People afraid of virtually non-existent threats can breathe a sigh of relief today as the CIA foiled yet another underwear bombing plot. To the astute among us, this will beg the question: did the CIA simply intervene to stop the attack, or did they have a hand in its inception?
This is far from the first time American Intelligence agencies have defeated their own terrorist straw men. In 2010, the FBI masterminded several terrorist attacks which they promptly prevented, claiming victory for the good guys.
Here’s how it plays out: the US plants an operative to convince people he wants to blow up a plane. He then finds someone to build him a bomb, after which he turns it in to US authorities. And voila – the CIA has saved the day once again.
With that, they’ve justified their own existence. As well, the US government solidified the case to continue using illegal drone strikes across foreign lands. Bloated defense budgets and blatant crimes against humanity are sure to be bolstered by this.
So what are they up to, you ask? Why, creating a caste system for airport security! Now CEOs, celebrities, politicians and other mucky-mucks won’t have to settle for simple first class seating. Instead, they can also snub their noses at the masses while cruising past screening lines with their first class security clearance. (more…)
In response, Pakistan has closed a vital supply line for US forces in Afghanistan, as well as ordered all NATO troops out of the Shamsi airbase – where the Americans reportedly control their remote killing machines.
This goes to show the ease with which soldiers are willing to unleash certain death. The process is so detached, so dehumanized, that enemies and allies and little kids all start to blur together, until it’s just black and white figures being rendered into smoldering body parts.
Relying on violence as a tool for peacebuilding is inherently flawed, which is why we need to unite as a species and rally against the military industrial complex. It is time for the whole world to see that war is going away for good!
If you’re like me, then you’ve already grown weary from the plethora of 9/11 stories that have surfaced for the 10th anniversary. So I’ll keep this one brief.
Just look at what is happening in New York this weekend – security stops everywhere, fully automatic weapons menacing the street corners, an entire city on edge – it’s a veritable police state. That ain’t freedom, nor is it a state of being worth protecting.
And look at what the American military has been doing in response to the attacks: trillion dollar wars costing millions of lives, campaigns of terror all around the world, and an economy that is threatening to collapse.
All this from a single event, albeit a high profile one. And, apart from some superficial changes, America is no more secure than they were a decade ago.
So what happens the next time a bomb goes off… will American’s withdraw even deeper into their shell, selling off any remaining liberties in a desperate bid for the illusion of more security?
Or will the US population finally learn from their decade long folly see that the most effective way to deal with terrorists is with defiance – simply ignore them as best you can and go on living life to the fullest.
Instead of running for the hills every time some bad guy says boo, we can just accept that getting-exploded-by-some-ideological-douchebag is just one more item in a long list of things that can kill us.
This way, we’ll have more energy to focus towards a broader approach to terrorism, attacking the underlying social issues, like poverty, which foster violent extremism.
Outspoken author Glenn Greenwald put out a provocative piece today called The Decade’s Greatest Scam which outlines the absurdity of spending billions of dollars to fight terrorism – a threat that kills the same number of people who die drowning in a bathtub each year.
Greenwald says these industries are exploiting the people’s irrational fear as a for-profit business:
Exaggerating, manipulating and exploiting the Terrorist threat for profit and power has been the biggest scam of the decade; only Wall Street’s ability to make the Government prop it up and profit from the crisis it created at the expense of everyone else can compete for that title.
Nothing has altered the mindset of the American citizenry more than a decade’s worth of fear-mongering. So compelling is fear-based propaganda, so beholden are our government institutions to these private Security State factions, and so unaccountable is the power bestowed by these programs, that even a full decade after the only Terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, its growth continues more or less unabated.
The author also points out how most of these new security measures will ultimately be used not for protection against terrorism, but rather, as tools used to subdue uprisings and keep the people down:
The Security State has little to do with addressing ostensible Terrorist threats, it has much to do with targeting perceived domestic and political threats, especially threats brought about by social unrest from austerity and the growing wealth gap.
The prime aim of the growing Surveillance State is to impose domestic order, preserve prevailing economic prerogatives and stifle dissent and anticipated unrest.
The Western World has been fighting the war on terror for ten years, costing tremendous amounts of blood and treasure, not to mention liberty and freedom.
And what has been the result? Death and chaos.
If we really want more security in our world, maybe it’s time to try something else besides wasting hundreds of billions of dollars on the tools of war.
How about investing some of these funds into programs that alleviate poverty and strengthen communities? Then we’ll see which method works better to stabilize societies, resolve conflicts and build a peaceful planet.
That’s right, an American government agency has been coercing US civilians to take part in terrorist actions. When their patsy ultimately takes the bait, the FBI swoops in then boasts to the world about the terrorist plot they’ve successfully thwarted.
It seems absurd, doesn’t it? Government agents framing and entrapping their own population… which Orwell novel are we reading here?
What is perhaps more unnerving is the overall lack of dissent over this. Here is another huge red flag that tyranny is descending upon North America. Yet too many people remain unaware, disinterested, or worse, they believe the FBI’s latest shenanigans to be one more necessary step in the struggle to keep Americans safe.
Fortunately we aren’t all that oblivious.
A growing number of us know what can happen when governments, corporations and the system gain too much power. As our numbers grow, so too do our tools to unite, coordinate and mobilize. The threat of totalitarianism is looming, but the means to fend off this threat is blossoming as well.
Let’s be optimists, and believe that humankind will rise to the occasion to ensure an open future for all!
His journeys brought him to Egypt, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Israel. He talked to people on the street, relatives of suspected terrorists, and embedded with the US military for a day. While he broached some serious issues, the overall tone was lighthearted and whimsical, thanks mostly to Spurlock’s affable personality.
One key point, recurring throughout, was how “extremism nourishes itself in the darkness” and “violence is birthed by economic dead ends.” Terrorist organizations find their recruits in kids with no jobs and no positive outlook… youth who are susceptible to their propaganda.
A big part of reducing terrorism can be achieved by addressing the underlying socio-economic conditions. This point is reiterated by a US military officer (named Williams) who says with counter insurgency “killing doesn’t work.” Instead, you need to focus on the people – give them clean water, medical clinics, schools… so that the Taliban cannot take hold.
Ultimately, what the filmmaker realized in his quest, is that the vast majority in the countries he visited (and the vast majority of people all around the world) are just like us. Our world is full of regular people, trying to raise families and make ends meet, wishing nothing more than to live in a peaceful world.