US soldiers pulling down a statue of Saddam Hussein in 2003 (AP Photo)
HOW DOES THE EMPIRE “WIN” THE WAR ON TERRORISM? IT TOPPLES ANOTHER WEAK COUNTRY REGIME, STUPID!
(Antiwar.com)
Reviewing U.S. military operations since 9/11/01, Anthony Gregory presents the engaging thesis they do not accomplish their stated aims of democracy, safety against terrorist attack, humanitarian disasters, etc. These conditions—in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere—go on and are intensified as the “hegemon” wins by defining victory as the removal of another head of state like Saddam Hussein or Moammar Gadaffi, or the decapitation of al Qaeda leaders like bin Laden. Mission accomplished, another statue falls, another war criminal executed or has his body dumped in the Arabian sea. That’s how to win a war against an “abstraction” like terrorism.
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ALL’S QUIET AT THE U.S.-CANADA BORDER CROSSING AT PORT ANGELES, WASHINGTON.
(McClatchy)
Since 9/11/01 the station has seen a 10-fold increase in border enforcement agents, but then as now they have practically no work to do. Still, these agents are about to be the recipients of a spanking new $5.7 million “complex” featuring amenities the like of a fitness center and a dog kennel.
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LIVING HIGH IN THE “9-11 DECADE’: DEFENSE INDUSTRY IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND.
(Providence Journal)
Newport, Rhode Island is typical of many other cities in the area. The production and maintenance of submarines at its shipping yards, begun in Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union 50 years ago, have survived and been advanced after the “world changed” with the twin tower attacks. New defense contracts have created the submarine Florida that has played a prominent role in current U.S. military operations.
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NYPD HAS A SECRET “DEMOGRAPHICS UNIT” TO SPY ON CITY’S MUSLIMS AS POTENTIAL TERRORISTS.
(RT News)
Mayor Michael Bloomberg defends as essential to the “protection” of New York City residents a just-revealed program within the police department of locating undercover agents in some 250 mosques and other points of congregation of Muslims. Such “profiling” of a supposedly dangerous “demographic” raises serious constitutional issues, but Bloomberg and the police say these measures are essential to public safety.
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NOTHING GOOD OF COURSE, ABOUT A TERRORIST ATTACK, BUT FLORIDA DID GET SOME “BENEFITS” THEREFROM.
(WMFE)
Economist Hank Fishkind was on a panel advising then-Governor Jeb Bush on immediate responses and recently was interviewed on a radio station on state “impact” from 9/11. Beyond the immediate disruption of the all-important tourist economy of the state, Florida’s leaders learned the “lesson” that its economy needed to be more diversified, and a variety of medical hi-tech and other non-tourist industries were attracted to the state.
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Quote of the day…
As the world gets more dangerous, people are willing to have infringements on their personal freedoms that they would not before. We live in a dangerous world, and we have to be very proactive in making sure that we prevent terrorism. I think most Muslims want police protection. They don’t want their kids … falling off the … train and going down the wrong path.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, defending NYPD close surveillance in city’s Muslim community.
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9/11 is so depressing. I know we have to grieve every year to be good citizens, but everytime I think about 9/11 I think about the hasty decision to go war and how Bush used the tragedy to further his goals in the middle east. That is what I grieve. How the neocons hijacked our country. Repercussions are still being felt.
The militarization of 9/11; how many civilian deaths have we exacted for this revenge, war on two fronts? It could also be argued that those two wars helped open doors for more general acceptance of war, and now we have war several fronts.
War criminals Bush and Powell made very sure to appear at popular sporting events yesterday, in calculated shows of patriotism. It was painful to see them partying and using 9/11 to further aggrandize their own ambitious natures. Nauseating in the extreme.