Re: War on Terror - Trapped in a Self-Defeating Strategy?
Immortalist
What is needed with the problem of terrorism, is to bring it back down
to earth and deftly skewer the large political, economic, and media
industry that has an interest in exaggerating terrorism's effect and
in scaring people unnecessarily.
The worry, witch-hunt, and waste that have ensued are destroying
American confidence, undermining our economy, warping our political
life, and isolating us from our international allies.
The first principle of terrorism is to understand that the weak win by
exploiting the strength of the powerful. When 9/11 terrorists with box
cutters hijacked American airliners, they transformed America's
preeminent transportation system into a devastating weapon of attack.
They also set a trap with the promise of revenge and security as the
bait. The hijackers' biggest victory was to goad our government into
taking the bait by unleashing the War on Terror.
The media have given constant attention to possible terrorist-
initiated catastrophes and to the failures and weaknesses of the
government's response. Trapped in the War on Terror, however,
questions the very rationale for the War on Terror. By analyzing the
virtual absence of evidence of a terrorist threat inside the United
States along with the motives and strategic purposes of al-Qaeda, it
is easy to show how disconnected the War on Terror is from the real
but remote threat terrorism poses. The generalized War on Terror began
as part of the justification for invading Iraq, but then took on a
life of its own. A whirlwind of fear, failure, and recrimination, this
"war" drags every interest group and politician into selfish
competition for its spoils.
Facing the threat of nuclear incineration during the Cold War, America
overcame panic about nonexistent communist sleeper cells poised to
destroy the country, a panic fueled by the destructive hysteria of
McCarthyism. Through careful analysis of the Soviet threat, the nation
managed to sustain a productive national life and achieve victory,
despite the terrifying daily possibility of catastrophe. This book is
inspired by that success. It points the way forward, not toward
victory in the War on Terror but to victory over it. The first and
most difficult step toward that victory is to know the enemy. In large
measure, as Trapped in the War on Terror shows, that means
understanding how al-Qaeda is making us our own worst enemy.
Battered by accusations of a liberal bias and determined to prove
their conservative critics wrong, the press during the run-up to the
war -- timid, deferential, unsure, cautious, and often intentionally
unthinking -- came as close as possible to abdicating its reason for
existence in the first place, which is to accurately inform citizens,
particularly during times of great national interest.
911 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA plot: a covert network of moles,
patsies, and a commando cell in the privatized intelligence services,
backed by corrupt political and corporate media elites.
Buttressed by historical examples like the Baader-Meinhof Gang and the
Gunpowder Plot, this model makes it clear how such a monstrous false-
flag or self-terror exploit is possible even under a largely benign
government. That paradox is the incredibility gap that has made most
Americans reject the evidence about 9/11 as paranoid fantasy.
http://www.amazon.com/Trapped-War-Terror-Ian-Lustick/dp/0812239830/
http://www.amazon.com/Lapdogs-Press-Rolled-Over-Bush/dp/0743289315/
http://www.amazon.com/11-Synthetic-Terror-Made-Fourth/dp/0930852370/
ex-PFC Wintergreen
> War on Terror - Trapped in a Self-Defeating Strategy?
There is no "war on terror".
Dutch
"ex-PFC Wintergreen" <pia...@catch-2222222.org> wrote
> Immortalist wrote:
>> War on Terror - Trapped in a Self-Defeating Strategy?
>
> There is no "war on terror".
Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy.
Republicans use the fact that the Obama administration has stopped using the
term to show that he is soft on terrorism.
ex-PFC Wintergreen
>
> "ex-PFC Wintergreen" <pia...@catch-2222222.org> wrote
>> Immortalist wrote:
>>> War on Terror - Trapped in a Self-Defeating Strategy?
>>
>> There is no "war on terror".
>
> Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy.
Exactly right.
>
> Republicans use the fact that the Obama administration has stopped using
> the term to show that he is soft on terrorism.
Politics.
Michael Gordge
wrote:
> Dutch wrote:
>
> > "ex-PFC Wintergreen" <pian...@catch-2222222.org> wrote
> >> Immortalist wrote:
> >>> War on Terror - Trapped in a Self-Defeating Strategy?
>
> >> There is no "war on terror".
>
> > Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy.
>
> Exactly right.
>
>
>
> > Republicans use the fact that the Obama administration has stopped using
> > the term to show that he is soft on terrorism.
>
> Politics.
Pacifism, masochism and sadism with the citizens of his own nation.
MG