C'mon We Haven't Lost A War, We've WON A Police State

[Jcrowley]

The New York Times disclosure of an official National Intelligence Estimate, which states that the Iraq invasion has worsened the global terrorist threat, carries an unspoken subtext – that the Bush administration is either woefully ignorant of how to combat terrorism or finds the terrorist threat a useful tool for managing the American public.

<snip>

Although the Iraq War has cost about 2,700 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars from the Treasury, the war has created great business opportunities for well-connected corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel, which have registered substantial profits from the occupation and “rebuilding” of Iraq.

Also, although U.S. intelligence agencies now agree that the terrorist threat has ballooned due to the Iraq War, the Bush administration has found the conflict useful in simultaneously expanding its powers, abrogating constitutional rights and justifying more government secrecy.

Those trends seem likely to continue – and even accelerate – as the “war on terror” remains a powerful excuse for transforming the United States from a historically free and open society to a frightened nation where citizens eagerly trade their constitutional rights for government promises of more security.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/092606a.html

[Nikki Stone 1]

1. I think the conflict was planned for this purpose

"...the Bush administration has found the conflict useful in simultaneously expanding its powers, abrogating constitutional rights and justifying more government secrecy..."

[Jcrowley]

2. Same here

war on terror is serving it's purpose. Rationalization for bloated Pentagon budget and increased tension and suppression on the domestic front. That's for starters.

[acmejack]

3. I would agree without hesitation.

They have planned this since the seventies. Perhaps before. Cunningly conceived and executed, we have witnessed the plan come to fruition, the oligarchy is now firmly in control. The rest of this is mere formalities.

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. I somehow think it started way before the 70s

I don't know how far I'd go back with it. I know some trace certain trends to the creation of the Federal Reserve and some even before that.

[Jcrowley]

6. Further

back than that. One could easily make the case for this being a European import dated to 1513 but let us just tag it concretely to the advent of industrialism and capital accumulation in the mid to late 1800's. Industrial schooling ensued.

[razors edge]

4. I'm sure

all that was just accidental, kinda collateral damage>:sarcasm:

[aaronbees]

7. I agree ... I don't think BushCo ever intended to "win" this war

Rather, they'd love to perpetuate it to maintain an "enemy" and thereby control the populace. What they're aiming for is chaos they can control and riches they can rob.


Here's a chilling quote from the excellent article in the OP:

'But Gardiner points out that not making sense won’t limit what the Bush administration does. “The ‘making sense’ filter was not applied over the past four years for Iraq, and it is unlikely to be applied in evaluating whether to attack Iran,” Gardiner writes.'


As far as I'm concerned that lack of a filter is the starting point for evaluating everything this administration does.

[madmusic]

8. The "Mission Accomplished" banner was the truth.

That accomplished HIS mission in Iraq.

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. I agree. I also think "Brownie, you did a heckuva job" was the truth

for junior. They wanted a flooded NOLA, which is why they let the levees break and overflow even though they knew Monday night that the levees had been breached.

Watching Studio 60 Monday, I was struck by the comedy writers trying to come up with a way to lampoon Bush's way of naming a bill for the opposite of what it does (like "The Clean Air Act"). The key to this administration is to look at what the administration is saying and assume they mean the opposite or that they mean what they say in a way that a decent person would never intend.

[madmusic]

11. Kind of sad, eh?

But the People are starting to figure it out. Sloooooowly.

[Nikki Stone 1]

14. God yes, it's sad! And I hope you are right about people figuring it out

I am not so sanguine.

[aaronbees]

12. Exactly on that "key"

Also, another handy key to their shenanigans is that anything they accuse others of doing is what they themselves are practicing. (For example, when the administration accuses the Dems of politicizing 9/11, etc.)

[Nikki Stone 1]

13. Yes! Agreed!

Is there a list of these things somewhere? It would be nice to have a neocon to English dictionary.

[madmusic]

15. That would sell!

And Orwell's 1984 could work as a primer.

[Nikki Stone 1]

9. Making sense? They create their own reality, remember?

Those of us who recognize torture for what it is are part of the reality based community.