"The "War On Terror" Is A Fraud - It Is Not Meant To Be Won, It Is Meant To Be Continuous"

[truth2power]

Author and historian Webster Tarpley exposes the Orwellian lie known as the "War On Terror" before Orwell's own 1984 provides a glimpse into our own age.

A clip of Winston Smith from Orwell's 1984.

[Phlem]

1. Been saying that all this time and forever. But

frickin Orwell beat me to it! And you know the word "terrorism" can be labeled on just about anything these days. The forever Boogeyman if you will.

[ballyhoo]

12. I've said it every day since shortly after 9-11. But I wasn't positive

until recently. It's all bullshit.

[blkmusclmachine]

15. +1. And really makes me wonder about the truth about what Bush knew prior to 9/11...

[ballyhoo]

21. I would say but it would be considered a CT and

get the post juried. I'll bet you already know but it is hard to accept.

[truth2power]

30. Yes I do. n/t

[Plucketeer]

25. Just another "War On _______" fill in the blank

And every bit as effective as the War On Drugs. Of course, ALL these "War Ons" do generate cash flow to contractors coffers - so there's SOME effectiveness that can be quantified!

[liberal N proud]

2. It was necessary after the cold war ended

Something was needed to support militarization and to keep the population in a state of fear.

When the public becomes complacent, the rhetoric if not action ramps up.

[arendt]

3. Webster Tarpley is an ex-LaRouche fruitcake

while I agree with the statement, you need to pick a better messenger.

This guy has more baggage than a 747.

No offense, but no one will get past a google search on his name.

[radiclib]

10. Wasn't he abducted by aliens?

[truth2power]

34. arendt - I appreciate that you expressed your concern without resorting to

mockery and put-downs. Thank you.

You are correct, of course, (about the baggage) but I'm of the opinion that intelligent adults should be able to evaluate a message on its own merits, and I think Tarpley's message on this video is one that very few could quarrel with.

There are many people, including myself, who believe that the so-called "War on Terrorism" is fictitious, and is manufactured in order to serve the interests of the PTB.

Whatever else Tarpley says, and whatever group he decides to associate himself with should be evaluated in context.



OT: Regarding your username - This spring a friend and I went to one of the art theaters here and saw the movie, "Hanna Arendt". I've had a longstanding interest in her work and have read some portions of it. I know about her concept of the "banality of evil" which I accept as accurate, having been supported, IMO, by the Stanford and the Milgram experiments, e.g.,obedience to authority can be a factor in causing ordinary people to do the most horrific things.

I was totally unaware, though of the extent to which the Jewish community attacked her, the idea being, apparently, that Eichmann had to be some sort of monster to have participated in the acts he did. An extraordinary movie. I hope to add the DVD to my collection when I have a little extra money to spend.

[GoneFishin]

4. No, you are wrong. Communism is a real threat, I tell you ... err .... I mean terrorism is a real

threat. It's real, I tell you.

We need to stop wasting money on social programs and infrastructure safety, and spend more on fighting terrorism inside the Fatherland ... I mean the Homeland.

[CJCRANE]

5. Who do you turn to

when the people tasked with protecting us create our own enemies?

They've really outdone themselves this time.

Dempsey and Hagel seemed dazed and confused. Why does Washington do that to itself?

Of course this is not just an American production, there are a whole bunch of countries involved.

I don't blame the president, I think there are (and were) some in the administration and officials in other countries who have their own agenda.

But how about let's respect sovereign nations, let's stick to the rule of law both nationally and internationally, and promote secular values, not all this fundamentalist BS and let's forget the neocon game of playing different groups off against each other to the point where we don't know who we are or who is on our side anymore.

[Phlem]

9. "I think there are (and were) some in the administration and officials,

in other countries who have their own agenda."

Absolutely, Bush shoved every crevice of Washington with his cronies. It's going to take a while to clean that place out.

[blkmusclmachine]

16. Operation Northwoods:

U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba

In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.

Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans included the assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.

The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.

America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."

Details of the plans are described in Body of Secrets, a new book by investigative reporter James Bamford about the history of America's largest spy agency, the National Security Agency

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1

[newthinking]

6. Some points are relevant

Last edited Sun Aug 24, 2014, 11:52 PM - Edit history (1)

How is it that in the "War on Terror" we actually end up supporting and arming the same kinds of groups (we claim are the threat) half the time? It does not make sense and is based on some kind of poorly thought out Machiavellian construct combined with unnatural confidence. The neo-cons, neo-liberals, and authoritarians think they can create chaos and failed states and then go back in and fix them afterwards; as if we are only talking about buildings and roads.

Not only is it deceptive but it is insane and not only does not work but is actually endangering the entire world while causing terrible suffering.

The perfect example of this thinking was IRAQ and Rumsfeld & Co.: The really did think they could just go in their and bomb the hell out of IRAQ, finish a war in less than a year, and then swoop in and using propaganda and mammon recreate it as they wanted it to be.

Unfortunately it is not only the Bush primitives that think this way, this same regressive arrogance has been adopted by very powerful interests on all sides of the political spectrum.

We have a much more serious problem in leadership in the world; Our current system has filled the upper ranks of power with an echo chamber of regressive and arrogant thinkers. Scientists and specialists are devalued; people who talk outside the "echo chamber" are reduced, removed, pushed out, or increasingly can be threatened with Jail.

"People are by nature changeable. It is easy to persuade them about some particular matter, but it is hard to hold them to that persuasion. Hence it is necessary to provide that when they no longer believe, they can be forced to believe.."

From "The Prince" by Machiavelli

http://www.emachiavelli.com/ThemesforToday.htm

[cantbeserious]

7. We Are Dupes Of The 1% - Endless Manipulation - Endless Control - Endless Terror - Endless Fear

eom

[Half-Century Man]

8. We have actual enemies, we do not need to fabricate them

Enemies like poverty, disease, hunger, pollution, our own population, dwindling non-renewable resources, over whelming renewable resources, the gross shortsightedness of our leadership (Both this country and abroad), gravity, and the vastness of the universe.

[Jerry442]

22. The Moral Equivalent of War.

Something Jimmy Carter once proposed that would help us marshal the same massive forces toward solving humanity's major problems that we would normally use to crush adversaries on the battlefield. Sadly, an idea that went absolutely nowhere.

[Scuba]

11. Well, duh.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. This is why there was a general freakout when Obama got bin Laden....

These guys were TERRIFIED the public would return to a "pre-9/11 mindset" which would mean (puke) PEACE.

We had peace with Japan and Germany after WWII and we wanted peace with the Muslim World after 9/11.

The guys selling the war CAN'T and don't have anything else to sell.

[blkmusclmachine]

17. Apparently, there is no PROFIT in PEACE. The 1% CANNOT be satiated.

Death = Profit

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. People forget the bad....

It wasn't THAT long ago when Republicans were telling the public that the Democrats were traitors working with the enemy trying to destroy the country from within. They did it in the 50s and 60s by claiming we were all communists then in the 00s by the likes of Tucker Carlson claiming our talking points were the same as the terrorists.

We were being called "traitors".

War is EASY to get started within the Right Wing. All you do is create an enemy and then wave a flag and claim the Left are weak. They fall for it every time and will again because they really are NOT that bright. There are people who know this and couldn't give a damn about right or left but do care about money and know how to play the game.

Some of them are in the Pentagon.

[blkmusclmachine]

14. +1000: The "War On Terror" Is A Fraud - It Is Not Meant To Be Won, It Is Meant To Be Continuous

Just like the phony "War on Drugs," SOMEBODY is making a killing on all that sweet Fed money going into their bank accounts!!!

[dougolat]

18. General Smedley Butler warned us - lotta good that did...nt

[The Magistrate]

19. Do You Cite Anyone Who Is Not A Certifiable Nut-Case, Sir?

http://zcomm.org/zmagazine/crackpots-the-left-and-jewish-banker-cabals-by-chip-berlet/

Periodically, right-wing, neo-fascist, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists see an opportunity to recruit from the political left. This happened when Danny Sheehan of the Christic Institute began importing conspiracy theories about the “Secret Team” from the Lyndon LaRouche and Willis Carto networks. Both LaRouche and Carto are neofascist Holocaust deniers. During the first Gulf War, anti-Semitic rhetoric began to appear at rallies, sometimes traced to right- wing sources, and this has continued to divide activists seeking peace in the Middle East.

The world according to LaRouche is a centuries-old conspiracy of “parasites” who have “powerful, Anglo- American financier-oligarchical patrons,” and the result of their secret conspiracy is the “accelerating descent of humanity into a new dark age.” Recent LaRouchite publications rail about neoconservatives, who include a number of high profile Jews, with titles including phrases such as the “Children of Satan,” or “The Beast Men,” both of which echo ancient anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Tarpley’s analysis is virtually identical to that of the LaRouchites; in fact Tarpley helped shape core LaRouchite obsessions. In 1995 when he was a LaRouche acolyte, Tarpley wrote: “An agent shared by Memmo with the Morosini family was one Giacomo Casanova, a homosexual who was backed up by a network of lesbians. Venetian oligarchs turned to homosexuality because of their obsession with keeping the family fortune intact by guaranteeing that there would only be one heir to inherit it; by this time more than two-thirds of male nobles, and an even higher percentage of female nobles, never married. Here we have the roots of Henry Kissinger’s modern homin- tern. Casanova’s main task was to target the French King Louis XV through his sexual appetites.”

Hominterm/Cominterm. Cute. In one paragraph Tarpley scapegoats Jews, Communists, and homosexuals. Note that this same linkage was central to the McCarthyist witch hunts in the 1950s—another borrowed idea. These days Tarpley is also a featured author on the Jeff Rense website, along with more obvious anti-Semites such as Henry Makow.

[99th_Monkey]

27. Smedley Butler ^^^^ Not a nutcase ~nt

[The Magistrate]

28. And His Comments On Events Today In the Near East Can Be Found Where, Sir?

The gentleman's quite accurate observations about his career in the Marine Corps, and about the profit to be had from had from war, has no direct bearing on what ought to be done the United States today in regard to the activities of radical Islamic fundamentalists in arms in West and Central Asia. The person cited in the O.P., Tarpley, is in fact a certifiable loon, whose judgement of the present is called into question by grotesque failures of judgement he has displayed in the past.

[99th_Monkey]

29. Well, then how about Chris Hedges

Our failure to understand the psychological mechanisms involved means that the brutality we inflict, and that is inflicted upon us, will continue in a deadly and self-defeating cycle in the Middle East as well as within poor urban areas of the United States. To break this cycle we have to examine ourselves and halt the indiscriminant violence that sustains our occupations. But examining ourselves instead of choosing the easy route of nationalist self-exaltation is hard and painful. These killings will stop only when we accept that the killers who should terrify us most are ourselves.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_the_brutalized_become_brutal_20140824

Or Patrick Cockburn
The “war on terror” has failed because it did not target the jihadi movement as a whole and, above all, was not aimed at Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the two countries that fostered jihadism as a creed and a movement. The U.S. did not do so because these countries were important American allies whom it did not want to offend. Saudi Arabia is an enormous market for American arms, and the Saudis have cultivated, and on occasion purchased, influential members of the American political establishment. Pakistan is a nuclear power with a population of 180 million and a military with close links to the Pentagon.

The spectacular resurgence of al-Qa‘ida and its offshoots has happened despite the huge expansion of American and British intelligence services and their budgets after 9/11. Since then, the U.S., closely followed by Britain, has fought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and adopted procedures normally associated with police states, such as imprisonment without trial, rendition, torture, and domestic espionage. Governments wage the “war on terror” claiming that the rights of individual citizens must be sacrificed to secure the safety of all.

In the face of these controversial security measures, the movements against which they are aimed have not been defeated but rather have grown stronger. At the time of 9/11, al-Qa‘ida was a small, generally ineffectual organization; by 2014 al-Qa‘ida-type groups were numerous and powerful.

In other words, the “war on terror,” the waging of which has shaped the political landscape for so much of the world since 2001, has demonstrably failed. Until the fall of Mosul, nobody paid much attention.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_washingtons_war_on_terror_failed_the_underrated_saudi_20140822

[The Magistrate]

32. So Cite Him Instead Of a LaRouchite Loon Like Tarpley, Sir

And stop trying to pretend conspiracist bigots are sources of useful analysis and commentary.

[99th_Monkey]

33. I can't stop doing something if I never started

I did not cite Tarpley , the OP did.

The only person I cited was Smedley Butler, which I still stand by.

[The Magistrate]

35. You Seem To Be Defending The Citation, Sir

Otherwise we would not be exchanging comments with one another....

[99th_Monkey]

36. IMHO our "exchange" was prompted

by your over-reaction to my simple little comment praising Smedley Butler. I'm still a bit mystified as to why you keep posting as though I had praised Tarpley, when I did no such thing.

By the way, in case you haven't noticed, the War on Terror is a transparently bogus whack-a-mole shell game designed to keep our Military-Industrial Overlords in power, and to bsubjugate We the People under the jackboot of Corporate America.

[The Magistrate]

37. No Point To Your First Reply, Sir, But Defense Of the O.P. Against the Charge Laid In My Comment

If one subtracts the ritual boilerplate you have employed, there is a valid view-point underneath it all, but you still provide no answer regarding what the proper policy ought to be in regards to bodies of radical Islamic fundamentalists in arms in West and Central Asia.

[99th_Monkey]

39. Terrorists are nothing but international criminals & thugs, and should be dealt with as such.

Meanwhile, let the ME sort out their own issues, while we focus attention and scarce resources on the daunting domestic issues plaguing America ... issues like the de-militarization of domestic police forces, income inequality, closing Gitmo, alleviating poverty, attending to our deteriorating infrastructure and such. You know, rather like Obama SAID he would do but mostly hasn't.

I realize this does not maximize profits of the military-industrial Oligarchy, but so be it. Fuck them and the disaster-capitalism they rode in on.

[The Magistrate]

40. Not Bad, Sir

I agree that it is more a police problem than a military one, albeit at present one on a colossal scale, in which police cannot operate directly without military assistance. Its political component is more important than its military component, certainly. And the solution, if one is to be permanent, must be local, and acceptable to the mores of the place, whatever you or I might think of these.

[99th_Monkey]

44. That works for me. ~nt

[truth2power]

38. I refuse to be influenced by someone who claims that

any reference to "cliques of bankers and financiers" has to be code for some anti-Semitic rant.

Anyone who hasn't been in a coma for at least the past 6 years, and, actually, long before that, knows that bankers and financiers (read Matt Taibbi's work) are busily stealing everything from the 99% of us "on their way out the door" (per Chris Hedges). And I don't think it matters whether these criminals are Episcopalian, Methodist, Jewish, or aliens from Mars; the destruction goes on apace.

And I think it's fair to refer to banksters as a 'clique' or a 'cabal'. In that regard, here's what Michael Parenti has to say:

Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: 'Do you actually think there's a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things? For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers.

But where else would people of power get together - on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever.

And, yes, they consciously plot - though they call it 'planning' and 'strategizing' - and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.

--Michael Parenti

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar; and sometimes a cabal is just a cabal.



But to the point: what Tarpley said in that video was essentially that financial interests benefit from the creation of a largely fictitious enemy and continuous war. I can't disagree with that.

[The Magistrate]

41. And Sometimes, Sir, An Anti-Semitic Loon Is Just An Anti-Semitic Loon

And such you seem, at least lately, to be fond of citing as credible analysts, with the LaRouchite Tarpley following close on the heels of 'vineyard of the saker' the other day....

[truth2power]

42. Why is it not possible for you to have a discussion without name-calling?

In any case, I think you're being deliberately obtuse.

'Bye

[The Magistrate]

43. Pointing Out, Sir, That You Frequently Cite Anti-Semitic Loons Is Not 'Name-Calling'

It is pointing out readily observed fact.

It is always open to you to stop citing Anti-Semitic loons as if they were credible sources of analysis and fact....

[Gumboot]

23. War is profitable, and money is power. Simple as that.

Nothing must interrupt the continuous flow of taxpayer dollars into private (corporate) bank accounts.

Anyone posing a potential threat to that power structure will be removed from the world's stage. JFK, MLK, RFK, Paul Wellstone, Hugo Chavez, etc etc etc.

The 14 defining characteristics of fascism are clear for us all to see, but some still chose voluntary blindness, preferring the simpler path of submission.

More essential reading: 'Manufacturing Consent' by Noam Chomsky.

[valerief]

24. Exactly. Can you say al-Qaeda? Can you say ISIS? Funny how these pop up

as needed for the ruling class.

The War on Drugs started in the 70s against pot, but it blossomed in the 80s Just Say No crap against crack, which magically appeared as needed. Which came first, the "war" funding or the problem?

Anything the U.S. "wars" against they're really "for". War on Poverty? A war to maintain poverty and keep the masses imprisoned/impotent. The War on Drugs? A war to keep people drugged/dead/sick/imprisoned/impotent. The War on Terror? A war to keep the masses afraid/dead/impotent.

I can't think of a single government "War on" that's legit.

[samsingh]

26. under the bush junta i would agree

[ballyhoo]

31. Under all of them since Reagan.

[Enthusiast]

45. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

[Maineman]

46. The Bush-Cheney war on terror was certainly a fraud, but how do you stop terrorist activities??

Especially when it is a religion based mandate.

[truth2power]

52. They don't hate us for our freedoms. They hate us for our foreign policy...

Stop invading countries for their resources. That's a beginning.

[KoKo]

47. ""The "War On Terror" Is A Fraud - It Is Not Meant To Be Won, It Is Meant To Be Continuous"

It's pretty obvious to those of us who've been around awhile that this is truth. And, it's being realized by many sources from all over the political spectrum.

General Martin Dempsey pretty much admitted it in the Press Conference with SOD Chuck Hagel last week. It is never ending.

Our taxpayer dollars are going to defend Oil Company Interests in the Middle East (we have become their private armies) and elsewhere. We create terrorists when we invade countries, overthrow their governments, kill and torture their people, destroy their homes and businesses and leave bombing waste that will pollute their countries and cause birth defects in their children for future generation. That doesn't make us friends....it makes hated.

Thanks for calling attention to that no matter the source .....

[truth2power]

48. It's encouraging to me that probably 99% of those who respondedto this thread 'got it!'...

The message that I thought important to convey was that the fraudulent war on terror is meant to be neverending and to serve as a distraction to the proles while our 'betters' make off with the silverware and anything else of value that they can get their filthy hands on.

I think that clip from Orwell's 1984 says it well. And I thought it more important to present it than to struggle over the presence of Webster Tarpley, his baggage notwithstanding, who came with the package, so to speak.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

[KoKo]

49. Thank YOU!..."Attacking the Messenger" is often a game here..

and your other links to your reading of sites, which shows you are not a DU Troll, seemed to fly by the naysayers who want to tar us who post here on DU as being in some kind "CT" mode.

They can never get beyond that....with their "troll bashing mantra" that they can't see beyond what they want to see and attacking without fully reading for context. And, in some cases "context" doesn't even matter. The "Sword is Out" before they even bother to read the context.

[truth2power]

51. Regarding "attacking the messenger"I ran across this quote:

"I am for truth, no matter who tells it." -- attributed to Malcom X

[BVM]

50. A New Campaign Against War Lead By Rock 'N' Roll!

[link:

|

[rock]

53. Ditto for War on Drugs, Poor, etc.

The expressions do not even make sense if you think about it.