OpEdNews - Page 5 of Article: Leading Counter-Terrorism Expert and Former High-Level Official Slams War on Terror and Questions 9/11

Continuity of government is about protecting the established leadership, or making sure that leadership continues. Continuity of government means that, within the specific framework, there is a way for any group of characters to run any set of responsibilities.

If continuity of government had been implemented during the Bush administration, Bush and Cheney would be missing.

After I discussed a Washington Post article from 2002 stating that Cheney went into hiding for months after 9/11 because COG plans were implemented, Arnold responded as follows.

That's what is supposed to happen in those circumstances.

In other words, Arnold is saying that COG is all about making sure someone is around to run the government, and hiding some government employees is the way to do that, and nothing sinister.

I then argued that the fact that DeFazio and the entire Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress asked the White House to disclose COG plans, and the White House refused, showed that something nefarious was being done with respect to COG.

The White House was overcautious about it. But DeFazio's public request was a political gesture intended to embarrass leadership . . . that was a mistake. If they had simply picked up the phone and asked, they would have gotten the information.

The Bush administration leadership tried to usurp power. They went around the FISA court, and did a lot of other things that went too far. But that had nothing to with COG.

I then stated that many people believed that Bush was not the real leader, but simply a figurehead, and that a shadow government had actually run things during the Bush years.

It may be true that there was a shadow government. But that had nothing to do with COG.

Postscript: I believe that Arnold is one of the "good guys" - someone who spent many years in government, is trying to do the right thing. There are obviously bad people in government. But there are also many good current and former government people. See this. You can't always judge a book by its cover, and you never know where you will find allied in the struggle for truth, justice and security.

* Arnold is the author, co-author, or editor of the following books: Fighting Back: Winning the War Against Terrorism (1986), Beyond the Iran-Contra Crisis : The Shape of U. S. Anti-Terrorism Policy in the Post-Reagan Era (1988), The Violence Formula: Why People Lend Sympathy and Support to Terrorism (1990), Think About Terrorism: The New Warfare (1991), and A World Less Safe: Essays on Conflict in the 21st Century (2005).

Big hat tip to Alan Miller of Patriots Question 9/11 who discovered Arnold's essay, summarized Arnold's biographical information, and brought Arnold to my attention.

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