Fifteen years ago the U.S. government, in response to 9/11, took the unprecedented step of declaring war on a tactic. Waging a ‘war on terror’ gave the president and his neocon cabal vast new powers to make the world a battleground and sacrifice constitutional rights.
Key to this was the declaration of a “State of National Emergency” on September 14, 2001. This, combined with the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), gave the executive branch dictatorial powers, allowing for the invasion and occupation of Iraq – which had nothing to do with 9/11 – and bypassing the Geneva Conventions to declare foreign fighters as “enemy combatants” to be tortured and held indefinitely.
These new powers also allowed for the creation of a surveillance state that Stasi Germany could only dream of – pumping billions into new spy centers, giving the FBI National Security Letters to go after U.S. citizens for any reason, and turning the power of the NSA against the homeland.
While politicians claimed these powers would only be temporary while the terrorist threat was supposedly being neutralized, many of us knew government would never let go of power once it had been gained. The war on terror and its dismantling of human rights became just another fact of life.
Predictably, the invasion and occupation of Iraq turned the country into a breeding ground for terrorism, and drone bombings in other countries such as Pakistan – killing untold numbers of children and innocent civilians – created a million new terrorists.
With regime change in Iraq carried out under the banner of “pre-emptive war” – in accordance with the pre-9/11 goals of the Project for the New American Century – eyes were turned to Syria, where purveyors of U.S. military hegemony longed to oust democratically elected president Bashar al-Assad.
To help achieve this, the U.S. nurtured the Salafist sect in Syria, which went on to become a major component of the brutal terrorist organization called ISIS or Daesh. Besides the horrendous, unchecked murder it is inflicting in several Middle Eastern countries, ISIS has managed to stage multiple attacks in Europe and inspired people within the U.S. to go on shooting sprees.
Funny thing how terrorism has become more of a problem 15 years after the U.S. began its war on terror.
A few days ago, Obama quietly recommitted to the cause of perpetual war and diminished civil liberties by continuing the “State of National Emergency With Respect to Certain Terrorist Attacks” for another year. The August 30 memo cited “the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.”
The specter of terrorism, which always has and always will exist, means that “the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2016.”
To underscore the point that government never intends to give up these powers, and will always look for the next bogeyman to keep that power in place, consider a recent press briefing at the U.S. Defense Department.
At the August 16 briefing, a spokesperson said, “We’re not focused on the former al-Nusra Front [al-Qaeda in Syria]. We’re focused on Daesh [ISIS]. And that’s what we’re fighting and that’s where therefore we look and where we target.”
What this means is that al-Qaeda and other perceived actors responsible for 9/11, which were the pretext for the State of National Emergency, are no longer the focus of the war on terror. ISIS is now the focus, yet they had nothing to do with 9/11 and the justifications for dictatorial powers.
As Eric Zuesse from the Strategic Culture Foundation describes:
Congress never authorized anything but al-Qaeda to be the enemy in the war against terrorism. Consequently, President Obama is now violating the law by his no longer targeting al-Qaeda at all, and he is also ignoring the law by his targeting ISIS (as he has long been doing) without requesting a new authorization from Congress to do so – an authorization that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress would be virtually certain to grant immediately…
The Congressional resolution that on 14 September 2001 authorized the US President to make war in response to 9/11, declared the President «authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. That was subsequently interpreted to refer to al-Qaeda. Bush invaded Iraq on 19 March 2003 by declaring that Iraq supported al-Qaeda.
While Bush at least attempted to make a connection with 9/11 and Iraq – which was full of lies and misinformation – Obama is not even pretending that 9/11 matters anymore as he keeps the powers in place that were granted because of 9/11.
It is no coincidence that the only target of the U.S. military now is ISIS, which is the jihadist organization that wants to overthrow the Saudi regime – a strong U.S. ally.
In fact, the U.S. is supporting “moderate” rebels that would otherwise be called terrorist groups, such as al-Nusra, because they share the same goal of overthrowing Syrian president Assad. Plausible deniability is easy to achieve when the U.S. can simply fund and train proxy groups through allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
In contrast, ISIS was virtually created by the U.S. – as demonstrated by Ben Swann – to serve the goals of Syrian regime change and to counter increasing Russian influence in the region.
So they are now the target of the war on terror, which no longer has any connection to the attacks of 9/11. But Obama and willing lawmakers and career bureaucrats have no compunctions about using that 15-year-old State of National Emergency to further the interests of U.S. military hegemony.
Justin Gardner writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.
If you thought the “War on Terror” had anything to do with the US ending terrorism, you were sadly mistaken. It’s a “blank check” for “endless wars.”
Typical
misleading article.
ISIS, Nusra, Daesh, Jund Allah… they are ALL Mossad-CIA death squad covert ops
to destroy Israel’s rivals and enemies in the middle east. The CONTINUITY of policy is consistently
ignored by these pseudo reporters and nobody ‘analysts’, who never learned
Arabic, traveled to the region and know just as little about our TRUE govt-
which is the KNESSET and AIPAC, not Congress. Show some balls dude, and NAME
THEM. They are 95% ZIONIST dominated
nothing is as permanent as a “temporary” government program. you see, its sorta like a cancer. it only knows how to grow and consume, until in the end, it kills the host. a parasite on the body politic.
Don’t get mad at Obama. He’s just following orders for the plan that was laid out decades ago.
What does Mr. Obama actually mean by extending 9/11 “Emergency” War On Terror Powers?
America Corporation as far as I know its history is under martial law since 1863.
More power for the generals and admirals?
Does this “more power”-game never ends in America?
“The past was alterable. The past never had been
altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at
war with Eastasia.”
ibid “US elites are throwing the Saudis under the bus”…..”The Saudi regime is a strong US ally”
Yep, and with a “strong ally” like them,who needs enemies ?
Exactly! The Kurds were America’s best allies until they got a visit from Biden who threw them under the bus on behalf of Turkey
TPTB are herding their divide and conquered pawns. The Kurds are fighting in Syria to “earn” their own homeland (baked in the new middle east cake). Not thrown under the bus, kept compartmentalized.
Biden told them to leave the city they had just conquered and then depart to the other side of the Euphrates and allow the Turks to just occupy something that had cost many Kurdish lives.
I know and I understand, your point is well taken in the immediate snapshot. It’s the complex moves towards the end game I am describing. Some Kurds see through the veils, at least to some extent. They know where TPTB are taking the new middle east project, as some call it. Nonlinear geopolitical warfare, at least as old as Sun Tzu. 😉
Global elite map, includes Kurdish homeland. Also notice how Iraq is subdivided into thirds.
The Saudi elites are puppets like all the others, hence, the 1984-esque Kabuki / soap opera / good cop vs. bad cop theater. Behind the curtain they’re all buddies working to further disempower us.
BTW, that a very cool pic you have. A bit of chemtrail activism? Great idea!
Thanks,glad you like it. It`s actually from WWII , quad mounted .50 cal`s. (MA 2`s).
BO, where is the $6 Trillion missing from the Pentagon. This is on your watch. The War on Terror does not afford you the right to terrorize Americans and enslave generations to come due to your inability to keep track of the People’s money!
For >40 years the global elite dangled the boogeymen they created and propped up: Russian and Chinese “commies” complete with Gladio commie bombings in Europe; a lull in the 90s; then 9/11 Al-CIA-duh, now ISIS “extremists” (moving away from the term terrorists)…morphing into domestic extremists.
“Governments will use whatever technology is available to them to combat the PRIMARY ENEMY – their own population.”
(quote Noam Chomsky….even a left gatekeeper gets it right sometimes)
NWO Govt Solution? <<>> Step out of line, you’re locked out.
Remember Russo’s warnings!
Wow, this is a complete shock to me! I don’t recall Obama getting new orders from AIPAC/Israel. Geez, the things you let slip by when you think your safe.
We should of never took Saadam and Gadaffi out of power; dictators do a good job of suppressing Islam. Muslims don’t want freedom, they want sharia law.
The TPP completely destroys the sovereignty of Nations and turns them into slaves of the Central Bankers, who stole the Power to Create the Currency from We The People, and now use it to bribe all the politicians. The TPP is 100% One World Government. It MUST be STOPPED NOW !
And TTIP as well!