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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 6/11/13

Edward Snowden's Greatest Fear, "Nothing will be done."

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Edward Snowden in his video interview with Glenn Greenwald regarding the NSA's surveillance program he leaked to the "Guardian" newspaper, said, "My greatest fear regarding the outcome for America is nothing will be done and people won't fight to change things."

In a Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll taken after the NSA revelations became known, 56% of those polled found it acceptable for the agency to conduct the surveillance of millions of Americans while 41% found it unacceptable.

In the Congress, there's no groundswell to revise the NSA snooping on Americans electronic communications as most Democrats and Republicans alike remain strongly supportive of the NSA programs.

It may be too early to tell, but Snowden's greatest fear may be realized; nothing will be done. Why?

The government's propaganda campaign making Americans fearful has been successful. It's not that there aren't those out there wanting to kill Americans; there are. But it's all out of proportion to reality and the actual threat that exists. In America there's a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being killed by a terrorist.

But that reality doesn't seem to enter into the equation when it comes to terrorists and terrorism.

Yes some 3,000 people were killed on 9/11. But how many hundreds of thousands have we either killed, maimed, driven from their homes and become refugees in our wars of retribution in Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as drone strikes and missile attacks plus special ops night raids in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia?

But in America, terrorists and terrorism have been made into a mortal "enemy" the equivalent of Soviet Communists and Communism in a fight to the death.

Soviet Communism, our bitter cold war arch enemy ceased to exist in 1991. For ten years there was sort of a mortal "enemy" void. No "enemy" out there for our government to demonize and create that necessary "enemy" to justify our government going to war in the minds of the people.

Then came 9/11 and that necessary "enemy" was born. The rest we're all too familiar with; endless, unnecessary wars and an endless global war on terror.

Of course, other countries have terrorists and terrorism within their midst, but only in the U.S. are they seen so mortally threatening and must be hunted down relentlessly everywhere in the world. That our actions and policies create ever more jihadists wanting revenge and kill Americans doesn't matter. That justifies our never ending war against them.

So now domestically, the surveillance state with the NSA spying on Americans fits in nicely with the idea terrorists could be lurking everywhere, including the U.S. so we can't be too careful. And it appears with the aforementioned poll a majority of Americans have drunk the "terror laced Kool Aid' offered by their government.

Sadly, Edward Snowden's greatest fear may be realized. Nothing will be done.  

 

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Retired. The author of "DECEIT AND EXCESS IN AMERICA, HOW THE MONEYED INTERESTS HAVE STOLEN AMERICA AND HOW WE CAN GET IT BACK", Authorhouse, 2009
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