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August 15, 2007 at 12:43:33

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Wishing For Another 9/11?

by Randolph T. Holhut     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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DUMMERSTON, Vt. — In last Thursday’s Philadelphia Daily News, conservative columnist Stu Bykofsky gave voice to the thought that many supporters of the so-called global war on terror are thinking right now.

Bykofsky's piece, entitled "To save America, we need another 9/11," was a lament for "how splintered we are politically — thanks mainly to our ineptitude in Iraq — that we've forgotten who the enemy is."

While he admitted that wishing for another 9/11 is "sick," Bykofsky wrote that he misses "the community of outrage and resolve" that existed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"America's fabric is pulling apart like a cheap sweater," he wrote. "What would pull us back together? Another 9/11 attack. The Golden Gate Bridge. Mount Rushmore. Chicago's Wrigley Field. The Philadelphia subway system. The U.S. is a target-rich environment for al-Qaida. Is there any doubt they are planning to hit us again? If it is to be, then let it be. It will take another attack on the homeland to quell the chattering of chipmunks and to restore America's righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail."

Needless to say, Bykofsky's column was a big hit with the right-wing media last week. The Drudge Report put his piece front and center on its Web site. Conservative radio talk show hosts praised his piece and competed for interviews with Bykofsky. And Fox News gushed all over him, featuring his column in a segment on the "Fox and Friends" morning show and interviewing him on "The Big Story with John Gibson" in the afternoon.

What Bykofsky probably didn't expect was how many people would disagree with him. In a follow up column that appeared this week, he said he received more than 2,000 e-mails and about 100 voice mails within 12 hours of the conservative media blitz his original column generated. About two-thirds of those who contacted him told him he was full of crap.

One would hope that most people do not want to see thousands of Americans die in another 9/11. And even Bykofsky was forced to backtrack and write this week that "I was speculating on the effect of an attack, not calling for it."

However, Bykofsky did have one good point in his original column — the war on terror fell apart when it became a war on Iraq. At the same time, Bykofsky doesn't bother to say in either piece that the Bush administration never wanted to bring Osama bin Laden and the rest of the al-Qaida leadership to justice.

As has been extensively documented over the past few years, the 9/11 attacks were used as justification to invade the country that had absolutely no role whatsoever in those attacks — Iraq.

If the Bush administration treated the 9/11 attacks for what they were — a crime, rather than an act of war — and committed the nation's resources to tracking and apprehending the masterminds of the crime, President Bush would be a hero right now.

But the decision was made to use 9/11 to not only invade Iraq, but ram through all sorts of measures that made mincemeat of our Constitution. From the Patriot Act to Guantanamo Bay to illegal spying on Americans to the suspension of habeas corpus, 9/11 has become the justification for some of the worst infringements on our civil liberties in our nation's history.

Now, with support for President Bush at an all-time low and a quagmire in Iraq that has created all sorts of new enemies for this nation, you can see why some would want to see another attack on America. Dissent would be silenced, the nation would be unified and the Bush administration would be free to finish the job of creating the police state that started the day after 9/11.

Let's hope all this remains just a conservative pipe dream. But the authoritarian impulse that many conservatives possess is strong, and their wish for a strong man to rule the nation is always present. It's up to the rest of us to thwart that impulse.

 

Randolph T. Holhut has been a journalist in New England for more than 25 years. He edited "The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached at randyholhut@yahoo.com.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

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False Flag Concerns in Oregon

August 13, 2007 — Portland, Oregon Portland to Host Terrorism Drill “NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2” Aug. 20 to 24 Citizens Warn of Established Pattern for Such Drills to go “live” Contact: Info [at] OregonTruthAlliance dot org click here Click here for a printable version of this release (PDF) click here This is an urgent advisory notice from concerned citizens of Oregon and Washington about an upcoming U.S. Joint Forces Command emergency management exercise known as NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 that will simulate terrorism or disaster scenarios in the Lower Columbia River Basin between Aug. 20th and Aug 24th, 2007. NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 was designed and will be directed by U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and the Department of Homeland Security. We are aware of no public notice concerning this exercise, but preliminary investigation has revealed that Oregon National Guard officials and federal officials will conduct the drill. Details from official sources are minimal. This advisory is to document our concerns, raise public awareness and urge citizen action based on the following facts: 1. NOBLE RESOLVE is a computer-based simulation of a large-scale emergency situation (e.g. earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, or terrorist attack with nuclear weapon) in order to train for managing all aspects of the emergency response through comprehensive software. 2. Military exercises such as NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 have a recent history of coinciding with lethal “live” events. This occurred both at the start of Desert Storm in 1990 and on 9/11/01 when five or more major military or security exercises were in progress on the very day of the actual attacks. The same phenomenon occurred with the London Bombings of 7/7/05 during which a drill concerning multiple bomb attacks was being staged on that day. 3. Vice President Cheney, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and former Senator Rick Santorum have all warned of a new 9/11 attack this summer, but are giving no evidence in support. Chertoff based his prediction on a “gut feeling”. 4. The May 2007 Presidential Directive NSPD 51 (HSPD 20) addressing “continuity of government” in the event of a massive emergency, includes secret "annexes" which are pertinent additional documents. Some US Congressional Committee on Homeland Security members such as Rep. Peter DeFazio have written to formally request permission to review these secret "annexes" and have twice been denied access by the White House. 5. This particular exercise, NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2, includes one scenario involving an unaccounted for, "loose," ten kiloton nuclear weapon, exactly as Vice President Cheney hinted in recent interviews. Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff claims he fears the same. 6. The plummeting support for the GOP has triggered comments from its members and analyses of its current political strategy that point to a new 9/11 attack as a contributing factor to GOP political salvation. Moreover, it appears that legends or back stories are being disseminated to support just such an event. Transparency concerning NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 is vital for the public safety of everyone in the Lower Columbia River Basin. We call on the planners, directors and participants in NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 to be vigilant and to maintain transparency with respect to these military exercises. We also urge citizens and our elected officials to monitor the activities of participants connected with the exercises and alert authorities to any suspicious behavior. These exercises have an established pattern of becoming “live” events. (Please read references below.) We recommend that officials of the Ports of Astoria, Longview, Vancouver and Portland on the Lower Columbia River take extra care in their monitoring and examination of all shipping on the Lower Columbia River while NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 is in progress. Finally, we urge all concerned to voice that concern in letters and calls to elected officials and civil servants requesting full transparency and citizen oversight. REFERENCES: 1. About Noble Resolve “Four days of “simulated” nuclear terrorist scenarios in the US & Europe” http://tinyurl.com/ynq8oq USJFOCM - 1 http://www.jfcom.mil/index.htm USJFOCM – 2: http://tinyurl.com/328eoj 2. History of Military Exercises Coinciding with live events Internal Look Simulation of Iraq Invading Kuwait Coincides with Start of Desert Storm Norman Schwarzkopf: "We went ahead and did an exercise, what's called a command post exercise, which is what Internal Look was to test our ability to deal with this particular scenario ... Just so happened we were in the middle of conducting the Internal Look command post exercise at the same time the crisis developed in the gulf." http://tinyurl.com/yt3v2k NYC / Washington DC / Pennsylvania on 9/11/01 http://tinyurl.com/bdfsv London Bombings http://tinyurl.com/8um9d 3. New 9/11 warnings Cheney http://tinyurl.com/3bqxq4 (page 8) Chertoff http://tinyurl.com/2routa Al Qaeda http://tinyurl.com/2peoqb Santorum http://tinyurl.com/ypkybx 4. NSPD 51 Grants Martial Law authority Text of NSPD 51 http://tinyurl.com/yqthor DeFazio denied access to COG plans http://tinyurl.com/36snph 5. Scenario Involving Nuclear Attack in Portland Harvard Study Maps Results of 10 Kiloton Nuclear Blast in Portland, OR http://tinyurl.com/2fmtpl (Pg. 9) Ten kiloton nuclear bomb fact sheet http://tinyurl.com/2q48qa 6. Associating terrorist act to revival of GOP Republican Party of Arkansas http://tinyurl.com/27hgez (3rd para. from end) Paul Craig Roberts http://tinyurl.com/38wn5v Portland Connections: Uncertain future (Portland, Oregon) Oregon gets terror drills http://tinyurl.com/26we5b Portland Withdraws from Joint Terrorism Task Force http://tinyurl.com/2564to Swan Island Networks is providing logistical support for Operation Noble Resolve http://tinyurl.com/ytza2a http://tinyurl.com/2adgch Mobius & Swan Island http://tinyurl.com/2zsgsa Maersk Lines now primary US military shipper http://tinyurl.com/23ssy8 Maersk Lines involved with NOBLE RESOVE http://tinyurl.com/2q48qa SeaSecure & Mobius http://www.seasecure.com/ General Background: Is America Preparing for Martial Law? http://tinyurl.com/a3ot9 Martial Law is Now a Real Threat: Declaring the US a Battlefield http://tinyurl.com/2zg67l BAE joins RAINS http://tinyurl.com/2g55y9 London Bombing Drill conducted by Visor http://www.visorconsultants.com/index.html Guiliani in London on 7/7/05 http://www.prismwebcastnews.com/pwn/?p=969 Giuliani Security & Safety LLC http://tinyurl.com/2f3gke Dirty Bomb Threat (backstory) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20221065/ New 911-style plot (backstory) http://tinyurl.com/2j7cxu Al Qaeda cell may be loose in US (backstory) http://tinyurl.com/ytmfdm Plot would have killed thousands (backstory) http://tinyurl.com/ynl6b8 Doubt cast on 'liquid explosives' threat, Al Qaeda network in UK Identified http://tinyurl.com/2c9654

by Ginny Ross (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments) on Thursday, Aug 16, 2007 at 11:29:32 AM

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