Guardian UK: The war on terror has been about scaring people, not protecting them

[marmar]

The war on terror has been about scaring people, not protecting them
The ease with which the plane bomber could operate exposes the vacuity and recklessness at the heart of the US response to 9/11

Gary Younge
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 3 January 2010 21.00 GMT


So there was no ticking time bomb. No urgent need ever arose to torture anybody who was withholding crucial details, so that civilisation as we know it could be saved in the nick of time. No wires had to be tapped, special prisons erected or international accords violated. No innocent people had to be grabbed off the street in their home country, transported across the globe and waterboarded. Drones, daisy-cutters, invasions, occupations were, it has transpired, not necessary.

Indeed, when it actually came down to it, to forestall a near-calamitous terrorist atrocity in the US the authorities didn't even have to go in search of information or informants. The alleged terrorist's father came to the US embassy in Nigeria of his own free will and warned them that his son, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had disappeared and could be in the company of Yemeni terrorists.

Meanwhile the National Security Agency had heard that al-Qaida in Yemen was planning to use an unnamed Nigerian in an attack on the US. If that were not enough, then came Abdulmutallab himself, a 23-year-old Nigerian bound for Detroit who bought his ticket in cash, checked in no bags and left no contact information. For seven years the American state manipulated the public with its multicoloured terror alerts. But when all the warning lights were flashing red, it did nothing.

To brand this near miss a "systemic failure", as Barack Obama has done, is both true and inadequate. It reduces the moral vacuity, political malevolence and enduring strategic recklessness that has been the enduring response to the 9/11 attacks to a question of managerial competence. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/jan/03/yemen-anti-terrorism-rendition-security

[OHdem10]

1. Keep them distracted and scared so they will not think about all

costs involved in blood and treasure.

When the economy is bad, start a war, hopefully the people
will not complain as much about the horrible situation in
the country.

[Arctic Dave]

2. I am in the middle of watching Fahrenheit 911 again, I forgot what a crock of shit

the war on terror has been since the beginning.

[Andronex]

3. Michael Moore has also voiced his doubts...

about the official conspiracy story on 9/11, and in particular what happened at the pentagon.

[nosmokes]

4. Spot on.

[go west young man]

5. Great read.

[jwirr]

6. Here is a good book "The Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner.

[winyanstaz]

7. Its all about stealing our rights..its not about keeping us safe.

and 9-11 was their ticket to do it too.