http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO409D.html
9/11 and the "War
on Terrorism"
The enemy of America is
"Made in America".
This is an inescapable fact.
We are the juncture of
the most serious crisis
in modern history.
by Michel Chossudovsky
- Note: Michael is a
university professor and author of the international best-seller
" War and Globalisation, The Truth
Behind September 11, published in ten
languages. This is important stuff. Archive, print hard copy and
network freely. -CR
------------ article follows:
"Millions of people have been misled regarding
the causes and consequences of September 11."
- "When people across the US and around the
World find out that Al Qaeda
- is not an outside enemy but a creation of US
foreign policy and the CIA,
- the legitimacy of the bipartisan war agenda
will tumble like a deck of cards
."
- Michel Chossudovsky, War and Globalization,
The Truth behind September 11,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/globaloutlook/truth911.html 2002, )
PREFACE
As the election campaign unfolds, the "war on terrorism" has become the
main if not the sole election issue. Ironically, Osama bin Laden has become
a central figure of the election debate.
- "Whatever it takes"… said President
Bush:
- "[We will] fight the terrorists across the
Earth, not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our
citizens are at stake."
Senator Kerry has promised to do even better:
- "As President, I will fight a smarter, more
effective war on terror. We will deploy every tool in our arsenal: our
economic as well as our military might; our principles as well as our
firepower."
In other words, the tragic events
of 9/11 are being used by both political parties to galvanize public opinion
in support of America's war agenda. [both
parties are flying the Skull & Bones flag of the War Party pirates. -CR]
9/11 is being
used as a justification to wage a pre-emptive war against "rogue
states" and Islamic terrorists, which are "threatening the
security of Homeland".
Meanwhile, the "war on terrorism" has diverted attention from all
other issues, including the militarization of America and a looming social
and economic crisis, marked by rising levels of poverty and unemployment.
Across the land, the image of an "outside enemy" is instilled in the
consciousness of Americans. Al Qaeda is threatening America and the world.
The repeal of democracy under the Patriot legislation is portrayed as a
means to providing "domestic security" and upholding civil liberties.
The Big Lie
This evolving bipartisan consensus is based on
a lie. Confirmed by congressional
transcripts, intelligence and news reports, this illusive outside enemy is a
creation of the US intelligence apparatus.
The enemy of America is "Made in
America". This is an inescapable fact.
The "Islamic Militant Network" (the
forerunner of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda), was created and sustained by the
CIA. CIA-sponsored guerrilla training in Afghanistan and Pakistan were
integrated with the teachings of Islam. The madrasas were set up by Wahabi
fundamentalists financed out of Saudi Arabia, with the support of
Washington.
The Reagan, Bush senior and Clinton administrations actively supported the
Islamic brigades during the Soviet-Afghan war and its aftermath. The Taliban
were the "graduates" of the CIA sponsored madrasas. They would not have been
able to form a government, had it not been for US military aid, channeled
through Pakistan.
Confirmed by official congressional documents, US support to Al Qaeda
continued after the Cold war.
Ironically, during the Clinton administration, it was the Republicans who
were accusing Bill Clinton of having links to the Islamic Militant Network
in Bosnia and Kosovo. A 1997 document emanating from the House Republican
Party Committee entitled "Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn
Bosnia into Militant Islamic Base", accused Clinton of working hand in glove
with Al Qaeda in Bosnia:
"The Clinton administration’s hands-on involvement with the Islamic
network's arms pipeline included inspections of missiles from Iran by U.S.
government officials... [T]he Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), a
Sudan-based, phoney humanitarian organization ... has been a major link in
the arms pipeline to Bosnia... TWRA is believed to be connected with such
fixtures of the Islamic terror network as Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman (the
convicted mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing) and Osama
bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi émigré believed to bankroll numerous militant
groups." (Congressional Press Release, Republican Party Committee (RPC),
U.S. Congress, Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn Bosnia into
Militant Islamic Base, Washington DC, 16 January 1997, available on the
website of the Centre of Research on Globalisation (CRG) at
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/DCH109A.html .
Needless to say these Congressional documents, while revealing the outright
lies behind US foreign policy, were not meant to be read by the broader
public.
US Support to Al Qaeda (1999-2001)
US and NATO support to Al Qaeda continued during the wars in Kosovo (1999)
and Macedonia (2001). Three weeks before 9/11, the US government and the
"Islamic Militant Network" were working hand in glove in supporting and
financing the self-proclaimed National Liberation Army (NLA), involved in
the terrorist attacks in Macedonia. US military advisers mingle with
Mujahideen within the same paramilitary force, Western mercenaries from NATO
countries fight alongside Mujahideen recruited in the Middle East and
Central Asia. And the US media calls this a "blowback" where so-called
"intelligence assets" have gone against their sponsors!
Needless to say, the Republicans and the Democrats are complicit. They
accuse one another of having links to Al Qaeda. Yet successive Democratic
and Republican administrations have been involved from the outset of the
Soviet Afghan war in 1979 in developing and sustaining Al Qaeda as a US
sponsored "intelligence asset".
In other words, if the Democrats were to win the 2004 presidential
elections, continuity in US foreign policy would be maintained. More
importantly, the "war on terrorism" and the lies concerning Al Qaeda and
9/11 would also be maintained.
The 9/11 Commission Report
The 9/11 Commission Report is devoid of a historical perspective. While
it provides all the appearances of a constructive critique of the US
government, it serves to uphold the myth of an outside enemy.
Following the publication of the 9/11 Commission Report, the unfolding
consensus is there were "intelligence failures. "They knew but failed to
act".
This line of reasoning is appealing to many 9/11 critics and Democrats,
because it tends to place the blame on the Bush administration. Yet in a
bitter irony, the very process of expressing public outrage on the failures
of senior Bush officials in waging an effective "war on terrorism", the
Report has contributed to reinforcing the myth of the "outside enemy", which
is being used to justify the largest military build-up since the Vietnam
war.
The foreknowledge issue is an obvious red herring. It serves to present Al
Qaeda as a threat, as an "outside enemy", when in fact Al Qaeda is a
creation of the US intelligence apparatus.
Both the 9/11 Commission Report and the earlier Joint Senate-House Inquiry
constitute a cover-up. The function of these reports is to destroy the
historical record of US covert support to internationalism terrorism, while
creating the illusion that America and "Western Civilization" are
threatened. In turn, the various terrorist warnings and code orange alerts
have created, across America, an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
Refuting the Myth of the Outside Enemy
In response to the 9/11 Commission Report, we bring to the attention of
our readers a compilation of articles on 9/11 and the "war on terrorism".
This collection includes most of my recent writings on 9/11, together with a
few of earlier texts written the immediate wake of September 11 2001.
The material contained in this collection will eventually be the object of a
full-length book, as a sequel to my earlier book entitled War and
Globalization, the Truth behind September 11.
However, in view of the urgency and the need to inform public opinion, at
this critical juncture in our history, we decided to bring this collection
out in the context of The CRG's E-Reports and Monograph Series.
The Table of Contents provided below provides a link to key articles on
different aspects of 9/11 and the war on terrorism.
It does not, however, purport to provide an exhaustive review of 9/11
issues. Its main objective is to refute the myth of "the outside enemy",
which has served as a justification for war and the repeal of civil
liberties.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I - OVERVIEW
1. "The Big
Lie"
- The presumption is that
these forewarnings and intelligence briefs emanating from the
intelligence establishment constitute a true and unbiased representation
of the terrorist threat.
- .
- Meanwhile, the history of Al Qaeda and the CIA
has been shoved to the background.
The fact that successive US
governments since the Soviet-Afghan war have supported and abetted
the Islamic terror network is no longer mentioned, for obvious
reasons. It would break the consensus regarding Al Qaeda as the outside
enemy of America, which is a crucial building block of the entire
National Security doctrine.
2. America's War for Global Domination
- We are the juncture of the most
serious crisis in modern history.
The Bush Administration has embarked upon a
military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.
The wars on Afghanistan and Iraq are part of a
broader military agenda, which was launched at the end of the Cold War.
The ongoing war agenda is a continuation of the 1991 Gulf War and the
NATO led wars on Yugoslavia (1991-2001).
II FABRICATING AN OUTSIDE ENEMY
3. Who Is
Osama Bin Laden?
- Prime suspect in the New York and
Washington terrorists attacks, branded by the FBI as an "international
terrorist" for his role in the African US embassy bombings, Saudi born
Osama bin Laden was recruited during the Soviet-Afghan war
"ironically under the auspices of the CIA, to fight Soviet invaders".
4. Historical Roots of Al Qaeda
- Rarely mentioned in 9/11
news reports, the "Islamic Militant Network" was created
during Jimmy Carter’s presidency (1976-1981).
In July 1979, Carter signed a presidential
directive to launch a secret plan in support of the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan. Confirmed by former CIA director, Robert Gates, in his
book, From the Shadows, this "secret plan" was instrumental in
triggering the Soviet-Afghan war.
5. Where was Osama bin Laden on
9/11? Bush Administration knew the Whereabouts of Osama
- According to CBS News,
Osama had been admitted to a Pakistani military hospital on September
10, courtesy of America's ally. In all likelihood he was still in
hospital in Rawalpindi on the 11th of September, when the attacks
occurred.
6. "Osamagate"
- Three weeks before 9/11,
the US government and the "Islamic Militant Network" were working hand
in glove in supporting and financing the self-proclaimed National
Liberation Army (NLA), involved in the terrorist attacks in Macedonia.
US military advisers mingle with Mujahideen within the same paramilitary
force, Western mercenaries from NATO countries fight alongside
Mujahideen recruited in the Middle East and Central Asia. And the US
media calls this a "blowback" where so-called "intelligence assets" have
gone against their sponsors!
7. Who is behind the "Terrorist Network" in Northern
Iraq ,
- Sec. Colin Powell accused Baghdad of supporting
Ansar al-Islam, a "deadly terrorist network" based in the ethnic Kurd
controlled region of Northern Iraq
8. Iraq and the "War on
Terrorism"
- The Bush administration
desperately needs the "war on terrorism" as a justification for the
killings of civilians in Iraq, which it describes as "collateral
damage".
9. The Pentagon's new terrorist
mastermind: Who is Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi?
- To reach its foreign policy
objectives, the images of terrorism must remain vivid in the minds of
the citizens, who are constantly
reminded of the terrorist threat.
- .
- The "war on terrorism" rests on the
creation of one or more evil bogeymen, the terror leaders, Osama bin
Laden, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, et al,
whose names and photos are presented ad nauseam in
daily news reports.
10. The Pentagon’s Diabolical
Intelligence Operation in Afghanistan: Kidnapping and deporting civilians to
Guantanamo, providing a safe-haven to Al Qaeda fighters,
- Al Qaeda fighters and their
senior Pakistani advisers were "saved" on the orders of Donald Rumsfeld.
Meanwhile, also on the orders of the Secretary of Defense, innocent
civilians who had no relationship whatsoever to the war theater were
categorized as "enemy combatants", kidnapped, interrogated and sent to
Guantanamo.
11. Pentagon Simulated a
Scenario of an actual Terrorist Attack 10 months before 9/11, June 2004
- In October 2000, a military
exercise was conducted which consisted in establishing the scenario of a
simulated passenger plane crashing into the Pentagon.
- [NOTE: The recent expose by
Stanley Hilton is emphatic that military insiders under sworn deposition
swear that there were 35 "drills" of a simulated WTC attack in the 6
months before 9/11... and that Chaney got the military to stand down on
9/11 by stating it was just another drill. -CR]
III COVER-UP AND COMPLICITY
12. Cover-up or Complicity of the Bush
Administration? The Role of Pakistan's Military Intelligence (ISI) in the
September 11 Attacks
- Pakistan's chief spy Lt. General
Mahmoud Ahmad "was in the US when the attacks occurred."
He arrived in the US on the 4th of September, a full week before the
attacks. He had meetings at the State Department "after" the attacks on
the WTC. But he also had "a regular visit of consultations" with his US
counterparts at the CIA and the Pentagon during the week prior to
September 11.
13. 9/09/01: Shah Masood, leader
of the Northern Alliance assassinated two days before 9/11,
- It happened two days before
the 9/11 attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon. Masood died from wounds
suffered in the suicide attack on the Saturday (9/15) following 9/11.
- In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the
killing of Ahmad Shah Masood was barely mentioned. The broad media
consensus was that the two events (9/9 and 9/11) were totally unrelated.
14. The 9/11 Joint Inquiry
chairmen in "conflict of interest": Mysterious September 11 Breakfast
Meeting on Capitol Hill,
- On the morning of September 11,
the three lawmakers Bob Graham, Porter Goss and Jon Kyl (who were part
of the Congressional delegation to Pakistan) were having breakfast on
Capitol Hill with General Ahmad, the alleged "money-man" behind the 9-11
hijackers
15. Expose the Links between Al
Qaeda and the Bush Adminstration,
- The relationship of the Bush
Administration to international terrorism indelibly points to the
criminalisation of the upper echelons of US State apparatus.
Let's use this information to
dismantle the Bush Administration's war plans. Sensitize our fellow
citizens. Expose the "dubious links." Because when the
truth trickles down, the leaders' war plans will not have a shred of
legitimacy in the eyes of millions of Americans who believe that Al
Qaeda is "A Threat to America" and that their president is committed to
their security.
16. White House Nominee to Head
the CIA has Dubious Links to the Terror Network
- Two weeks before 9/11,
Porter Goss, the White House nominee for the CIA Director of
Intelligence was being "briefed on the growing threat of al Qaeda"
(WP, 5/04/03) by a Pakistani General who "ran a spy agency
notoriously close to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban." (WP,
5/18/02)
IV WAR PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA DISINFORMATION
17 War
Propaganda
- The blatant distortion of
the truth and the systematic manipulation of all sources of information
is an integral part of war planning. In the wake of 9/11, Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld created to the Office of Strategic Influence
(OSI), or "Office of Disinformation"
as it was labeled by its critics:
18. Fabricating an Enemy
- One of the main objectives of war
propaganda is to «fabricate an enemy» . As anti-war sentiment grows and
the political legitimacy the Bush Administration falters, doubts
regarding the existence of this "outside enemy" must be dispelled.
19. The US Nuclear Option and
the "War on Terrorism"
- The multilateral safeguards
of the Cold War era with regard to the production and use of nuclear
weapons have been scrapped.
- While Al Qaeda is presented to public opinion as
constituting a nuclear threat, the US Senate has provided a "green
light" to the use of tactical nuclear weapons in conventional war
theaters against "rogue states" and terrorist organizations.
- According to the Pentagon, these weapons are
"harmless to
civilians".
V BOGUS TERROR ALERTS
20. The Criminalization of the State,
- The "Criminalization of the
State", is when war criminals legitimately occupy positions of
authority, which enable them to decide "who are the criminals", when in
fact they are the criminals
21 Bush Administration
"Guidelines" for Postponing or Canceling the November Presidential
Elections,
- Concurrent with Homeland
Security's statement regarding the possibility of a large scale "9/11
type attack", EAC director DeForest B. Soaries , a Bush appointee, has
hinted to the need for: "establishing guidelines for canceling or
rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again".
22. The Count Down to Martial Law: Coup
d'Etat in America?
- An Al Qaeda sponsored
terrorist attack has been contemplated as a "trigger mechanism" for
carrying out a Coup d'Etat. Whether it is going to be carried out is
another matter. The statements of the Bush administration regarding the
possibility of a red code alert must, nonetheless, be taken seriously.
- .
- The coded terror alerts and "terror events" which
have been announced by Department of Homeland Security are part of a
disinformation campaign carried out by the CIA, the Pentagon, the State
Department and Homeland Security. US intelligence is not only involved
in creating phony terror warnings, it is also firmly behind the terror
groups, providing them with covert support.
23. CIA warns of "New 9/11": Why
has John Kerry remained Mum on the Issue of Postponing the Elections?
- At least two out of the
five post 9/11 orange code alerts were based, according to police
reports, on phony intelligence. Why are the Democrats not outraged at
the recent terror alert and election cancellation announcements,
emanating out of Homeland Security and the CIA? Why are they not saying
anything? It's a talking point on network TV. Why is it not an election
issue?
24. Fabricating Intelligence for
Political Gain
- The decision to launch the code
orange terror alert in New York City, Washington DC and northern New
Jersey was taken on the night of July 29th, within hours of John Kerry's
acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. [The BUSHwhackers have
become addicted to the use of terror and intimidation tactic to imbed
messages in the public's subconscious for subservience to Big Brother.
-CR]
- "Once a
government resorts to terror against its own population to get what it
wants,
- it must keep using terror against its own
population to get what it wants.
- A government that terrorizes its own people can
never stop.
- If such a government ever lets the fear subside
- and rational thought
return to the populace,
- that government is
finished."
- --Michael
Rivero