(Washington, DC) Stratfor Global Intelligence just published an essay announcing that the nation's rulers have conducted a "successful war" on terror following the events of 9/11. The author, CEO and Stratfor founder, George Friedman, dressed up the standard Bush - Cheney justification for the past ten years of foreign misadventures and domestic decline:
""one of
the most extraordinary facts of the war that begin on 9/11 was that
there have been no more successful major attacks on the United States." George Friedman, September 6
That's the argument pure and simple.
How do you counter that?
First, the statement excludes the most important fact about 9/11. It was a "successful major attack on the United States." The event caused human tragedies accompanied by the shock that the most powerful nation on earth left its centers of governance and finance unprotected.
Friedman and those he defends have one overriding imperative in discussing 9/11, exclude the event itself as a topic of discussion. Move on as though history starts after the successful attacks. Never ever let the topic focus on Bush administration's command negligence surrounding 9/11.
Second, keep in mind that the rhetorical imperative of the successful war argument requires that the following question is rarely asked and never considered at any length. How on earth could these attacks have been planned and executed without discovery? That question must be excluded at all costs. If asked, the clear answers obliterate claims for a successful war that supposedly followed 9/11. The answers completely undermine the arguments supporting the usurpation of the Constitution, the dire costs of the national security state, and endless wars.
The events leading up to the attack show a total disregard for the many warnings and red flags produced by various individuals and groups within law enforcement and the intelligence community. What follows is not an endorsement of the official conspiracy theory advanced by those in power. It represents an effective path to bypass polarizing labels and open the minds of the larger audience, the millions of citizens who have questions but no answers.
By showing the obvious internal contradictions in the official story, the larger audience is prepared to consider a much broader set of explanations and the urgent need for a true investigation into the events leading up to the attacks on the people and the nation.
What did they know and when did they know it?
Before the 9/11 Commission, there was the congressional Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. The full report was published in December 2002 (838 pages). Eleanor Hill, staff director of the effort, put out a much shorter staff statement on September 18, 2002.
Hill began by stating the mission of the joint committee: to provide the public with an "understanding of why the Intelligence Community did not know of the September 11 attacks in advance." The staff report then provided more than enough evidence to show that the intelligence community had extensive knowledge of the attacks well in advance of 9/11. A total failure of leadership is the unstated conclusion that jumps off the pages of both the summary and full report. The leaders had the information but failed to act on it.
The few excerpts below show the importance of addressing the history leading up to 9/11. The findings lay the foundation for arguing that the post 9/11 efforts missed the point -- namely, that working within the assumptions of the official 9/11 narrative, the problem wasn't prior warning. The main problem was a complete failure to act by those in the White House on the many warnings over many years.
"In June 1998, the Intelligence Community obtained information from several sources that Usama Bin Ladin was considering attacks in the U.S., including Washington, DC and New York. This information was provided to senior U.S. Government officials in July 1998;
"In August 1998, the Intelligence Community obtained information that a group of unidentified Arabs planned to fly an explosive-laden plane from a foreign country into the World Trade Center. The information was passed to the FBI and the FAA. " The Intelligence Community has acquired additional information since then indicating there may be links between this group and other terrorist groups, including al Qaeda;
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