| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
22 Aug 2003 01:37:02 PM |
| Object: |
OT: America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know |
America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml
By Bernard Weiner
The Crisis Papers
Friday 22 August 2003
Last year, close to the time of the first anniversary of the 2001
terror attacks, I wrote "Twenty Things We've Learned One Year After
9/11." Now we're approaching the second anniversary, and it's time for
an update.
Things we could only speculate about a year ago have taken place -- to
name just three: an invasion and occupation of Iraq (based on
misleading intelligence and outright lies), an administration that may
have committed the treasonous act of deliberately revealing the
identity of a CIA agent, and shocking revelations about the
computer-screen voting system now being put into place around the
country for the 2004 election.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/deconland/messages/?msg=674
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| User: "raven1" |
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| Title: Re: OT: America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know |
22 Aug 2003 07:31:01 PM |
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On 22 Aug 2003 11:37:02 -0700, (maff) wrote:
America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml
By Bernard Weiner
The Crisis Papers
Friday 22 August 2003
Last year, close to the time of the first anniversary of the 2001
terror attacks, I wrote "Twenty Things We've Learned One Year After
9/11." Now we're approaching the second anniversary, and it's time for
an update.
Things we could only speculate about a year ago have taken place -- to
name just three: an invasion and occupation of Iraq (based on
misleading intelligence and outright lies), an administration that may
have committed the treasonous act of deliberately revealing the
identity of a CIA agent, and shocking revelations about the
computer-screen voting system now being put into place around the
country for the 2004 election.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/deconland/messages/?msg=674
With all due credit to the author, here's the full text:
(BTW, Maff, while I and many others appreciate your news service on
this NG, posting the original link would probably be more helpful, ie:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml)
America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know
By Bernard Weiner
The Crisis Papers
Friday 22 August 2003
Last year, close to the time of the first anniversary of the 2001
terror attacks, I wrote "Twenty Things We've Learned One Year After
9/11." Now we're approaching the second anniversary, and it's time for
an update.
Things we could only speculate about a year ago have taken place --
to name just three: an invasion and occupation of Iraq (based on
misleading intelligence and outright lies), an administration that may
have committed the treasonous act of deliberately revealing the
identity of a CIA agent, and shocking revelations about the
computer-screen voting system now being put into place around the
country for the 2004 election.
The abbreviated list below can be used both as a reminder to all of
us why we're fighting this good, oppositional battle, and as a place
to start from when organizing and talking to others about why you will
be voting for someone other than George W. Bush in the presidential
vote next year.
Here are the topics and here's what we've learned, all factually
validated by -- or strongly suggested in -- journalistic reports.
THE IRAQ WAR
1. We know that a cabal of ideologically-motivated Bush officials,
on the rightwing fringe of the Republican Party, were calling for a
military takeover of Iraq as early as 1991. This elite group included
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Woolsey, Bolton, Khalizad and
others, all of whom are now located in positions of power in the
Pentagon and State Department.
They helped found the Project for The New American Century (PNAC) in
1997; among their recommendations: "pre-emptively" attacking other
countries devoid of imminent danger to the U.S., abrogating
agreed-upon treaties when they conflict with U.S. goals, making sure
no other country (or organization, such as the United Nations) can
ever achieve parity with the U.S., installing U.S.-friendly
governments to do America's will, using tactical nuclear weapons, and
so on. In short, as they put it, the goal is "benevolent global
hegemony."
All of these extreme suggestions, once regarded as lunatic, are now
enshrined as official U.S. policy in the National Security Strategy of
the United States of America, published by the Bush Administration in
late 2002.
2. We know that Bush and his highest officials -- notably Rice,
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, and, to a lesser extent, Powell --
lied outrageously about Iraq's weapons capabilities in order to get
their war plans endorsed by the Congress and the American people. The
biggest of many whoppers involved were the made-up stories about
nuclear "mushroom clouds" over America, unleashed by the Iraqi drone
air force.
These lies may have fooled many Americans at the time, but other
countries, especially in Europe, smelled the rotten evidence and the
imperial ambitions and would have nothing to do with the invasion of
Iraq, denouncing the Bush Administration to its face. Up to 10 million
citizens (mostly organized via the internet) marched worldwide on the
same day to try to stop the invasion -- before the war had even
started! -- something that had never happened before in world history.
3. We know that Rumsfeld wanted to move on Iraq just a few hours
after 9/11, even though he was quickly informed that it was an
al-Qaida operation and that there was no evidence of Iraqi
involvement. When the CIA and other intelligence agencies said the
same thing about a supposed al-Qaida link -- and Iraq's alleged
nuclear program and other WMD -- Rumsfeld set up his own
intelligence-gathering unit inside the Pentagon, the Office of Special
Plans, and installed a number of PNAC hardliners to tell him what he
wanted to hear. Their cooked-books "intelligence" became the basis for
invading Iraq.
4. We know that Bush and his highest officials, their lies having
been exposed by their own contradictory words, as usual first decided
to blame others: The patsy this time was the CIA, and Tenet fell on
his sword, sort of, in accepting the blame. (Angry elements in the CIA
then began leaking damning information about Bush&Co. involvement in
other WMD lies.)
When Karl Rove and the others snookered the media into focusing on a
mere 16 words in Bush's State of the Union Speech about supposed
uranium sales to Iraq, they looked at the polls showing a majority of
Americans not caring about the lies as long as the evil Saddam had
been removed, and began telling even more whoppers. (Meanwhile, in the
U.K., Blair could lose his job because he lied even more blatantly
than did Bush, if such is possible -- he trumpeted that Iraq could
launch biochemical agents at British sites within 45 minutes -- and
now he's been found out as well.)
5. We know that Bush and Blair felt compelled to "sex up" their
justification for going to war against Iraq by focusing on the WMD
issue because the real reason -- to bomb and take over a weak nation
in that area of the world as a demonstration warning to other Middle
East, oil-rich countries that they'd better come on board or face the
same consequence -- would never win the support of the American
people. Americans aren't big on overt imperial rule, and the bullying
and arrogant militarism that go with such rule, preferring more subtle
means of influence and control.
6. We know that although the U.S. promised that there would be a
swift turnover of civil rule to the Iraqis, that promise has been
revoked. The U.S. occupying authority has appointed its own governing
council of hand-picked Iraqis, over which it has veto power, and is
hoping that gesture will suffice long enough to set up the Western
looting-system. Such behemoth Republican-supporting corporations as
Halliburton and Bechtel are making out like bandits with
reconstruction contracts awarded by the Bush Administration (in the
case of Cheney's old firm Halliburton, with no competitive bidding!).
7. We know that the PNAC cabal, which relied on Iraqi exile
fantasies, believed that the citizens of that invaded country would
welcome the American & British forces with kisses and flowers.
Instead, major factions of the country are engaged in nightly
guerrilla warfare against their "liberators" and have killed and
wounded more U.S. soldiers after Bush declared the end of major
hostilities than were killed in the invasion battles. Oil pipelines
and water systems are blown up regularly. There is the familiar odor
across Iraq of a Vietnam-type syndrome; you know what I mean: just a
little more force and we'll have them on the run/are those friendlies
or bad guys? don't take chances, fire!/the troops will be home by
Christmas/send another 100,000 soldiers quick.
8. We know that elements of the PNAC/Bush cabal appear anxious to
move on to another country, though it's still unclear whether the next
target for control (and perhaps "regime change") will be Syria or Iran
-- with North Korea becoming more and more bellicose off to the side.
9. We know that two high officials of the Bush Administration leaked
to a conservative newspaper columnist the name of a covert CIA agent
-- which is a felony. The agent is the wife of Ambassador Joseph
Wilson, the man sent by Cheney to Niger last year to see if there was
anything to the story that Iraq supposedly was trying to buy
"yellowcake" uranium; Wilson reported back saying that the story was
"highly unlikely." After the Bush Administration continued to use this
lie in various public speeches -- even though they knew the documents
were forgeries -- Wilson wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times,
documenting his version of events. Wilson has since said that by
naming his wife, the Bush Administration is sending a warning to other
potential whistleblowers in the Administration not to speak up or risk
unpleasant consequences. The FBI says it may investigate the matter.
Sure it will.
10. We know that just prior to the launch of the Iraq war, the U.S.
announced its "road map" for Middle East peace in order to lower the
possibility of upheavals in the Arab world. Since the U.S. refuses to
fully and energetically engage in the peace process -- to do so would
mean leaning heavily on Israel to make major concessions and remove
its permanent settlements on Palestinian land -- there is not likely
to be genuine and lasting peace in that tortured area of the world.
Abbas can't control his extremists, Sharon has his own extremist
streak -- the perfect ingredients for more slaughter, and more anger
in the Arab/Islamic world against the U.S. and its Israeli proxy. And
more fertile soil in which young terrorists can be grown.
THE 9/11 COVERUP
11. We know that the inner national-security circles of the White
House knew an attack was coming from al-Qaida, with planes used as
weapons, aimed at American icon targets. (These warnings were coming
from other governments -- sometimes directly to Bush -- as early as
the Spring of 2001 and intensified greatly during the Summer. That is
the period, you may remember, when Bush went to ground in Texas for a
month and Ashcroft would no longer fly in commercial jets. Even with
this advance warning, the Bush Administration did nothing to
interdict, stop or otherwise interfere with the terrorist attacks they
knew were coming.
12. We know that Bush and Cheney, early on, approached the leaders
of the House and Senate and urged them not to investigate the pre-9/11
activities of the Administration.
13. We know that, to this day, the Bush Administration has
stonewalled and delayed turning over essential information to both the
Congressional committee and to the blue-ribbon independent panel
investigating the pre-9/11 period. When the Congressional report
recently was released, the Administration redacted 28 pages dealing
with the role of Saudi individuals and government officials in
financing the terrorists, and, what's perhaps even more vital,
redacted all papers related to the May 6 presidential briefing
document from the CIA about the likelihood of a domestic terrorist
air-attack in the United States.
14. We know that the coverup continues today, from the first days
after 9/11, when Condeleeza Rice claimed that the Administration had
no idea that planes could be used as weapons against buildings, to the
blaming of the FBI for "not connecting the dots." The incoming Bush
Administration, including Rice, had been warned by the outgoing
Clinton Administration that the #1 national-security threat was
al-Qaida terrorism; other Islamic terrorists had tried to use planes
as weapons previously, and the chief defendant in the 1993 WTC bombing
had admitted that al-Qaida wanted to bomb key buildings, including the
Pentagon and the Congress, in future attacks.
The independent 9/11 commission has publicly expressed its
frustration at how their investigation -- which must submit its final
report in just a few months -- is being hampered by the consistent
stonewalling and delaying tactics of the Bush Administration.
Likewise, the victims' families are appalled by and angry at those
examples of foot-dragging, denials and lying.
DOMESTIC ATROCITIES
15. We know that the Bush Administration paid off its backers (and
itself) by giving humongous tax breaks, for 10 years out, to the
already wealthy and to large corporations. This was done at a time
when the U.S. economy was in recessionary doldrums and when the
treasury deficit from those tax-breaks was growing even larager from
Iraq war costs. So far as we know, the Bush Administration has no
plans for how to retire that debt and no real plan (other than the
discredited "trickle-down" theory) for restarting the economy and
creating jobs. More than 2,000,000 citizens have lost their jobs since
Bush was installed in the White House.
16. We know that the HardRight conservatives who control Bush policy
want to decimate and eviserate popular social programs from the New
Deal/Great Society eras, including, most visibly, Head Start, Social
Security, Medicare (and real drug coverage for seniors), aspects of
public education. Since the programs are so well-approved by the
public, the destruction will be carried out stealthily with the magic
words of "privitization," "deregulation," "choice" and so on, and by
going to the public and saying that they'd love to keep the programs
intact but they have no alternative but to cut them, given the deficit
and weak economy.
17. We know that those with a vested interest in energy policy (the
Kenny Lays of America) had major impact in writing that policy, with
no consumer-group input; this basically gave these energy cartels
carte blanche to rob the states and the public blind. The push for
"deregulation" led to gross and illegal manipulation of the energy
markets in state after state, and has nearly pushed California, for
example, into bankruptcy, with the Bush Administration not lifting a
finger to help. And Cheney continues to refuse to tell the courts who
attended those energy-policy meetings and what was discussed.
18. We know that Bush environmental policy -- dealing with air and
water pollution, national park systems, and so on -- is an unmitigated
disaster, more or less giving free rein to corporations whose bottom
line does better when they don't have to pay attention to the public
interest.
19. We know that in general, the public interest plays little role
in the formulation of policy inside the Bush Administration. Those on
the inside who have left have revealed that political considerations
are at the heart of all decision-making, with little if any discussion
of what might benefit the people. Further, they say, there is little
or no curiosity to think outside the political box, or even to hear
other opinions -- in other words, don't bother me with facts, my
mind's made up.
20. We know that there seems to be a "faith-based" view of reality.
For example, when there was public clamor for policy to deal with the
effects of global warming, the Administration said that was a
"controversial" issue that would need more study; it appointed a
scientific panel to review the situation. When that panel reported
that global warming was real and needed to be dealt with on an urgent
basis, Bush denounced the scientists that he himself had appointed as
little more than "bureaucrats" and dismissed their conclusions; he
also deleted the section on global warming from the annual EPA report.
EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman resigned, one would imagine
at least partially out of total frustration in dealing with these
Neanderthals.
21. We know that the Patriot Act -- which was rushed through
Congress in the days right after 9/11, with few legislators having had
a chance to read the final draft -- has generated a huge groundswell
of public opposition. More than 130 towns and cities have passed
resolutions opposing it in part or in whole. The main objections
center around the removal of all sorts of constitutional guarantees of
due process of law, such as lawyer-client confidentiality and the
sanctity of home privacy, and which authorizes wiretapping and
snooping into personal computer files without you ever knowing about
it. Even though Ashcroft already has thrown U.S. citizens into
military prisons, thus removing them from judicial review, he appears
to be desirous of even more outrages in Patriot Act II, including the
exiling and deporting of American citizens deemed to be "terrorists."
We know that the Bush neocons were able to get these and similar
bills passed by invoking the patriotic buzzwords "national security"
and "homeland defense." Most members of Congress went along so that
they wouldn't be tarred with the "unpatriotic" brush. And, in general,
the Administration constantly has manipulated post-9/11 fears in the
population, because it serves their electoral/policy purposes to keep
folks jittery and looking to the central government for assurance and
stability. (There ARE bad guys out there who wish us harm, but it's
possible to deal with that reality without all the
Constitution-shredding and psychological manipulation.)
22. We know that more and more, the permanent-war policy abroad and
police-state tactics at home -- with the shredding of Constititutional
rights designed to protect citizens from a potential repressive
government -- are taking us into a kind of American fascism
domestically and an imperial foreign policy overseas. As a result, we
are beginning to see more alliances between liberal/left forces and
libertarians/traditional conservatives horrified that their party has
been hijacked by extreme ideologues.
23. We know that the response to the 2000 Florida election debacle
-- going to touch-screen computer voting machines -- may turn out to
be even worse. Three outfits dominate the computer-voting market, all
companies owned or supported by Republicans, and that they refuse to
permit their software to be examined by outsiders, even though tests
have revealed major flaws in their systems: The votes can be
manipulated easily without any evidence that the count has been
tampered with, and with no verifiable paper trail to check against the
final tallies. (There are suspicions that this may actually have
happened in the 2002 elections in a number of states, where Democrats
were leading in the last-minute polls going into the election but lost
when the computer votes were added up.)
Given what happened in Florida, the 2004 vote must be honest and
fair and, perhaps even more important, must be SEEN as honest and fair
by the citizenry at large. Another disputed election and democracy in
America may well die a quick death -- or lead to revolutionary
discontent about the need to restore our Constitution.
24. We know that the Bush Administration continues to nominate
ideologically-minded conservative judges, especially for the
all-important appellate courts. The Democrats fall for the bait --
opposing the handful of nominees who are truly repellant extremists --
and, to show how fair they are, approve the 100+ others. Thus, the
neoconservatives lock in approval for their HardRight policies for
years, maybe even decades, to come.
25. We know that after a long, quiescent snooze, where the
ostensible opposition party, the Democrats, played obedient lap dog to
Bush&Co., things are starting to shift. Many Democrats have suddenly
discovered their spines and are opposing HardRight initiatives, though
not as consistently and as firmly as they should (Daschle, for
example, is a notorious wimp). The Democrats see the Bush
Administration as more vulnerable with the voters today as a result of
the disastrous and duplicitous way they bamboozled American citizens
and Congress into approving the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Having a number of tough-speaking presidential contenders aim their
darts at Bush&Co. policies certainly helps generate more opposition.
Well, those will do for starters. No doubt, you have plenty more to
add: The possibilities seemingly are endless when it comes to Bush&Co.
misdeeds, scandals, incompetencies, lies and crimes.
As the presidential election run-up approaches, and if we do our
jobs correctly, more and more citizens will add up what has happened
to their country since the terror attacks of two years ago, and decide
that Bush&Co. has to go -- preferably by resignation, but, if not, by
impeachment or by the voters.
-------
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D., has taught government & international
relations at various universities, was a writer-editor with the San
Francisco Chronicle for nearly two decades, and now is co-editor of
the progressive political website The Crisis Papers
(www.crisispapers.org).
-------
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| User: "Craig McDonald" |
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| Title: Re: OT: America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know |
22 Aug 2003 10:08:13 PM |
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On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 20:31:01 -0400, raven1
<psychedelephant@flashmail.com> wrote:
On 22 Aug 2003 11:37:02 -0700, (maff) wrote:
America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml
<snip>
(BTW, Maff, while I and many others appreciate your news service on
this NG, posting the original link would probably be more helpful, ie:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml)
Erm... he did post the original link. :)
Thanks for the post, Maff. An interesting read on an interesting
website (now bookmarked).
Ta.
Red Celt
aa#883
--
Boy, I've never seen an issue so divisive. It's like a civil war,
isn't it? Even amongst my friends, who are all very intelligent
people, they are totally divided on abortion. Some of my friends, for
instance, think these pro-life people are annoying idiots. Others of
my friends think these pro-life people are evil fucks.
How are we going to come to a consensus?
You want to hear the arguments around my house.
"They're annoying!"
"They're idiots!"
"They're evil!"
"They're fucks!"
Brothers, sisters come together! Can't we once just join hands and
think of them as evil annoying idiot fucks?
-- the late great Bill Hicks
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| User: "OldguyTeck" |
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| Title: Re: OT: America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know |
23 Aug 2003 12:28:42 AM |
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"Craig McDonald" <rcd@craigmcdonald.com> wrote in message
news:4imdkv8rftnk3iiajfhrjv1gt0votj9odh@4ax.com...
On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 20:31:01 -0400, raven1
<psychedelephant@flashmail.com> wrote:
On 22 Aug 2003 11:37:02 -0700, (maff) wrote:
America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml
<snip>
(BTW, Maff, while I and many others appreciate your news service on
this NG, posting the original link would probably be more helpful, ie:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml)
Erm... he did post the original link. :)
Thanks for the post, Maff. An interesting read on an interesting
website (now bookmarked).
Ta.
Red Celt
aa#883
--
Boy, I've never seen an issue so divisive. It's like a civil war,
isn't it? Even amongst my friends, who are all very intelligent
people, they are totally divided on abortion. Some of my friends, for
instance, think these pro-life people are annoying idiots. Others of
my friends think these pro-life people are evil fucks.
How are we going to come to a consensus?
You want to hear the arguments around my house.
"They're annoying!"
"They're idiots!"
"They're evil!"
"They're fucks!"
Brothers, sisters come together! Can't we once just join hands and
think of them as evil annoying idiot fucks?
-- the late great Bill Hicks
Seems like there is an alarming amount of C U S S I N G over at your pad
!!!!
Ed.........................(Oldguyteck)
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| User: "raven1" |
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| Title: Re: OT: America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know |
23 Aug 2003 01:47:22 AM |
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On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 04:08:13 +0100, Craig McDonald
<rcd@craigmcdonald.com> wrote:
On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 20:31:01 -0400, raven1
<psychedelephant@flashmail.com> wrote:
On 22 Aug 2003 11:37:02 -0700, (maff) wrote:
America Two Years After 9/11: 25 Things We Now Know
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml
<snip>
(BTW, Maff, while I and many others appreciate your news service on
this NG, posting the original link would probably be more helpful, ie:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/082203H.shtml)
Erm... he did post the original link. :)
Oops! Somehow skipped the first and only saw the second. My bad!
.
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