The Real Meaning of 911: pretext for a war on democracy

A brief overview of the past ten years, and where we stand now

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The short passage I want to share with you to introduce our discussion was written by Arudhati Roy, in September 2001: here are a few thoughts that should make us pause and think.

“Someone recently said that if Osama bin Laden didn’t exist, America would have had to invent him. But, in a way, America did invent him. He was among the jihadis who moved to Afghanistan in 1979 when the CIA commenced its operations there. Bin Laden has the distinction of being created by the CIA and wanted by the FBI.”

That was 10 years ago. Perhaps now more of us can face the truth, and start dealing with reality, instead of illusion. The world will never be healed by illusion, but only by courageous hearts, willing to face the truth, and address it honestly and directly. The time is now. The time has come. The truth alone will set us free.

911 marked the beginning, not of a global war on terror, as the official story line goes, but the rapid and massive escalation of a long-standing global war on democracy. Shortly after the attacks of September 11 George Bush said to the public, “Freedom itself has been attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended.” It is ironic, and also cynically Machiavellian, that this horrible act was used to attack civil liberties, freedom and democracy, not just in the United States, but all around the world, ever since that day. In the fashion of true Orwellian double-speak, George Bush told us exactly what was going on: freedom is being attacked – but of course, he failed to mention all of the attackers: included in which, he and his cronies and his masters are among the most vile and the most culpable. Starry-eyed partisans must come to realize, as they are beginning to, that Obama did not change this. Obama has not only left unchallenged all of the anti-constitutional laws and the worst practices ushered in by the Bush administration, including the domestic and global  surveillance state, torture and “extraordinary rendition,” along with the heinous and bill of rights-shredding Patriot Act – which he himself voted to endorse and support, not once, but twice, even going so far as to vote in favour of making 14 of its provisions permanent: he has furthermore talked peace and democracy and other noble ideals, while actively continuing and expanding the “global war on terror” – which has meant in practice, apart from the rhetoric and spin, an unending imperial war for global geopolitical dominance and economic benefits for the ruling corporate elite, at the great expense and suffering of both the American people and people all around the world. Freedom and democracy are in truth being attacked: we need to understand who is doing the attacking – who is waging this war on democracy and freedom. We must now come to understand the real meaning of 911, to understand this major turning point in our recent world history, or we will be doomed to continue to repeat the tragedies of the past.

“There is a class warfare, all right….but it’s my class, the rich class, that is making war….. and we’re winning.”
– Warren Buffett

(So far Mr. Buffett, so far –
but people of prescience know that the tides are turning.)

This is the real meaning of 911: it was used as a pretext for unending imperial war, the elimination of civil liberties and the shredding of constitutions; the further evisceration and destruction of democracy – and most essentially, it was hoped, the successful consolidation of power by the ruling corporate elite, who were and are terrified that real democracy is beginning to arise among the people – and that they will lose their global dominance and their current position as de facto rulers of the world.

For those who may be inclined to be dismissive of any suggestion that high level members of the U.S. political elite or the transnational corporate elite could ever have been involved in grotesquely criminal acts, let us ask ourselves a few pertinent questions before we proceed. Have members of the U.S. government or global corporate elite ever committed violent or criminal acts in the past? Do the political and business elite conduct all of their affairs with complete transparency and in the full light of day? Is there such a thing as covert action? Do coups happen? Do bids for power occur? Have members of the U.S. political elite or the global corporate elite ever used violence to advance political or economic goals and objectives? We could list a host of U.S. military, paramilitary and covert actions spanning more than a century to show that yes, high levels of the U.S. political elite and the business elite with whom they tend to align themselves, have acted with stealth or brazen openness, covertly as well as overtly, with mass violence, to achieve political and economic objectives: the Business Plot which was exposed by General Smedley Butler, the murder of Sandino in Nicaragua and the installation of the dictator Somoza…the Contras, Arbenz in Guatemala, the slaughter in Jakarta, the Shaw in Iran, Allende and Pinochet in Chile…. The list of violent, criminal acts carried out by U.S. political elites and their trans-national corporate backers in the pursuit of power and wealth, and the acts of mass violence, both overt and covert, to destroy democracy, subdue a people, and consolidate their power and their economic dominance, is very long. Only the wilfully ignorant or hopelessly naive or ideologically fixated could possibly deny these facts. In light of the historical record of many U.S. political elites, and the record of corporate conduct over the years and around the world, to assume that complicity in terrible acts of criminality on the part of the political or economic elite is impossible and inconceivable, is simply delusional.

911 was a desperate, grotesquely criminal and Machiavellian act by desperate men, afraid of losing power. It was a desperate and frightened bid to hang onto a dying empire. All such efforts to preserve empire ultimately fail, as history has repeatedly shown (as Ozymandias reminds us), but as Chomsky pointed out, such death throes of a wounded, vicious animal should not be taken lightly. These are dangerous times, as well as times of great opportunity for real positive change (paraphrasing a great man once again – although, even the grand magus of dissidents is not infallible, of course.)

911 was a Reichstag incident. See 1931 Germany and the burning of the Reichstag, when Hitler aided a terrorist in order to create a panic and a “war on terror,” so that he could dissolve the German parliament, attack all who threatened or limited his power, and destroy democracy, concentrating all power in the hands of a few megalomaniacs and Machiavellian thugs.

The burning of the Reichstag: this was the thought that flashed through my mind when I heard on the radio that a second plane had hit the towers, and it became clear that this was no accident. My instincts have proven correct – the evidence is overwhelmingly clear, and is available, at present at least, for anyone who cares to look at it.

911 was a turning point in the long-standing war of the elite against democracy and the people. It was an act of unspeakable atrocity, and it was a pretext for a power grab. If we fail to understand this, then we understand nothing about 911, or the world that took shape since that day. 911 is a case study in the abuse of power, and in the current state of the world and who rules it, for whose benefit, and by what means.

We live in a corporatocracy: 1,000 corporations and the family dynasties that control them, now dominate the globe. If we are to have justice, freedom, true democracy, human rights, environmental sustainability or even a future on this earth, we will have to take back our communities, nations, democracies and world from these oligarchs and robber barons. 911 is one of countless case studies that can show us why it is urgent that we do so. Please investigate for yourself. Take no one’s word on anything: examine things for yourself. Then act with love and peace, boldness and courage, and let us together, create a better world for all.

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Along with being one of the most horrible and grotesque acts of mass murder in recent history, 911 marked the beginning of the deliberate push toward corporate fascism and the elimination of the last remains of democracy and human rights. If we do not understand this trend, which was set in motion very consciously by the ruling few, then we will inadvertently help it along, by being silent and unknowingly complicit, if not actively supportive of our own enslavement, through a simple lack of understanding.

Put the event in context, and its terrible logic becomes clear. Look into the actual evidence, and the conclusions are inescapable. The implications are profound, and far-reaching. 911 spells the death of legitimacy for the ruling corporate elite; just as it was a response by those same elite to an already existing and critical crisis of legitimacy.

The stakes are high. If we don’t debunk 911, we likely will fail to debunk the “global war on terror” (GWOT), which the 911 official story is used to support. And if we don’t debunk the “war on terror” we will not rally the needed popular movements for peace, for civil liberties, for constitutional rule, for democracy, for justice or for freedom. Worse still, if we do not debunk the “war on terror” the corporate elite and their client states – and Europe, Canada and the U.S., among many others, are by now all client states of the global corporate empire – three very dangerous trends will continue. 1. The war on democracy will continue to escalate. 2. The global imperial wars for resources, cheap labour, real estate and compliant markets, led by and for the corporate elite, will continue to escalate. 3. The war on nature – led by a rape and pillage mentality of the corporate elite, with the willing or unwitting support of their cogs, collaborators and consumer drones (us) – will continue to escalate, along with the severe and mounting ecological crisis which is its result. In short, if we do not stop the juggernaut of corporate empire, there will be a global corporate fascist tyranny, the end of freedom and democracy, and the increasing deterioration of life on earth, due to on-going and ever increasing levels of war, injustice and ecological madness.

Most pointedly perhaps – if these were not enough reasons to resist, to confront and to challenge the currently reigning corporatist regime – their imperial wars are becoming more and more dangerous. A war with Iran, for example, which the U.S. government is gearing up for now, could literally spell WW3.

China and Russia, two military, economic and nuclear superpowers, have formally aligned with Iran militarily and have begun joint military training exercises. Meanwhile, the U.S. is not only sabre-rattling with regards to Iran, and setting up the prerequisite spin and story line which always precede an act of military aggression, but have also deployed major forces in ready. Why? Control of oil reserves of course, which means further control of the critical energy reserves that the global economy relies upon, which means in turn greater dominance and control over the world’s economy, and therefore, greater consolidation of the Western corporate elite’s global dominance. But this is an extremely dangerous gambit to take in pursuit of continued global dominance.

Attacking Iran is one of the most dangerous things the U.S. government and its corporate controllers could possibly do. And yet, every indication is that the Western corporate powers are determined to do just that, and are preparing for such a brazen and utterly reckless, frankly insane act.

We must stop the madness now. The truth must be sought, and told, and we must stand for peace, for justice, for democracy, for freedom, for ecological sanity, and for the future of humanity. The “war on terror” must be debunked and shown for what it is: a global war on democracy, and an attempt by the presently ruling corporate elite to consolidate their power and their global dominance while they can. 911 offers a window of insight into the “war on terror” and its true parameters, motives and nature, unlike any other.

Dig deep now. Then speak and act. History is with us. Although there is a war against democracy being waged, the people of the earth are beginning to awaken, as the ruling elite’s own polls and intellectuals have acknowledged.

We are at a juncture point in human history. What we do or do not do now, will shape the coming decades, and may very well decide the fate of humanity on earth. We have everything we need to build a better world, and to take the power back and reclaim our democracy and these lands from the tyrants who now control them. It is up to us. It is up to you and I. As it ever has been, it is up to the people.

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It is ironic, and it is also predictable: the escalation of the war on democracy by the ruling corporate elite and their bid to consolidate their power, which was kicked off on September 11, 2001, was brought on by the elite’s terror at what they realized was a global crisis of legitimacy. The people have lost faith, confidence and trust in their rule: this means their power is extremely fragile, and will collapse, as it did with the ruling order in the Soviet Union recently and for the same reasons, unless something drastic is done immediately.

Something drastic was done, and is being done: the ruling elite are fighting like mad dogs to consolidate and preserve their power before they lose it. There are external and internal threats to the current de facto rule by the Western corporate elite. The external threats are rising competing power blocs, particularly the rising power of the BRIC alliance – Brazil, Russia, India and China, along with many others that are loosely aligned with this trade bloc, as well as from nations which stubbornly wish to pursue their own course, and not be mere puppets and servants of the ruling transnational corporate powers – for example, much of Latin America as well as the examples of the Arab Spring. But the greatest threat to the de facto rule of the corporate elite is from within: from the people themselves, who are beginning to demand justice, an end to imperial warfare – and most threateningly of all to the ruling elite, the people are beginning to demand real democracy, and the throwing off of corporate dominance over the political process, the economy, the media and the world. The corporate rulers, who call themselves literally, “the masters of the universe” – as absurd and insane as that may be – are feeling very afraid, and are looking for any means possible to preserve their power and their global dominance.

“The other superpower” – the people – has begun to awaken: and the power elite, as sociologist C. Wright Mills called them, know this very well, and are very concerned and dismayed. See, for example, the statement by Brzezinski just this past spring, at one of the ruling elite’s annual closed-door meetings, that there is a global political awakening occurring among humanity. Or see the statement by George Soros just a few years ago, speaking as a member of the global financial elite, to the elite: “We have to make major concessions, and now, or we will lose everything.” The elite do not wish to make any concessions, and are not willing to give up power voluntarily either – therefore they had to do something else, something desperate, to try to maintain their power in the face of a rising people’s power. Or see intellectual in residence for the French section of the ruling elite, Jacques Attali, detailed in his book, Millennium: he acknowledges that the current ruling order is anything but stable, and that the greatest threat is the rise of the discontented majority within the heart of the Western empire, in Europe and North America. The elite know that this is a time of great fragility of their power. The people should recognize the opportunity, and seize it.

The game is being played, and it is end game. Ironically however, every heavy-handed and oppressive move against the people made by the fearful ruling corporate elite, removes them further from the arena of the just, and drives them deeper into a profound and global crisis of legitimacy.

By January of 2001, according to the World Economic Forum’s own global poll, the ruling regime of global corporatocracy was in a profound crisis of legitimacy world-wide. 911 came just months after the global corporate elite realized they had lost the propaganda war and were in trouble: that they were about to lose their power unless something was done immediately. When propaganda fails, and a crisis of legitimacy ensues, the ruling elite have only two options: cede power to the people, step aside and let democracy rule; or resort to force. Guess which option the corporate elite preferred.

Unfortunately for the would-be God-kings and pharaohs, resort to force brings about a further collapse of legitimacy, and hence, hastens the fall of the presently ruling global corporate empire, and fuels the rise of the people in authentic democracy.

The new wave of propaganda which followed 911 centred around the “global war on terror.” But very quickly, the people began to see through this ruse. Support for imperial wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere fell away, and deep suspicions arose that the “war on terror” was really a war on civil liberties, a war on democracy, and an imperial war for oil and real estate – as it is, of course. By 2008, 84% of Americans did not believe the official story of 911, and 41% of New York City residents believed there was high level complicity and active involvement in the attacks by members of the U.S. government. Even the desperate measures of the ruling elite are not working, although we have no time and no space for complacency: the dangers are still great, as are the opportunities for truly positive change.

By the way, Mr. Corporate Happy Face, the man who was intended to stave off a populist revolt and the birth of authentic democracy, who was meant to shore up the crumbling legitimacy of the ruling order for a little longer – which he and his handlers and media cronies succeeded in doing, for a time – Wall Street’s man, Mr. Barack Obama, has lost all credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of the people, on both the left and the right, as well as the centre. Recent polls reported by the Washington Post, for example, show that only 17% of Americans feel Obama is helping the economy – a large and growing minority, if not by now a majority of Americans, feel that he has aided and abetted the criminals on Wall Street who just got away with one of the greatest mass thefts in history. Obama’s legitimacy now hangs by a thread, and it is thoroughly shattered in the eyes of a growing majority, despite the ravings of the ever-compliant and servile mass media – the same media that are owned and controlled by the same ruling elite that put Obama in power, and whom he serves, as the media serves, slavishly and eagerly.

The crisis of legitimacy widens and deepens daily. When it reaches a critical threshold, which it will, and soon, the game will be over for the rulers, and democracy will be reborn. What we must be aware of, along with the tremendous opportunity now for building an authentic democracy and a better world, is this: the ruling corporate elite know these things; they know they are in a deep crisis of legitimacy, that democracy is resurfacing among the people, that the people are beginning to awaken, and that if or when they do, the rulers will be out on their ears – and are doing everything in their power to ward off a collapse of their power, and to prevent a rekindling of democracy. The ruling elite, as they have shown, will stop at nothing to preserve their power and their privilege. Do not think this will be easy, but it will be done. Democracy will triumph. Her day is not yet over, but only barely begun.

The writing is on the wall. The corporate elite will fall. The people will rise, and democracy will be reclaimed and renewed, and brought to a fuller flowering than ever before. These are the birth pains of a new world, and a new day for humanity. The people will be free, and will live in justice, prosperity and peace. This is not the end, but only the beginning.

JTR,
September 9, 2011

Here are a few resources for further information and consideration. I hope you find these useful. I guarantee you will find them thought-provoking.

Key words and subjects:

Operation Northwoods, the burning of the Reichstag, 911 insider trading, WTC 7, thermite, refusal of Taliban offer to turn over Bin Laden, CIA station chief visits Osama in hospital, Taliban burning opium poppy fields / fields replanted after occupation, pipeline, goat, war games, stand down, Bin Laden family protection, Brzezinski admits creating terrorist network, crisis of legitimacy, war on democracy, corporate rule, the other 911, and particularly, CIA/ISI/lead hijacker connection, among others.

Resources:

Noam Chomsky on Ron Paul’s 9/11 Theories: “What He Said Is Completely Uncontroversial” – Democracy Now – YouTube

CBC.ca | Day 6 | Lewis Lapham. Ten Years Later.

Arundhati Roy on 9/11: The Algebra of Infinite Justice « Kasama – September 2001

911 – Aftermath: Unanswered Questions – GNN video from 9/11 (1 of 3)

9/11: New 15-Minute Documentary You Have To See – Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth

The Truth And Lies Of 911 – Michael Ruppert (2004) – Full length video

BBC Video – The Power Of Nightmares – Part 1

The Secret Government: The Constitution In Crisis (1 of 9) – YouTube

Operation Northwoods Revealed by ABC News, May 2001 – U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba

Operation Northwoods – excerpts from original declassified document by U.S. Millitary Joint Chiefs of Staff – Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba, 3/13/62

Operation Northwoods – National Security Archive – Pentagon Proposed Pretexts for Cuba Invasion in 1962

The original now declassified document – northwoods.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The Other 9/11 » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Greg Palast » A Marxist threat to cola sales? Pepsi demands a US coup. Goodbye Allende. Hello Pinochet

The Battle of Chile – film

Chile, Obstinate Memory  (film)

ZCommunications | Tinker Bell, Pinochet And The Fairy Tale Miracle Of Chile by Greg Palast | ZNet Article

The Corporation – (Full Movie) – YouTube

The Shock Doctrine (2009) — Naomi Klein – YouTube – full length film

Olbermann: the beginning of the end of America – video

» Obama & Biden To Protect Bush Administration Criminals Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!

“The End of America” Full Length HQ Film – YouTube

Manufacturing Consent – Noam Chomsky and the Mass Media – 1/17 – YouTube

Orwell Rolls in his Grave (Full 3HR Documentary) – YouTube

Life and Debt [HQ Full Movie] – YouTube

The Yes Men – Trailer – YouTube

The Take – Trailer – YouTube

The Take (La Toma) English subtitles (1/9) – YouTube

Also:

The 9/11 Truth Movement | 9-11 News | World for 9/11 Truth

World for 9-11 Truth | 9-11 News, documentary films, interviews and more | 9-11 Truth Movement

Top 9/11 Films | 9-11 News | World for 9/11 Truth

Scientists for 9/11 Truth

Join The New 9/11 World Wide Web Activists Team | 9-11 News | World for 9/11 Truth

Michel Chossudovsky on the 9/11 10th Anniversary – GRTV Feature Interview 001 – YouTube

Chossudovsky: US will start WW3 by attacking Iran – YouTube

Books: a very short list

Escape From Freedom – Eric Fromm

Year 501: The Conquest Continues – Chomsky

Necessary Illusions: Thought Control In Democratic Societies – Chomsky

The CIA’s Greatest Hits – Mark Zepezauer

Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein

The End of America – Naomi Wolf

The Great Turning – David C. Korten

The Ecology of Freedom – Bookchin

The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude – Etienne De La Boittee

On Civil Disobedience – Henry David Thoreau

Uprising – David Sirota

Global Showdown – Maude Barlow

(this essay is unedited, posted without a proof-read because timing may be important – bear in mind it is rough, but the content, I believe, is worthy of consideration)