washington's quest to control the world's energy supplies, primarily
oil, starting in the Middle East where two-thirds of known reserves
are located.
Toward that end, the Bush
administration created a fictitious "outside enemy" threat
without which no "war on terrorism" could exist, and no foreign
wars could be waged. Chossudovsky exposed the linchpin of the whole
scheme. He uncovered evidence that Al Queda "was a creation of
the CIA going back to the Soviet-Afghan war" era, and that in the
1990s Washington "consciously supported Osama bin Laden, while
at the same time placing him on the FBI's 'most wanted list' as the
World's foremost terrorist." He explained that the CIA (since the
1980s and earlier) actively supports international terrorism covertly,
and that on September 10, 2001 "Enemy Number One" bin Laden
was in a Rawalpindi, Pakistan military hospital confirmed on CBS News
by Dan Rather. He easily could have been arrested but wasn't because
we had a "better purpose" in mind for "America's best
known fugitive (to) give a (public) face to the 'war on terrorism' "
that meant keeping bin Laden free to play the role. If he didn't exist,
we'd have had to invent him, but that could have been arranged as well.
The Bush administration's
national security doctrine needs enemies, the way all empires on the
march do. Today "Enemy Number One" rests on the fiction of
bin Laden-led Islamic terrorists threatening the survival of western
civilization. In fact, however, Washington uses Islamic organizations
like Islamic Jihad as a "key instrument of US military-intelligence
operations in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union" while, at
the same time, blaming them for the 9/11 attacks calling them "a
threat to America."
"America's War
on Terrorism" - In-Depth
The book is in four parts,
each discussed enough below to convey the essence and flavor of the
heavily documented power-packed amount of information in the volume's
365 pages - a healthy serving for each day of the year.
Part I - September
11
September 11, 2001 is a day
that will live in infamy, but not for how official accounts portray
it. It wasn't the first September 11 of note and may not be the last.
Chileans remember theirs in 1973 when General Augusto Pinochet, aided
by CIA, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, ousted and murdered democratically
elected President Salvador Allende by military coup d'etat. It ended
the most vibrant democracy in the Americas ushering in a 16 year fascist
reign of terror Chileans are still healing from 18 years later. Now
it's our turn with Bush administration officials using the myth of an
"outside enemy" to hide the real threat we face from within
from real enemies in our own government. They're waging war on the world,
destroying our civil liberties, and shredding our social state paying
for it.
It began long before 9/11,
but that day plans became policy, then hardened, expanded and now threatening
all humanity. Chossudovsky spells in out stating straightaway "The
world is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history
(having) embarked upon a military adventure" threatening everyone
unless exposed and stopped.
He begins with vital heavily
documented background information about 9/11 already covered above.
It explained we needed cover for our "war on terrorism." Osama
bin Laden and Al Qaeda provided it as "Enemy Number One" and
his network, hiding the fact he and thousands of Mujahideen fighters
were recruited for the largest ever CIA operation in the 1980s. They
were organized, financed and sent to "destabili(ze) the pro-Soviet
government in Afghanistan, but (more importantly) destroy...the Soviet
Union." CIA's Milton Beardman once explained "If Osama bin
Laden did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
In fact, we did, using Pakistan's
Military Intelligence ISI as intermediary, so bin Laden and Mujahideen
fighters weren't aware who their real paymaster was or why they were
recruited. ISI played a crucial role for Washington in the 1980s. Then,
from the end of the Cold War to the present, it's been "the launch
pad for CIA covert operations in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the
Balkans" turning Bosnia into a "militant Islamic base"
and later Kosovo with help from NATO and Washington. This isn't speculation.
It's fact. The ISI-Osama-Al Queda-Taliban nexus is a matter of public
record, but the "American people have been consciously and deliberately
deceived (about it) by their government."
They have no knowledge the
Taliban gained power in 1996 the same covert way - helped by US military
aid funneled through Pakistan's ISI. Janes Defense Weekly confirmed
"half of Taliban manpower and equipment originate(d) in Pakistan
under the ISI." Just like today, our hidden agenda was "oil"
with Taliban officials "whisked off to Houston" to meet with
US oil company giant, Unocal, "regarding the construction of the
strategic trans-Afghan pipeline." Afghanistan is strategically
located "at the hub of five nuclear powers: Russia, China, India,
Pakistan and Kazakhstan." It also borders Russia, China and Iran.
It's why Washington wants a permanent military presence in the country
run by a puppet client government masquerading as a democratically elected
one, and why we're at war so that status won't ever change.
Chossudovsky explains behind
the scenes, "military planners in the State Department, the Pentagon
and the CIA call the shots on foreign policy." They're in league
with NATO, the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organization (all US-dominated
organizations). The real powers controlling everything are "the
global banks and financial institutions, the military-industrial complex,
the oil and energy giants, the biotech and pharmaceutical conglomerates,"
other corporate giants and the dominant media, or de facto ministry
of state information and propaganda, disseminating deception while suppressing
the truth.
The result is catastrophic.
The rule of law has been suspended, the Republic hangs by a thread,
and "the foundations of an authoritarian state apparatus have emerged"
that, in an emergency, could become as harsh as in Nazi Germany or Soviet
Russia at its worst under Stalin. It's no understatement. Its early
disturbing signs are already present and recognized.
The entire scheme is based on the myth of an "Islamic Jihad"
being a "threat to America" when, in fact, CIA and the US
intelligence community has close ties to the "Islamic Militant
Network." CIA even admits bin Laden was an "intelligent asset"
(as distinct from an "agent") during the Cold War, but that
information's long gone down "the memory hole" and forgotten.
He was used by four presidents beginning with Ronald Reagan, then GHW
Bush, Bill Clinton, and now GW Bush writ large today as "Enemy
Number One" in the phony "war on terrorism."
Part II - War and
Globalization
Washington's "hidden
agenda" involves waging preventive wars to "extend...the global
market system (and) open...up new 'economic frontiers' for US corporate
capital....in close liaison with Britain." US-British ties in areas
of banking, oil and defense industries drive our joint military operations
in the Middle East, Central Asia and most anywhere else from this marriage
wreaking hell on earth wherever it marauds.
"America's New War"
post-9/11 was "in the 'pipeline' for at least three years prior
to....September 11." Beginning with the Clinton administration's
illegal war of aggression against Yugoslavia, NATO was enlarged to include
Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. Inclusion of former Soviet satellites
took aim directly at Yugoslavia as the West's next target with Russia
designated a future one. With that in mind, GUUAM was formed in 1999
comprised of four post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. It's a Western financed
regional military alliance, under US-controlled NATO, "strategically
at the hub of the Caspian oil and gas wealth with Moldova and Ukraine
offering (pipeline) export routes to the West." A key immediate
aim of this alliance is to fracture CIS, exclude Russia from Caspian
resources Washington wants to control, and politically isolate Moscow
combined in one strategic blow.
"Militarization of the
Eurasian Corridor" was the plan to do it with Congress adopting
the Silk Road Strategy Act (SRS) in March, 1999. It was a framework
to develop "America's business empire along an extensive geographical
corridor" as well as undermine and destabilize Russia, China and
Iran. It was also planned as a first step toward incorporating all former
Soviet republics into "America's business empire" and sphere
of influence, further isolating Russia and China. The area involved
is vast, extending from the Black Sea to the Chinese border in a strategically
vital part of the world rich in energy resources a new "Great Game"
is being waged for.
As already explained, Afghanistan lies "at the strategic crossroads
of the Eurasian oil pipeline and transport routes." Under US control,
it's part of making SRS work that requires the "militarization
of the Eurasian corridor (for) control over extensive oil and gas reserves
(and for protecting) pipeline routes (planned by) Anglo-American oil
companies" like BP-Amoco and others.
SRS also aims to prevent
"former Soviet republics from developing economic, political and
defense ties with China, Iran, Turkey and Iraq (and to) cut the Russians
off altogether from the Caspian oil and gas fields." What's planned
is a number of pipeline routes (transiting west, south and east) from
the Caspian through countries controlled by the Western military alliance.
The whole scheme aims to benefit the US-Anglo alliance, cut off Russia,
China and Iran, and "weaken competing European oil interests in
the Transcaucasus and Central Asia."
When George Bush took office,
negotiations with the Taliban were resumed on behalf of Unocal, after
the Clinton administration first tried and then broke them off in 1999.
The talks failed a few months before 9/11 leading to the Afghan war
a scant four weeks later on October 7. It ended after five weeks on
November 12 when the Taliban fled Kabul allowing US-recruited and financed
Northern Alliance forces to enter the city the next day.
Life in Afghanistan's been
surreal ever since. In parts of Kabul, an opulent elite emerged grown
rich from rampant corruption and drugs trafficking discussed further
below. This opulent Potemkin facade hides the harsh, dangerous, desperate
conditions for the vast majority of 26 million Afghans made worse by
a US-led war and occupation allowing Northern Alliance warlords back
in power. It reinstated their repressive rule that helped bring Taliban
to power in the first place over two-thirds of the country including
the capital, Kabul. Today it's de jeva vu all over again with Afghans
fed up with occupation and Northern Alliance brutality. That's allowed
Taliban forces to capitalize on the turmoil and reemerge reclaiming
most Southern parts of the country. It's why war rages on with no resolution
in site and likely will be as unwinnable as the lost cause in Iraq already
acknowledged in US high circles.
The Taliban was ousted in
2001 for various reasons. Among them was its near-eradication of opium
production now flourishing again under Northern Alliance-occupation
forces rule. Drugs trafficking is big business writ large with Chossudovsky
explaining it's "the third biggest global commodity in cash terms
after oil and the arms trade" annually grossing up to $500 billion
according to a UN estimate. That's more than double the revenue generated
by legal prescription drugs Big Pharma reported in 2005.
A well-hidden Afghan war
objective was reinstating opium production that was achieved writ large
post-2001. UN anti-drug chief, Antonio Maria Costa, said it was at a
record 6100 tons in 2006 (enough for 610 tons of heroin) or 92% of total
world supply and 30% more than the amount consumed globally.
Chossudovsky explained narcotics
are a major source of wealth, not just for organized crime, but also
for the "US intelligence apparatus" representing powerful
"spheres of finance and banking." Intelligence agencies and
legal business syndicates are allied with criminal enterprises blurring
the lines between them, at times indistinguishable. Included are Western
international and other banks and their offshore affiliates in tax havens.
Multi-billions from illicit drugs trafficking pour into them making
this revenue source a huge profit center. None of this is secret, but
it remains unreported below the radar. So is how the money is laundered
and recycled into legal enterprises in real estate, manufacturing, other
businesses as well as used for transactions in stocks, bonds, and other
speculative investments.
It's also well documented
that CIA trafficked in drugs (directly or indirectly) throughout its
60 year existence and especially since the 1980s when it used cocaine
revenues funding the Contra wars in Nicaragua. Today, CIA is partnered
with Afghan "warlords" and criminal syndicates in the huge
business of heroin trafficking. Along with its other illicit drug dealings,
it guarantees the intelligence agency billions in revenue supplementing
its annual budget Mary Margaret Graham, Deputy Director of National
Intelligence for Collection, disclosed at $44 billion in 2005.
This year it's likely higher with rogue operations ongoing almost anywhere
and CIA able to get whatever it wants just for the asking. This is how
a rogue agency operates Chalmers Johnson calls a global Mafia-style
hit squad in his new book, "Nemesis." It's a "personal,
secret, unaccountable army of the president" with mischievous covert
illegal operations its main function. They include overthrowing democratically
elected governments, assassinating foreign heads of state and key officials,
recruiting and training secret paramilitary armies, propping up friendly
dictators, and snatching targeted individuals for "extraordinary
rendition" to secret torture-prison hellholes from which they may
never emerge.
Under George Bush, CIA is
more active than ever with double the number of covert operatives. Johnson
explains "CIA's bag of dirty tricks....is a defining characteristic
of the imperial presidency. It is a source of unchecked power"
gravely threatening the nation and shortening the life of the Republic
and democratic rule he believes won't survive unless the agency is disbanded.
Along with CIA and Homeland
Security, Chossudovsky highlights "America's War Machine"
and the major buildup in it begun after 1999. The aim: "to achieve
(an unchallengeable) position of global military hegemony....through
the largest military buildup since the Vietnam war" with large
annual increases planned in future years and no end to this in sight.
For FY 2006, the Pentagon's reported budget was $499.4 billion (excluding
multi-billions off-the-book for Iraq and Afghanistan). For fiscal 2007,
it increased to over $583 billion.
Astonishingly, Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute, Robert Higgs,
says high numbers mask the total annual amount spent on defense in all
forms, at home and abroad, that's almost double the budgeted amounts.
For FY 2006, his total is $934.9 billion broken down as follows in billions:
-- Department of Defense:
$499.4.
-- Department of Energy: $16.6
-- Department of State: $25.3
-- Department of Veterans Affairs: $69.8
-- Department of Homeland Security: $69.1
-- Department of Justice (one-third of FBI): $1.9
-- Department of the Treasury (for Military Retirement Fund: $38.5.
-- NASA: $7.6
-- Net interest attributable to past debt-financed defense outlays:
$206.7.
Using published budgeted
numbers alone, the US now spends more on its military than the rest
of the world combined. In 2005, China spent around $30 billion, today
it's surely higher but even if $50 billion it's around 8.6% of our FY
2007 defense budget and about 5% of it with all other expenditures Higgs
includes. Hyping China's threat to the US, however, Department of Defense
(DOD) claimed Beijing spent $65 billion in 2005, $90 billion in 2006
and $120 budgeted for 2007.
Note, Higgs US defense spending numbers exclude secret budgets for CIA,
NSA, and other off-the-books intelligence operations. It also excludes
smaller budgets for the Selective Service System, the National Defense
Stockpile Center, and the Treasury's program blocking financial flows
to "terrorists." Nonetheless, in total, the numbers are huge,
growing, and already out-of-control with Higgs estimating FY 2007 numbers
an astonishing $1.028 trillion.
What is it buying us and at what cost? Chossudovsky explains it's for
plenty including refurbishing our nuclear arsenal with the latest technology
targeting Russia and China. There's also a new generation of "tactical
nuclear weapons" or so-called "mini-nukes" including
"bunker buster" earth penetrating bombs targeting underground
facilities. They're designed to explode deep below ground destroying
their targets while containing toxic radioactive fallout. It's already
known the latter objective fails based on observed tests so far. The
information, however, is suppressed and won't deter the Pentagon from
using these weapons even knowing they spread harmful radiation.
Billions are also being spent
developing advanced weapons systems including the hugely expensive F22
Raptor fighter plane, Joint Fighter (JF) program and controversial Strategic
Defense Initiative "National Missile Defense Shield" intended
for offense, not defense. It's now caused a public row with Russia over
its planned deployment in Eastern European states close enough to raise
justifiable alarm in the Kremlin. Then there's the ultimate imperial
project in space under the doctrine of "Full Spectrum Dominance"
assuring land, sea, air and space supremacy. It's outlined in the 1998
US Space Command document titled "Vision for 2020" with the
cost to achieve this likely to run into trillions of dollars.
Even worse is the danger
post-9/11 since the Bush administration scrapped the notion of "nuclear
deterrence." A secret report leaked to the Los Angeles Times state
three conditions under which nuclear weapons may be used henceforth:
-- "against targets
able to withstand non-nuclear attack;
-- in retaliation for attack with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons;
or
-- in the event of surprising military developments" meaning anything
the administration or Pentagon cook up as justification.
The administration cites
"rogue states" as potential targets, but clearly new policy
has Russia, China and Iran in mind and maybe North Korea.
China and Russia aren't ignoring
the threat adding to the arms race along with other countries, like
Iran, fearful of a US attack. In 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin
signed into law a new "National Security Doctrine" marking
"a critical shift in East-West relations." It's further intensified
today with Interfax recently reporting Putin saying Washington is turning
Europe into a "powder keg" referring to it's missile shield
deployment plans.
Putin also used harsh rhetoric ahead of the June G-8 summit accusing
the Bush administration of imperialism and starting a new arms race.
At a lengthy well-attended news conference, he had plenty to say that
was suppressed in the West because of his candor. He voiced the concern
of many in the Kremlim that Washington is targeting Russia by surrounding
it with military bases, installing missiles on its borders, and allying
with CIS states to isolate the country in preparation for regime change.
He emphasized Russia didn't
start confrontation and isn't threatening to attack anyone. However,
the nation is preparing for the worst and in late May test-fired a sophisticated
new intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple warheads and new
cruise missiles Russian generals claim will assure the country's security
for the next 40 years. With Washington intent on destabilizing their
country, Russia isn't ignoring the threat and will act responsibly to
defend itself. That includes targeting US and European sites with "ballistic
missiles, cruise missiles or some completely new systems" according
to Putin. Earlier, Russia also confirmed it wouldn't exclude "a
first-strike use" of nuclear warheads "if attacked even by
purely conventional means," having only one country in mind as
a potential aggressor - the US.
Former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, also aimed sharp comments against
Washington and Britain for its support in an early June BBC interview.
He said Russia is trying to be constructive, but America is squeezing
them out of global diplomacy (and is responsible) for the current state
of relations between his country and the West. He also said the Iraq
War undermined Tony Blair's credibility and accused America of "empire-building."
He added Blair has "himself in the embrace of a military monster
(and lost) his credibility in the world and in Europe."
Chossudovsky further deconstructs
Washington's agenda post-9/11 saying "the world is at an important
crossroads in its history." The US "campaign against terrorism"
is a "war of conquest" for empire, threatening future humanity
with devastating consequences. "America's New War" isn't confined
to the Middle East and Central Asia. It's aimed everywhere by militarizing
"vast regions of the world, leading to the consolidation of what
is best described as the "American Empire." The "war
on terrorism" is cover to "re-colonize not only China (and)
the former Soviet bloc, but also Iran, Iraq and the Indian (subcontinent)."
Chossudovsky stresses "war and globalization" are bedfellows
umbilically linked. They benefit Wall Street and the banking community,
Big Anglo-American Oil, US-UK defense contractors and other corporate
giants backing this process to extend "the frontiers of the global
market system" giving them total control everywhere.
The dominant media claim "free trade" and "free market"
reforms will bring the benefits of western civilization to everyone.
Unmentioned is how it's being done - through imperial wars of conquest
as the method of choice, bringing with them massive death and destruction,
extreme exploitation, devastating poverty, totalitarian control, and,
in Iraq, the end of the "Cradle of Civilization" dating back
thousands of years. Washington's rampaging military juggernaut turned
a modern prosperous nation into a surreal lawless armed wasteland with
few essential services like electricity, clean water, medical care,
fuel and most everything else needed for sustenance and survival including
safe streets, homes, schools and all public places. It also contaminated
vast areas of Iraq with deadly depleted uranium and other hazardous
chemicals and pollutants making the country the most toxic environment
on earth and unsafe to live in.
So much for the benefits
of Western civilization and "free market" reforms. They champion
deregulation and privatizing everything to steal a country's wealth
for corporate predators, taking it from the people it belongs to. They
get nothing back but misery and persecution if they complain. This is
democracy American-style that's all illusion and no reality, and it's
coming soon to a neighborhood near you unless resisted and stopped.
Chossudovsky also deconstructs
the language as Orwell would do. He justifiably calls the "war
on terrorism" a cruel hoax. "Realities," he says, "have
been turned upside down."
-- "Acts of war are
heralded as 'humanitarian intervention' (to restore) democracy.
-- Military occupation and (killing civilians are called) 'peacekeeping
operations.'
-- The derogation of civilities (through totalitarian 'anti-terror'
legislation is called) providing 'domestic security' and upholding civil
liberties.
-- ....expenditures on health and education (and most other essential
social services) are curtailed to finance the military-industrial complex
and police state."
-- Mass human poverty is created worldwide through conquest, colonization
and countries "transformed into open territories" for savage
exploitation.
-- "US protectorates are installed with the blessing of the 'international
community.'
-- 'Interim (or illusory democratically elected) governments are formed"
run by designated political puppets selling out their nations' sovereignty
to the lord and master of the universe for a sliver of the spoils.
Sum it up - this is what
"New World Order" rule looks like those now under it can explain
better than any writer. It's tyranny masquerading as humanitarian intervention,
liberation and democracy. Here's how Orwell once described it: "If
you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human
face - forever." Today, it's sustained by the illusion of a phony
"war on terrorism" publicly supported through fear of nonexistent
enemies, ignoring instead a real one that does - our own government
destroying our freedoms in the name of protecting them.
Chossudovsky stresses what's vitally needed now to fight back in our
own self-defense - "an unprecedented degree of solidarity (to build)
meaningful mass movements" for real change (restoring) the balance
of power within society...." He explains "militarization....enforces
the capitalist market system....Military bases must be shut down; the
war machine....must be dismantled....The 'structures of ownership' must
be transformed disempowering banks, financial institutions and transnational
corporations (plus instituting) a radical overhaul of the state apparatus."
A key priority is "stall(ing) the privatization of collective assets,
infrastructure, public utilities (including water and power), state
institutions (like hospitals, schools and law enforcement including
prisons), communal lands" and all else in the commons.
Further, an illegitimate
tyrannical system must end by removing and prosecuting criminal politicians
and bureaucrats. The corrupted judiciary must be replaced by one upholding
domestic and international law. Our system of checks and balances must
be restored, and the Constitution again respected and obeyed, not discarded
to the rule of law by what the chief executive says it is, meaning none
at all. The "New World Order" must end, consigned to the dustbin
of history, lest we end up there or wish we did rather than endure endless
misery and abuse.
Part III - The Disinformation
Campaign
It's an age-old trick that
always works. It's why it's used so often even after being exposed as
phony time and again but quickly forgotten in what Gore Vidal calls
"the United States of amnesia." It's creating a climate of
fear through fictional enemies made to seem real by the pursuasive power
of the dominant media. Wars and propaganda are partnered at a time truth
is the first casualty. Chossudovsky explains "the main objective
of war propaganda (to convince the public war is justified) is to fabricate
an enemy (by) drown(ing) out truth."
The war is waged "from
the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA" and other parts of
the government using the dominant media to instill fear through disinformation
and lies justifying anything in self-defense. Logic and reality are
manipulated and twisted to create a phony enemy made to look real. An
illusion is created that homeland security is threatened and under attack
justifying wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that are pure acts of illegal
aggression for conquest and colonization. Preventive wars are justified
even though common sense and any knowledge of international law says
they never are for any reason.
Chossudovsky explains how
propaganda campaigns follow "a consistent pattern." They need
"to instill credibility and legitimacy" based on claimed "reliable"
information sources. The dominant media then transmit them through endless
repetitions of warnings of the following kinds of information:
-- References to "reliable
sources (and a) growing body of evidence" from government, intelligence
and law enforcement agencies.
-- Claimed evidence linking terrorist groups to bin Laden, Al Queda
or sympathetic to them.
-- Threats of imminent terrorist attacks "sooner or later."
-- Vulnerability of "soft targets" likely causing civilian
casualties.
-- Possible terror attacks in "allied countries" like Britain,
France or Germany where public opinion opposes the US "war on terrorism."
-- "Confirm the need...preventive actions" are justified against
"terrorist organizations and/or foreign governments which harbor"
them.
-- Claim "terrorist groups" likely have WMDs and are linked
to "rogue states" like Iran or Syria.
-- Cite warnings with frightening color-coded alerts based on uncovered
information (later proved phony) of impending "attacks on US soil
(and/or) in Western cities."
-- Cite law enforcement efforts "to apprehend alleged terrorists."
-- Feature headlined news stories of suspects arrested, nearly always
Muslims/Arabs, that usually turn out to be fabricated hoaxes using innocent
victims to hype fear.
-- Stressing Homeland Security
repressive legislation (like Patriot Acts I and II and the
Military Commissions Act)
is justified as well as "ethnic profiling" and mass sweeps
and arrests.
All this is done to convince the public harsh "emergency measures"
and preventive wars are in the public interest even though that turns
reality on its head endangering everyone. It works, however, by giving
the enemy a face with Osama bin Laden in the lead role. He's still got
it, but so did Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi up to the time of his reported death
in June, 2006. Al-Zarqawi was called "the new terrorist mastermind"
even overshadowing "Enemy Number One" bin Laden. Unmentioned
in the media was that Al-Zarqawi, like bin Laden, was recruited by CIA,
through Pakistan's ISI, to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s
and that US intelligence maintained links to the "Islamic militant
network" ever since.
While Al-Zarqawi was reigning
top threat, he was linked to Ansar Al-Islam, an "obscure Islamist
group, based in Northern Iraq." He was also called Al Qaeda's "chief
biochemical engineer" and was blamed for "the suspicious white
powder found in a letter sent to (former) Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist," also containing deadly ricin poison. In January, 2003,
a ricin terror alert was issued signaling Al-Zarqawi responsible, later
proved phony by British police. As already stressed, the US needs a
face on terror to justify illegal wars purportedly against it. While
he was alive, Al-Zarqawi provided it along with bin Laden before and
since. If neither of these men existed, others would be invented for
their leading roles as "Enemy Number One" with still more
designees in supporting roles. Without them, there's no justification
for the "war on terrorism," and without media disinformation
they'd be no way to get the public to go along.
Part IV - The New
World Order
This "new world"
flaunts the law, wages illegal wars on the world against nonexistent
threats, and condemns its own people to state repression in the name
of protecting national security it's endangering by its actions everywhere.
One of its most outrageous acts is condoning and practicing torture
as official state policy. Chossudovsky explains what's now widely known
and accepted - that orders to torture Iraqi, Afghan and Guantanamo prisoners
came from the highest government levels. Thus, prison guards and military
and CIA interrogators followed "precise guidelines" from command
directives. A secret FBI email, dated May 22, 2004, confirmed George
Bush "personally signed off on certain interrogation techniques
in an executive order (authorizing) sleep deprivation, stress positions,
use of military dogs, sensory deprivation" using hoods, and who
knows what else so far not made public.
What is known is that CIA
and the Pentagon have considerable knowledge how damaging these acts
are to human beings forced to endure them for extended periods. The
current Army field manual states this about sensory deprivation alone:
(It) "may result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts,
depression, and anti-social behavior (and) significant psychological
distress." Now try imagining how worse it is on victims undergoing
physical abuse and intimidation daily combined with the damaging effects
of sensory deprivation, never knowing when or if it will end. George
Bush, his Justice Department, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates and others
at the highest levels of the Pentagon and CIA ordered these tortures.
It's not because they work, but because they effectively destroy human
beings, control those who survive it, and intimidate everyone thinking
they may be next. It doesn't matter to officials in charge that most
of their victims are innocent of any crime.
Unreported is who these prisoners
are being tortured. Seton Hall University Law School professors, including
Mark Denebeaux, analyzed unclassified government data obtained through
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Their report was based on
evidentiary summaries from 2004 military hearings on whether 517 Guantanamo
"detainees" were "enemy combatants." They learned
the majority of Afghan prisoners at Guantanamo weren't accused of hostile
acts, but more shockingly, that 95% were seized by Afghan bounty hunters
and sold to US forces for $5000 per claimed Taliban and $25,000 for
supposed Al Queda members. In addition, at least 20 detainees were children,
some as young as 13.
Chossudovsky calls such actions:
"reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition" in brazenness "when
there was no need to conceal acts of torture." According to administration
twisted logic and indifference to international law and norms, "torture
is public policy with a humanitarian mandate (because) democracy and
freedom are....upheld by 'going after terrorists.' " The 400 year
ruling feudal order Inquisition aimed to "maintain and sustain
those in authority," and that end justified any means doing it.
Today, the Pentagon, Homeland Security and CIA are similar to yesteryear's
"great Inquisitor" dispensing justice through a network of
religious courts for political and social control. It's mandate was:
destroy the heretics, and those charged were guilty by accusation given
only a choice to repent and be strangled to death or stay silent and
be burned alive.
It's hard calling those times
"the good old days," but it's no better today, just more sophisticated.
Through years of experimenting, we've become expert inflicing maximum
pain making victims endure it the longest time possible before expiring
or going insane. Chossudovsky cites this as one example on our "road
towards a police state" we're well advanced toward already, or
maybe now there. We have outrageous laws in place, Nazis and Stalin
would have been proud of, but now can do what Orwell imagined 58 years
ago in his 1984 "Big Brother" society controlling everyone.
Technology allows near-unlimited surveillance and abusive spying to
watch, categorize, tag, and label us through information from our most
personal records and behavior. Only the recesses of our hearts, minds
and souls remain unpenetrated - so far.
Nothing will change at this
"critical juncture in our history" unless we "break the
Inquisition." Doing it means "breaking the consensus (and)
disabl(ing) its propaganda" campaign of fear and intimidation.
That entails "unseat(ing) the Inquisitors" and prosecuting
those in high office guilty of crimes of war and against humanity. Without
this, they'll be no justice or an end to "New World Order"
tyranny safe in the hands of a carefully chosen new "Grand Inquisitor"
elected in 2008 picking up where the old one leaves off. He (or she)
will follow ruling order policy assuring Congress and the courts are
as much in lockstep as today with "the military-intelligence establishment
calling the shots on US foreign policy." Benefitting hugely at
our expense will be predatory corporate giants licking their chops for
more gains ahead from continuing "militarization of (our) civilian
institutions" fast disappearing under military/police state control.
Chossudovsky raises the issue
of administration foreknowledge of 9/11. He notes the Pentagon conducted
a test simulation of a passenger plane crashing into the Pentagon in
October, 2000. Ironically, the CIA held a similar (quickly hushed up
for a year) test at its Chantilly, Virginia Reconnaissance Office on
the morning of 9/11. Both tests refute administration lies they could
not predict events they were preparing for.
In addition, Washington had
numerous "intelligence warnings" and that senior administration
officials lied under oath to the 9/11 Commission they had no foreknowledge
or forewarning. They had plenty. "Carefully documented research"
also reveals:
-- The US Air Force got stand-down orders on 9/11 not to intervene.
-- A cover-up of World Trade Center (WTC) and Pentagon investigations
occurred.
-- WTC rubble was hastily removed and disposed of before it could be
examined.
-- Plane debris at the Pentagon was unaccounted for.
-- Huge financial gains were made through insider trading in the days
prior to 9/11.
-- WTC Building 7 either mysteriously collapsed or was "pulled"
the afternoon of 9/11.
-- Critics accuse the White House of "criminal negligence"
for disregarding crucial intelligence that might have prevented the
9/11 attack. These critics contend "they knew (in advance) but
failed to act" preventively.
Chussodovsky rebukes this
line of reasoning saying revealing Bush administration lies regarding
foreknowledge contributes to reinforcing the 9/11 cover-up. Foreknowledge
then "becomes part of the disinformation campaign (serving) to
present Al Queda as a threat (to American security), when, in fact,
Al Queda is a creation of the US intelligence apparatus" and is
still being used by it. Pinning responsibility on Islamic terrorists
justifies the "war on terrorism" and against Iraq and Afghanistan.
It also provides cover for repressive police state legislation shredding
our civil liberties and dismantling our social state to pay for militarizing
it.
While debate centers around "incompetence" or "an intelligence
failure," Al Queda and "Enemy Number One" are blamed,"
and the beat goes on allowing the administration to get away with (mass)
murder literally. Explained above, this is Washington's strategy. Without
Al Queda to blame and a gullible public believing it, the Bush house
of cards collapses, there's "no war on terrorism" nor all
it spawned at home and abroad.
The 9/11 (whitewash) Commission
was part of the scheme. It revealed Bush administration officials lied
under oath, then did nothing about it. "Yet nobody had begged the
key question," Chossudovsky asserts: "What is the significance
of these 'warnings' emanating from the intelligence apparatus, knowing
that the CIA is the creator of Al Queda and that Al Queda is an 'intelligence
asset' (as distinct from an agent)." Were Bush administration officials
deliberately lying to the 9/11 Commission to cover up a bigger lie no
one's been held accountable for?
Chossudovsky debunks another
9/11 lie asking "On the Morning of 9/11: What Happened on the Planes?"
Events in their cabins were based on supposedly "corroborating
evidence" from cell and air phone conversations to family members
or others. Only one cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was recovered - from
UAL 93. The 9/11 Commission gave the impression cell phone communications
to and from the planes were of good quality. It was never mentioned
prevailing technology made it near impossible to place a wireless cell
call from an aircraft travelling at high speed above 8000 feet. Installed
air phones, in contrast, provide clear communications.
The Commission's timeline
suggests the planes were at higher altitudes so claimed cell phone conversations
reported were dubious at best and likely contrived, exaggerated or plain
lies. Reports of these calls on the day of the attack were crucial "to
sustain the illusion" America was under attack. It was "part
of the disinformation campaign....dispel(ling) the historical role played
by US intelligence in supporting the development of the (Al Queda) terror
network."
Heightening the level of fear and conditioning the public for what may
lie ahead, we're now warned about a "Second 9/11." Former
CentCom Commander General Tommy Franks did it in an interview in December,
2003 saying "another mass, casualty-producing event" would
result in the Constitution being suspended and martial law declared
- in other words, the end of the Republic officially replaced by tyranny.
Chossudovsky stresses Franks' comment wasn't opinion. It was "consistent
with the dominant viewpoint....in the Pentagon....and Homeland Security....in
case of a national emergency." Further, the "war on terrorism"
is the cornerstone of Bush's National Security doctrine providing "justification
for repealing the Rule of Law" in the event of a significant external
threat or event.
Should this happen, it will
amount to the "Criminalization of the State, the repeal of democracy,"
and the end of America as we know it - officially. From all available
evidence, it appears this is planned using a fabricated terrorist threat
and second 9/11 to pull it off with public consent believing it's for
our own security, henceforth compromised and lost.
Chossudovsky discusses the major Pentagon 2005 document outlining what's
planned ahead for global military dominance along with police state
control at home. It's called "The National Defense Strategy of
the United States of America (NDS). It extends the "contours of
Washington's global military agenda (envisaging possible) military intervention
against countries (not constituting) a threat to the US homeland."
This goes beyond preventive war to a more "proactive" strategy
against declared enemies to "preserve peace (and) defend America."
This is insanity, yet four major threats are considered:
-- "Traditional challenges"
from recognized military powers.
-- "Irregular threats" from forces using "unconventional"
means.
-- "The catastrophic challenge" from WMDs.
-- "Disruptive challenges"
from "potential adversaries" using new technologies against
us.
NDS listed 25 countries "deemed unstable and, thus, candidates
for (military) intervention." Those named remain secret, but some
have been identified including Venezuela, Nepal, Haiti, Algeria, Peru,
Bolivia, Sudan, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. It's
hard imagining Iran, Syria and Lebanon aren't targets as well with others
qualified for membership by failing to place our sovereignty above their
own. Helping them "stabilize" is used as the pretext for any
planned military intervention. That means any nation opting out of our
"free market" model can expect the Marines to show up to return
them to the fold. It's called democracy American-style.
At home, as already explained, creating fear is the method of choice
keeping the public on board supporting the phony "war on terrorism."
That's what color-coded terror alerts are all about. They're seen daily
on TV, and raised to "high risk" Code Orange at strategic
moments when elevated fear levels are needed to get legislation passed,
divert attention from administration embarrassments, diffuse anti-war
protests, or simply re-stoke public angst about terror threats so people
don't forget them. Never mind, as Chossudovsky documents, these threats,
headlining for days at times, are nearly always based on "fabricated
intelligence."
So in the run-up to the March,
2003 Iraq war, a disinformation campaign was waged about WMDs and linking
Saddam with Al Queda and 9/11. It was to build public support for the
war and weaken anti-war protests against it that were unprecendented
in size worldwide before it began. Once the truth on both counts came
out, it was too late, and it was on to the next scare scam.
Chossudovsky cites the Air
France Christmas, 2003 stand down orders based on phony evidence Al
Queda and Taliban operatives were on Flight 68. It was a lie, but it
kept Los Angeles International Airport on "maximum deployment"
throughout the holiday period and FBI officials working around the clock
- for nothing because of "fake intelligence" to heighten fear.
The nation was on "high risk" Code Orange alert, six heavy-traffic
Air France flights paid the price, and so did the public getting scammed.
Whenever a strategic moment
arises or Washington thinks public fear is ebbing, get ready for more
headlined news of terror plots and arrests made or suspects being hunted
down. It happened in early June with hyped stories of a plot to blow
up JFK Airport's jet fuel tanks and supply lines some reports claimed
would be "more devastating than 9/11." This nonsense keeps
being used because people believe it.
This time, four men were
charged even though no crime was committed, the suspects had no apparent
means to carry out the supposed plot, and the only so-called "evidence"
comes from conversations recorded between "the source" (identified
as an unnamed drug trafficker) and defendants. We're told the informant
agreed to infiltrate the "terror cell" in return for leniency
on his pending sentence, guaranteeing he'd say anything to get himself
off.
This plot gets thicker, but
the point is once again hyped accounts have again been used to stoke
public fear. And once again, Muslims are vicimized as "terrorists."
Sadly, even though likely innocent, these men may end up convicted and
imprisoned just like other high-profile targets Sami Al-Arian and Rafil
Dhafir. They're both innocent men now serving hard time victimized by
Washington's "war on terrorism."
Chossudovsky explains we
live in a "Big Brother, Homeland Security State." A July,
2004 Homeland Security Council (HSC) report refers to a "Universal
Adversary" (UA) defined as four categories of "conspirators:"
-- "foreign (Islamic)
terrorists;"
-- "domestic (anti-war, civil and human rights) groups;"
-- "state-sponsored adversaries" ("Rogue States, unstable
or failed states"); and
-- "disgruntled employees" (labor and union activists).
Chossudovsky explains the
notion of a "Universal Adversary" is being used to prepare
the public for a "real life emergency situation" under which
no political or social dissent will be tolerated. If it happens, it
will trigger a Code Red Alert signaling the highest threat level of
severe or imminent terrorist attack preparing the public for imposition
of martial law and suspension of the Constitution. Shortly after the
invasion of Iraq, anti-terrorist "drills" were held in major
cities to build "a broad consensus among 'top officials,' within
federal, State and municipal bodies, as well as within the business
community and civil society organizations that the outside enemy exists
and that 'the threat is real.' " Chossudovsky calls it "a
world of fiction (that) becomes fact."
In the event of an emergency,
the military will be involved that was forbidden under the 1878 Posse
Comitatus Act, never enforced, and now repealed since October 17, 2006.
That was when George Bush signed the Military Commissions (torture authorization)
Act and National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2007 containing a
provision annulling the 1807 Insurrection Act. Now the president can
(legally) deploy federal or National Guard troops on the nation's streets
for whatever he calls public disorder, including peaceful anti-war protests.
These laws, along with Patriot Acts I and II (violating our most personal
privacy rights) have set the table for martial law imposition whenever
the chief executive orders it.
Chossudovsky explains media
disinformation is preparing the public "for the unthinkable"
likely to be police state rule under the facade of a "functioning
democracy." Its parameters have already been defined:
-- "the Big Brother
surveillance apparatus, through....consolidated data banks on citizens;
-- the militarization of justice and law enforcement;
-- the disinformation and propaganda network;
-- the covert support to terrorist organizations;
-- political assassinations, torture manuals, and (homeland) concentration
camps (being built); and
-- extensive war crimes and the blatant violation of international law."
Conclusions
Chossudovsky wrote an important
book in 2002 titled "War and Globalization." This volume,
"America's War on Terrorism," updated it with voluminous,
heavily documented new information on the state of America today under
both parties and the threat that poses for the Republic, hanging by
a thread. Though published in 2005, it's as fresh now as when it first
appeared, and his conclusion is essentially the same as what Chalmers
Johnson wrote in his 2006 book, "Nemesis - The Last Days of the
American Republic." Johnson explained our well-entrenched militarism
and single-minded pursuit of empire saying we have a choice. We can
keep on this path and lose our democracy, but history is clear: we can't
have both.
Chossudovsky and Johnson
both agree - the signs are ominous, and conclusive evidence post-9/11
proves it, amply spelled out in "America's War on Terrorism."
That doesn't mean we're doomed or change can't come. It can, but never
from the top down. The lessons of history are clear. Mass-action grassroots
efforts can achieve what governments won't do willingly. Scare tactics
to bring us in line won't work if we don't let them. But it will take
millions mobilized to resist to do it. Is saving the Republic incentive
enough to try? We better hope so.
Stephen Lendman
lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com
Saturdays at noon US central time.
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