Tag Archives: terrorism

France: More Death to Free Speech, by Guy Millière

There are things that cannot be publicly discussed in France, notably criticism of Islam. From Guy Millière at gatestoneinstitute.org:

  • Defending someone who is accused of being a “racist” implies the risk of being accused of being a “racist” too. Intellectual terror reigns in France.
  • France is moving from a “muzzled press to a muzzling press that destroys free speech”. — Alain Finkielkraut, writer and philosopher.
  • Writers other than Éric Zemmour have been hauled into court and totally excluded from all media, simply for describing reality.
  • In a society where freedom of speech exists, it would be possible to discuss the use of these statements, but in France today, freedom of speech has been almost completely destroyed.
  • Soon in France, no one will dare to say that any attack openly inspired by Islam has any connection with Islam.
(Images source: iStock)

On September 28, a “Convention of the Right” took place in Paris, organized by Marion Marechal, a former member of French parliament and now director of France’s Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences. The purpose of the convention was to unite France’s right-wing political factions. In a keynote speech, the journalist Éric Zemmour harshly criticized Islam and the Islamization of France. He described the country’s “no-go zones” (Zones Urbaines Sensibles; Sensitive Urban Zones) as “foreign enclaves” in French territory and depicted, as a process of “colonization”, the growing presence in France of Muslims who do not integrate.

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We’re Only Beginning to See the Consequences of the Bush-Era Assault on Civil Liberties, by Matt Taibbi

Many of us were seeing the consequences during the Obama administration. From Matt Taibbi at rollingstone.com:

Like a number of “War on Terror” measures, the Terrorist Screening Database’s unconstitutionality was obvious from the jump

President George W. Bush reflects on a question as he holds his last formal news conference at the White House, in WashingtonBush, Washington, USA - 12 Jan 2009

President George W. Bush reflects on a question as he holds his last formal news conference at the White House in 2009.

J Scott Applewhite/AP/Shutterstock

A judge last week ruled the federal government’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), which secretly categorized more than 1 million people as “known or suspected terrorists,” is unconstitutional.

Like a number of “War on Terror” reforms instituted in the Bush years, the TSDB’s unconstitutionality was obvious from its inception. Indeed, the very idea that we needed to “take the gloves off” in our post-9/11 “State of Exception” was an original selling point of some of these programs.

The TSDB is cousin to the No-Fly List (a different and more restrictive list ruled unconstitutional in 2014), the Distribution Matrix (the drone assassination program also known as the “Kill List”), the STELLAR WIND warrantless surveillance program, multiple expansions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the broadened use of National Security Letters to obtain private data without warrant, the “Enhanced Interrogation” program the rest of the world calls torture, and countless other War on Terror initiatives that were and are clear violations of the spirit of the constitution.

Many of these programs were sold to the public as temporary measures — Diane Feinstein way back in 2001 said five-year sunset provisions would be a “valuable check” on potential abuse of the Patriot Act — but turned out to be essentially permanent features of the state.

The TSDB is produced by the Terrorism Screening Center, a “multi-agency center” administered by the FBI. The Department of Homeland Security, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Transportation Security Administration, and the United States Customs and Border Protection also contribute. Even the FBI proudly uses the program’s creepy sobriquet, “the watchlist.”

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American Apocalypse: The Government’s Plot to Destabilize the Nation Is Working, by John W. Whitehead

The government has been gearing up for martial law for quite some time. From John W. Whitehead at rutherford.org:

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out … without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” — H. L. Mencken

The U.S. government is working hard to destabilize the nation.

No, this is not another conspiracy theory.

Although it is certainly not far-fetched to suggest that the government might be engaged in nefarious activities that run counter to the best interests of the American people, doing so will likely brand me a domestic terrorist under the FBI’s new classification system.

Observe for yourself what is happening right before our eyes.

Domestic terrorism fueled by government entrapment schemes. Civil unrest stoked to dangerous levels by polarizing political rhetoric. A growing intolerance for dissent that challenges the government’s power grabs. Police brutality tacitly encouraged by the executive branch, conveniently overlooked by the legislatures, and granted qualified immunity by the courts. A weakening economy exacerbated by government schemes that favor none but a select few. An overt embrace of domestic surveillance tactics if Congress goes along with the Trump Administration’s request to permanently re-authorize the NSA’s de-activated call records program. Heightened foreign tensions and blowback due to the military industrial complex’s profit-driven quest to police and occupy the globe.

The seeds of chaos are being sown, and it’s the U.S. government that will reap the harvest.

Mark my words, there’s trouble brewing.

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In Defense of Ilhan Omar, by Dave DeCamp

Ilhan Omar is not everyone’s cup of tea, but she actually makes some good points if you look at what she has actually said. From Dave DeCamp at antiwar.com:

President Trump held a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday after a week of criticizing certain freshman members of Congress, drawing much media attention. Of course, the cries of racism from the left are nothing new to hear, but in specifically targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (Dem-Minn) the president hit a new low. Omar needs to be defended. Despite what you think of her domestic policy, she has been one of the most consistent antiwar voices in Congress.

When Trump brought up Omar the crowd started chanting “send her back.” As disgusting as that chant is, it’s no surprise to hear at a Trump rally. Xenophobia is nothing new from Trump or his base. it’s what he built his campaign on. But Just calling Trump “racist” doesn’t work, the Democrats should have learned this from the 2016 election. What needs to be addressed is the falsehood of Trump’s claims against the congresswoman.

Trump started his attacks on Omar during the rally with, “Representative Omar blamed the United States for the terrorist attacks on our country, saying terrorism is a reaction to our involvement in other people’s affairs.” The crowd responded with boos, clearly not educated on Osama bin Laden’s motives for the attacks on September 11th.

Bin Laden’s 1996 fatwa was entitled “Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holiest Sites. (Expel the infidels from the Arab Peninsula).” Bin Laden’s jihad against the US started because we were occupying his holy land (a point this author has been making a lot lately).

Even George W. Bush’s Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz admitted in 2003 that US troops in Saudi Arabia had “been Osama bin Laden’s principal recruiting device.” It doesn’t seem like President Trump learned this lesson of history. The US is preparing to send 500 ground troops to Saudi Arabia amid tensions with Iran, two US defense officials told CNN (although it has not been formally announced). Of course, if Omar criticizes this move the president will probably use it as proof that she is “pro al-Qaeda.” But trying to prevent more terrorist recruitment is in the interest of the American people and the troops overseas.

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Hurricane Barry Proves Terrorist Threat Is A Hoax, by Paul Craig Roberts

It’s been almost eighteen years since 9/11, and terrorists have had innumerable opportunities to inflict huge damage on American infrastructure and murder thousands, hundred thousands, or millions of people. Yet it hasn’t happened. From Paul Craig Roberts at paulcraigroberts.org:

What Hurricane Barry tells us as it floods an already flooded New Orleans is that the “terrorist threat” that the US allegedly faces is a hoax.

What do I mean?  Think about it this way.  Terrorists, if such exist, have had ample warning about New Orleans’ precarious position with the swollen Mississipi river in flood stage for the longest period in recorded history.  What would terrorists be doing as I write?  They woud be setting off explosives to breach one of the levees and watch the Mississippi river wash New Orleans away.  

This is simple child’s play for terrorists who, if you believe the US government, are so clever that they outwitted airport security four times in one hour on the same morning, hijacked 4 airliners, and brought down three World Trade Center skyscrapers and part of the Pentagon.  

Indeed, there are any number of dams and levees that could easily be breached with chaotic results.  The same for power sub-stations and cell phone towers.  “Airport security” is a pointless exercise as terrorists can kill far more people by exploding their bombs in the crowds waiting to clear TSA than they can by blowing up an airliner.  The easiest way for terrorists to cause mayhem is to empty boxes of roofing nails during rush hour on all major arteries in all major American cities.  It would take weeks to clear the roads of the hundreds of thousands of cars. Life in the major cities would come to a standstill.  People couldn’t get to work, school, or hospital. Food deliveries could not be made.  Those without provisions would lose a lot of weight and some would starve to death.  

All of these acts are far easier and far less complicated to arrange than the 9/11 attack.  Yet not a single one of them has occurred.  Other than TSA terrorizing US citizens, what terrorist acts have we experienced?  School shootings, assuming they are real and not stage productions, are not done by Muslim terrorists.

The absence of Muslim terrorist attacks in America is puzzling in view of the mass slaughter, maiming, orphaning, and dislocation of millions of Muslims by the US government for almost two decades.  This absence of retribution must seem strange to Americans who are accustomed to extreme demonization of Muslims.

The war on terror is a hoax used (1) to justify Washington’s destruction of 7 countries in whole or part during the first two decades of the 21st century, (2) to create a domestic police state and achieve the acquiescence by US citizens in the loss of their Constitutional protections, and (3) to create fortunes for favored operatives of the police state, such as Michael Chertoff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chertoff ), the director of Homeland Security who became rich selling scanning machines to TSA.

 

A ‘Convenient Killing’ Of US Troops In Syria, by Finian Cunningham

It used to be that if you were stuck in a senseless quagmire of a war in which your people were losing their lives for no good reason, it was a strong argument for getting out. Now it’s supposedly a strong argument for staying in. From Finian Cunningham at strategic-culture.org:

With unseemly haste, US news media leapt on the killing of four American military personnel in Syria as a way to undermine President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw troops from that country.

The deadly attack in the northern city of Manbij, on the west bank of the Euphrates River, was reported to have been carried out by a suicide bomber. The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group reportedly claimed responsibility, but the group routinely makes such claims which often turn out to be false.

The American military personnel were said to be on a routine patrol of Manbij where US forces have been backing Kurdish militants in a purported campaign against ISIS and other terror groups.

An explosion at a restaurant resulted in two US troops and two Pentagon civilian officials being killed, along with more than a dozen other victims. Three other US military persons were among those injured.

US media highlighted the bombing as the biggest single death toll of American forces in Syria since they began operations in the country nearly four years ago.

The US and Kurdish militia have been in control of Manbij for over two years. It is one of the main sites from where American troops are to withdraw under Trump’s exit plan, which he announced on December 19.

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The War on Populism, by C. J. Hopkins

Is populism the new terrorism? From C. J. Hopkins at unz.com:

Remember when the War on Terror ended and the War on Populism began? That’s OK, no one else does.

It happened in the Summer of 2016, also known as “the Summer of Fear.” The War on Terror was going splendidly. There had been a series of “terrorist attacks,” in Orlando, Nice, Würzberg, Munich, Reutlingen, Ansbach, and Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, each of them perpetrated by suddenly “self-radicalized” “lone wolf terrorists” (or “non-terrorist terrorists“) who had absolutely no connection to any type of organized terrorist groups prior to suddenly “self- radicalizing” themselves by consuming “terrorist content” on the Internet. It seemed we were entering a new and even more terrifying phase of the Global War on Terror, a phase in which anyone could be a “terrorist” and “terrorism” could mean almost anything.

This broadening of the already virtually meaningless definition of “terrorism” was transpiring just in time for Obama to hand off the reins to Hillary Clinton, who everyone knew was going to be the next president, and who was going to have to bomb the crap out of Syria in response to the non-terrorist terrorist threat. The War on Terror (or, rather, “the series of persistent targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America,” as Obama rebranded it) was going to continue, probably forever. The Brexit referendum had just taken place, but no one had really digested that yet … and then Trump won the nomination.

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Continued American Occupation of the Middle East Does Not Suppress Terrorism, It Causes It, by Craig Murray

That US interventions cause the terrorism they are ostensibly supposed to squelch is a truth that’s been so obvious for so long that only a neoconservative could miss it. From Craig Murray at craigmurray.org:

Even the neo-con warmongers’ house journal The Guardian, furious at Trump’s attempts to pull US troops out of Syria, in producing a map to illustrate its point, could only produce one single, uncertain, very short pen stroke to describe the minute strip of territory it claims ISIS still control on the Iraqi border.

Of course, the Guardian produces the argument that continued US military presence is necessary to ensure that ISIS does not spring back to life in Syria. The fallacy of that argument can be easily demonstrated. In Afghanistan, the USA has managed to drag out the long process of humiliating defeat in war even further than it did in Vietnam. It is plain as a pikestaff that the presence of US occupation troops is itself the best recruiting sergeant for resistance. In Sikunder Burnes I trace how the battle lines of tribal alliances there today are precisely the same ones the British faced in 1841. We just attach labels like Taliban to hide the fact that invaders face national resistance.

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UK: Syrian Rebels Can’t Possibly Be Planning a False Flag, Because Russia Said They Are, by Caitlin Johnstone

If Russia were to claim the sun will rise in the east tomorrow, somebody would say its propaganda and a lie. From Caitlin Johnstone at theantimedia.org:

(CJ Opinion) — In a recent meeting with the press, British ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce told reporters that it is absolutely unthinkable that the terrorist factions in the terrorist-held Syrian province of Idlib could possibly be planning a terrorist attack using chemical weapons with the intention of blaming it on the Syrian government.

Her reasoning? Since the Russian government has been warning of this possibility, the exact opposite must necessarily therefore be true.

Yes, really.

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Why US Imperialism Loves Afghan Quagmire, by Finian Cunningham

The real reasons the US stays in Afghanistan, from Finian Cunningham at strategic-culture.org:

t may seem paradoxical that any American interest would seek to deliberately prolong the Afghan quagmire. Costing trillions of dollars to the national debt, one would think that US planners are anxious to wind down the war and cut their immense losses. Not so, it seems.

Like the classic 1960s satire film, Dr Strangelove, and how he came to “love the A-bomb”, there are present-day elements in the US military-security apparatus that seem to be just fine about being wedded to the mayhem in Afghanistan.

That war is officially the longest-ever war fought by US forces overseas, outlasting the Vietnam war (1964-75) by six years – and still counting.

After GW Bush launched the operation in October 2001, the war is now under the purview of its third consecutive president. What’s more, the 17-year campaign to date is unlikely to end for several more years to come, after President Donald Trump last year gave the Pentagon control over its conduct.

This week saw two developments which show that powerful elements within the US state have very different calculations concerning the Afghan war compared with most ordinary citizens.

First there was the rejection by Washington of an offer extended by Russia to join a peace summit scheduled for next month. The purpose of the Moscow conference is to bring together participants in the war, including the US-backed Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani, as well as the Taliban militants who have been fighting against American military occupation.

Washington and its Afghan surrogate administration in Kabul said they would not be participating because, in their view, such a dialogue would be futile.

The US refusal to attend the Moscow event, after previously showing an apparent interest, drew an angry response from Russia. Russia’s foreign ministry said the “refusal to attend the Moscow meeting on Afghanistan shows Washington has no interest in launching a peace process.”

One suspects that US reluctance is partly due to not wanting to give Moscow any additional international standing since Russia’s successful military intervention in Syria and its leading role in mediating for peace there.

To continue reading: Why US Imperialism Loves Afghan Quagmire