Goodness wrote:

"Allen L. Barker" wrote:

[The article below is by Tom Maertens, who was Director for
Nonproliferation at the NSC from 2000 to 2001, and Deputy Coordinator
for Counterterrorism at the State Department from 2001 to 2002. In
the latter position he helped develop the response to the 9/11
attacks; see the biography appended to the article below.

In the article Maertens is highly critical of the response to the
attacks, particularly with regard to civil liberties. He compares the
FBI's use of National Security Letters to secret police tactics. He
also openly discusses the possible use of government assassination
squads in America -- as suggested by a Justice Department official.

The full article is below, and it is well worth reading. I do want to
make one point, though, regarding government assassination squads. In
South and Central America these were (and still are) known as death
squads. The US has a long history of turning a blind eye to such
activities, as well as a history of planning, organizing, and funding
such actions covertly. The current Intelligence Czar, for example, is
known for claiming not to have known that such activities were
occurring in Honduras while he was the ambassador there.

Eternal vigilance demands that we take even the *possibility* of such
activities here seriously. But, what would North American death
squads look like? While we need to be vigilant about South and
Central American style death squads here, the North American death
squads would look different -- at least at first. North American
death squads would operate deniably, in secret (and government secrecy
has truly gotten out of control in the US these days). North American
death squads would look like modern, high-tech versions of COINTELPRO,
MKULTRA, and MHCHAOS.

There is some truly amazing technology available today. While it can
be used in positive ways, it can also be used to impose an
unprecedented, total police state (as Sen. Frank Church warned us, way
back in the 70s). The so-called nonlethal weapons are one such
technology that can be turned into a technology of political control.
Just as with MKULTRA, this technology has already been tested on
nonconsensual citizens and applied extrajudicially. The government
has not admitted this, but then again, they told us that the NSA would
never, ever spy on Americans... It is true. There are credible
citizens all across the US (and in other nations too) who describe
harassment which is *exactly* how such covert programs of harassment
and experimentation would appear with modern technology.

In South and Central America the death squads dispose of bodies by
throwing them out of airplanes into the ocean, or leaving them lying
around on the streets. That will not do in North America, since it
would raise questions. In North America the psychiatric system is
used to dispose of the bodies. Even though the victims of modern,
covert, high-tech assault are usually not physically killed (unless
they are driven to suicide), by any objective measure their lives are
completely destroyed.

Although legitimate, honest parts of the American government do
investigate
this somewhat, what many people don't realize is countries like China,
Venezuela and the EU nations have investigated this far more thoroughly.

This is one of the main reasons why countries like Veneluela are becoming
anti-American government, and why China and Russia are saying the Cold War
isn't over yet.

The tactics described above, which are designed to make a good citizen
look
"crazy, insane and dangerous" are not new tactics. They were being used
during
the Cold War and this was one of the biggest reasons the Cold War
continued
for so many years.

This has a disrupting and discrediting effect,

as well as sending a warning to others (just as if dead bodies were
left by the roadside). It also allows for denials, deniability, and
impunity under which these human rights abuses can continue for
decades.]

Moral Psychology counters any of this

Guidelines for Moral Psychology
http://fortresscastles.bravepages.com/law/moral-guide.html

1. The basic values and virtues to be explained within moral psychology
are respect, honesty, trust, compassion, love, dignity, kindness,
sympathy, forgiveness as well as other attributes that denote goodness
and
love.

2. No illness, drugs or alcohol can make a person commit a crime or
break
the law. To suggest otherwise is incorrect grammar. Having an illness or
disease can never cause a person to lose his or her morals, nor is it
ever
an excuse for breaking the law. While an illness can make a person's body
feel bad, an illness cannot make someone feel like a bad person. Every
person must be held fully accountable for any crime he or she commits.

3. All people are equal under the law. All people are born with a
natural
love of morals and desire for goodness. To suggest that some people are
not, no matter how scientific sounding, is racism and cannot be accepted.