Did anyone else watch the last part of the re-broadcast on SBS of Adam Curtis’ documentary “The Power Of Nightmares” tonight? This whole idea, that the concept of al-Qaeda as a complex and orchestrated global terror “network” was the invention of the U.S. government, is fascinating.
On the surface, even those of you fully subscribed to the “War On Terror” have to wonder… where is the evidence?
5+ years after USUK invaded Afghanistan, where is the evidence for al-Qaeda?
Most of the detainees still at Guantanamo are not scheduled for trial. As of November 2006, according to MSNBC.com, out of 775 detainees who have been brought to Guantanamo, approximately 340 have been released, leaving 435 detainees. Of those 435, 110 have been labeled as ready for release. Of the other 325, only “more than 70” will face trial, the Pentagon says. That leaves about 250 who may be held indefinitely.
(wikipedia)
And what evidence has been presented publicly that any of them belong to some kind of terrorist network?
The way “Nightmares” presents the story, U.S.A.ma bin laden just picked up on the idea from the US after 9/11 and, after first denying he had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks, eventually caught on to the potential of the idea of being the mastermind of a vast international terror network and changed his story…. “Oh, I mean, Yes, YES! I am the… what did you call it? MASTERMIND, yes, bwaahaha, I am a mastermind. I want killer whales with frickin’ lasers on their frickin’ heads!”
In all seriousness, how long are we going to accept the “trust us, we have intelligence” argument from the USUK neo-cons?
Let’s look at some of the other “intelligence” the USA presented:
“The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program … Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.” — President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati.
Ummm, no.
“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” — President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.
Ummm, no.
“We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” — Vice President Cheney on March 16, 2003 on “Meet the Press.”
Ummm, no.
“[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade.” — CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002 and echoed in that evening’s speech by President Bush.
Ummm, no.
“Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.” — Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council.
Ummm, no.
“We know where [Iraq’s WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.” — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press.
Ummm, no.
“Yes, we found a biological laboratory in Iraq which the UN prohibited.” — President Bush in remarks in Poland, published internationally June 1, 2003.
Ummmmmmm, no.
When are going to work out that these guys are either (a) lying through their asses or (b) smoking some bad weed?
The other really interesting idea in the last episode of “Nightmares” is this move that the USUKAU governments have made from “what is” governing to “what if” governing. That is, instead of people being imprisoned because of what they “have done”, they can be imprisoned because of what they “might do”, despite there being no evidence to support that intention.
Remind you of anything?
Hmmmm…. religion?
“I’m going to believe in God because he “might” be real and if he is, and I don’t believe in him, then bloody hell, I’m going to be sorry down the track. Don’t worry that there isn’t any evidence to support the theory that he exists. Don’t even worry that there is overwhelming evidence to refute the theory. Better to be safe than sorry.”
So our politicians are now extending that concept to governing. It is apparently called the “Predictive Theory”. You dream up the worse possible scenarios and convince people they need to act as if they could be true despite there being no evidence for them right now. That way you scare the crap out of people and get them to give you permission to do pretty much whatever you want – spend billions of dollars fighting ghosts, throw people in prison without a fair trial, tap phones and email, and disappear billions of dollars of funds into unknown hands.
Gee Eddie, who won 1 to 100 tonight?
Not sure this fits the subject but on all the conspiracy theories of the USA and September 11 involvement and the likes, heard someone make a great point.
If the US are so Sneaky and can (in the example given when I heard it) allegedly make planes disappear and replace them with missiles. And if they Allegedly did it, why didn’t they plant Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? Surely that would have been piss easy in comparison!
Molly
I was actually surprised that the US didn’t “conveniently” find a huge cache of WMD after they went to all the trouble of invading… I guess they figured that if they did “suddenly” find a huge cache that Joe-public would’ve never believed them, so they just kept up the spin.
What I wanna know is…if there’s no WMD, and no Saddam anymore…why are they still there?
Oh wait…silly me… “the terrorist threat”.
C’mon Guys what’s going on here?
The fact is that the US has been in an armed conflict of one type or another every single day from the begining of WWII to the present day.
Why Is This So ?????
Simple.
The “democracy” which the US subscribes to gives power to the people. The average person looks at his or her needs on a day to day basis and is more than likely to say “hey if there is no war or no threat why do we need to spend money on the military?” This school of thought, while logical, can and will lead to a weaker and more vunerable US.
So, how does one maintain a democracy and at the same time maintain an “illogical” but neccessary military machine which is big and powerful enough to scare the shit out of potential future threats to the US.
Simple. Find a patsy like Osama or Saddam and build them up to “super terrorist” status enough to scare the population into believing that the military spend is not only justified but essential.
Lets face it, the US is viewed by many as being a bully and a total control freak. That said, how much worse would it’s reputaion be if it simply went and nuked the “problem” areas of planet. If we think back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2 A bombs brought a country whose fanatasism made the average suicide bomber of today look like a choir boy, to it’s knees.
The “nuke” solution wont happen though because it will demonstrate the cost efficiency which wars can be fought with and thus eliminate the need for a military juggernaught which by the way feeds so many auxillary industries and creates so many jobs.
Lets face it, war is BIG business and we live on a business driven planet where the dollar rules and everything else comes second.
By all means call the US for everything and damn them if you will but that wont change a thing and we all know it. There is a US election comong up soon and 2 of the front runners are “promising” to get the US out of Iraq. I believe that if either is successful they will honor their promise but lets see where the US goes to pick a fight ater that.
I happen to be a person who belives that the price of just one stealth bomber would go a long way to solving the education or public health problems in half a dozen US states or even rebuilding the roads and hospitals in New Orleans. So why doesn’t the US forego just one frigging plane to do this? My answer is that the plane gets priority over the immediate needs of the people. The plane is there to guarantee that the people who will eventually live in the rebuilt New Orleans are Americans.
Right or wrong this is and has been the policy of the US government be it Republican or Democrat. Right or wrong this policy has seen the US become the top dog on our planet and thank f@*k they are on our side.
There will be major political change in the US next election but mark my words, the US military will maintain the status quo regardless.
Herne: I know they say terrorism (and I love that the US Democrats (??)have called out Howard saying that if its so important Iraq goes well, why aren’t we sending more troops to make sure it goes well), but in reality whether you think it was right or wrong for the US to “Invade” Iraq, I think its right that they hang around and give the People a chance to build themselves up and for the local security to build themselves back up.
Whether the US/Allies are doing a good or even an honest job of that, I don’t know. I am sure Cam will tell us.
Cam, interested to know if you think the US and Allies should just flat out leave Iraq tomorrow? (Forget how they got there, just talking the today of them leaving)
Molly
Yes Molly, of course the “Allies” should just pull out of Iraq immediately, totally and without reservation, there is ZERO justification for having troops there.
This whole “giving the people a chance to re-build” argument is weaker than instant coffee. That’s like me coming to your house with 20 of my mates, smashing your door down, raping your wife, killing you, then saying I’m going to stay until your kids have gotten over it.
The only honorable thing to do is to get the hell out, admit there was no justification for the original invasion, pay reparations for our behaviour, and surrender the people responsible to the ICC for trial as war criminals.
Anything less than that, we are just kidding ourselves that we are “the good guys”. Our countries are just “rogue states” and international terrorists of the first degree.
I am disappointed Cam, I really thought you would tell me what you really think!!! Why are you beating around the bush (pardon the pun).
Molly
Okay, I will bite. Isn’t a better analogy that you and 20 of your mates come in and do the things you did. The Police come in and kick you ass and get rid of you but then leave while your 20 mates are there and are more pissed off.
Molly
Hey Cam
Remind me NEVER to piss off you or your mates.
Molly, you think Sting and his pals could kick my ass? He’s a yoga dweeb. I’d take him down.
Fat Bastard, yeah you’re right of course about war being big business. HUGE business. They Yanks figured that out during WWII when their entry into the war not only pulled them out of the depression but ended up making them the world’s leading economic power. It’s no accident that they have found reasons to stay militarily active ever since. The country fighting the most wars, preferably against weaker opponents who can’t really fight back, wins.
First of all… Thank gawd I’m Canadian! At least we had a Prime Minister who had enough brains to beat an intruder senseless when the guy broke into the PM’s home. Although our current PM seems to have more trouble figuring out what tie goes with what shirt… good thing he’s running our country.
Anyway. The US should not be in Iraq. They should go home and leave Iraq to take care of Iraq. Once the US military has gone, then the people in Iraq can finally wake up and say “Hey, we don’t have ‘big brother’ to protect us from these crazy bombers anymore. Maybe we should do something for ourselves!” And if that doesn’t work out and everything goes “tits up” with Iraq, then at least the US would have some justification in going back in and defenestrating everyone in sight. (With the UN’s backing this time maybe!)
As to war being big business… Duh! How many trillions of dollars does the US spend in making things that blow up or blow things up? How many of the companies that make those things give money back to the government and lobby for more military spending? There’s big money in war. Why would they want it to end? People’s rights? Education? Health care? The environment? Global warming? Who cares about all that? If they stop making war, it will throw a whole chunk of their economy for a loop… Imagine all the jobs that would be lost in those companies that make things that blow up!
I dunno…this is just me thinking… but if you can make a 336,500 lb (152,600 kg) plane that can fly 6,500 miles (10,400 km) at 475 mph (764 km/h) with the radar signature of a bird that can drop thermonuclear death on a country from 50,000 ft (15,000 m), then why can’t you come up with a car that can go more than 23 miles on a gallon of gas? Or maybe an education system that works? Or maybe free health care for the people of your country that are dying from stupid things, like smoking.
Maybe it’s time for the US to grow up and stop playing with it’s army men in the sandbox?
Nicely said Herne. But see my latest post on Canada.