Empire of Chaos: How 9/11 Shaped the Politics of a Failing State

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AlterNet / By Arun Gupta

Empire of Chaos: How 9/11 Shaped the Politics of a Failing State
The neoconservative ideas that shaped the war on terror have evaporated as the United States is battered by an economic depression that shows no end.

September 9, 2011 |


The events made my mind reel. The angry plumes of smoke, office paper raining like confetti, tumbling windows flashing in the sunlight. I could make out jumpers and watched a jet fighter whoosh by the burning towers, bank and disappear. I thought, “This is like a movie.”

It upset me that my only way to comprehend the events was to reference the Hollywood imaginarium. But it was understandable. Where else would I have seen images resembling the war in my backyard – collapsing skyscrapers, gigantic fireballs and thousands of dead?

The need to make sense of the events of Sept. 11 – the plot by al-Qaeda, four hijacked airliners, the demolished twin towers and nearly 3,000 dead – is universal. It is why the state’s first task after 9/11 – before one bomb dropped, one soldier deployed – was to imprint the “war on terror” on the collective American mindset.

Mere hours after the attack, in his address to the nation, President Bush began assembling the ideological scaffolding for endless war: “America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world”; “our nation saw evil”; “the American economy will be open for business”; “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them”; and “we stand together to win the war against terrorism.” ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152320/empire_of_chaos%3A_how_9_11_shaped_the_politics_of_a_failing_state/