Speaking of the September 11th 2001 attacks Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said, “This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate it,".
The Bush administration and it’s supporters wanted Americans to be afraid, cooperative and compliant. That is still what they want.
There has been quite a bit of discussion lately about Bush and Cheney declaring martial law and canceling the 2008 election. I personally don’t think they could pull it off, but the bits and pieces of information that have come out certainly makes the suggestion seem to have some merit. Many of these have been outlined is a recent article by Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis.
Some of the evidence that points toward a non-electoral power grab:
1) Under “Unitary Executive theory”, Bush has issued many signing statements that preclude him and his administration from being bound by legislation passed by Congress.
2) One particularly worrisome directive is National Security Presidential Directive 51, which states in part: "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President… to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency”.
This clearly states that the President can declare an emergency, and then do what he deems necessary to “…provide for orderly succession, [and] appropriate transition of leadership…” That pertains directly to succession of power… for example, during elections.
3) The awarding of a $385 million contract over five years to Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of defense contractor Halliburton, to build internment camps in the US to deal with a possible future “immigration emergency”, or in the case of a “national emergency” could be used to house “relief workers”.
4) The domestic spying program which bypasses the FISA court could most certainly be used to follow the activities of citizens who would try to organize to stop any Bush power grab.
5) The ability to declare almost anyone an “enemy combatant” which then precludes them from exercising their habeus corpus rights is also troubling in this regard.
There are many other facts that are also troubling, but there is one thing that is critical, which is missing from the proposed scenarios.
The Third “Pearl Harbor Type Event”.
I don’t see increased illegal immigration, or progressives protesting in the streets, or any of the normal things that happen in the country every day would provide the cover they would need to pull off a non-electoral power grab. That leaves another large terrorist attack, or other national emergency, to present itself at just the right time. Bush can’t count on bin Laden for this one.
Since Bush and FEMA apparently don’t consider a category 4 hurricane destroying a major US city as a national emergency, I think we can safely say it would have to be a massive “terrorist attack”, in order to be elevated to an election-canceling event.
Al Qaeda has no current incentive to attack the US, because it would give Bush more power and prestige. So if Bush and Cheney can’t count on terrorists to give them the excuse they need, they will have to come up with an excuse of their own.
I personally am not much of a conspiracy theorist. However, if you are then you need to round out this coup plot to make it believable and workable. You also need all the pieces of the puzzle in place if you are going to try and thwart the plan. As such, you will need to try to determine based on their actions and public statements what type of third Pearl Harbor event they might be planning.
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