September 11 was a third-rate operation

[bemildred]

---

A threat, but not a danger, was the likely view of Western intelligence agencies. But the plot succeeded for one big reason which the American public holds in denial; it walked through a series of open doors. I'm not referring to the lax security and all the government has been faulted for. I'm referring to the atmosphere and attitude which then pervaded the country from top to bottom.

The plot encountered no resistance because America was in a frenzy of narcissistic triumphalism: every form of self- inflation and as arrogant as possible. Let's revisit that period.

The government's priorities were plundering the public trust and institutionalizing crony capitalism. The world was our casino. Cultural leadership had passed to the voice of the sewer. From frenzied corporate racketeering, to "in-your-face" aggression in sports, to the spew of invective then called "rap", to the anger of youth for show ... at every social stratum America gloried in the liberation of the sociopath.

The codes which temper the power of the strong over the weak had so collapsed that the lionized National Football League "role models" routinely beat up, and occasionally murdered, their girlfriends; multiple-victim schoolyard shootings impelled by bullying were occurring in the white, suburban heartland every six months down to the junior high school level. In the fashion magazines, the models looked like they'd been raped, and want to know what happens next.

---

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JC28Ak06.html

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. That pretty much lays it bare...

the "we're number 1" mantra, and looking down on the rest of the world has and will continue to bite us in the ass.

[bemildred]

3. I thought it was excellent. nt

[SharonAnn]

6. Remember the news for months before 9-11? All Chandra, All The Time!

CNN had it as the topic on show after show, every single day. that's when I realized that CNN was no longer a 'news" channel.

[OwnedByFerrets]

11. It probably happened before that....

but it really brought it home that they (the so-called news channels) are for profit entities. Nothing else matters....they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves news any longer.

[yourout]

2. It happened because the Neocons wanted it to happen.

They got more than they bargained for but they knew something was coming.

[bemildred]

4. Most likely.

It's never a mistake to expect them to do the dumbest, most jingo and egocentric thing

[zonmoy]

5. don't assume that doing the thing that gave them not only the bully pulpit

but the ability to push through laws that started us on the path to tyranny and eternal war and empire to be a stupid plan.

[bemildred]

7. I'm not assuming it, all the evidence points to the fact that it's a failure.

That may not do us much good here at home, of course.

[zonmoy]

14. ever read the novel 1984

I think they did.

their plan sounds exactly like the plan to create eternal infinite war abroad and eternal tyranny at home to support it.

could it be possible that they bungled things on purpose to ensure the need for an eternal military presence in the area both to enslave the population and as a launching point for further invasion and enslavement plans for the rest of the nations in the region.

[bemildred]

16. It seems simpler to assume that bungling is bungling, failure is failure.

It's interesting that you invoke the author or "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" to suggest that "Bungling is Competence".

[zonmoy]

17. perhaps I am merely pointing out how they are thinking.

know your enemy.

also all three of those sure look like the way they are acting to the american and peoples of the world now aren't they.

they are smart enough to not say such things openly but to manipulate our society to think that way.

[bemildred]

18. Well, I'm not suggesting politicians don't lie, it's their main job skill.

But just because you are a good liar, that doesn't mean you have any other skills, or that you are right about much of anything. It just means you are a practiced liar.

[zonmoy]

19. true enough.

but the definition of a good liar implies being able to masterfully manipulate others. How do you know that anything that is being said from any source isn't merely the manipulations of these or other masterful manipulators.

[bemildred]

20. Well, you don't. You have to think about it and take your best guess.

Assuming that everything you see is the opposite of what it appears to be won't get you far either.

[zonmoy]

21. I don't assume that. I believe that everything should be questioned and verified.

there is a difference between that and believing that everything is the opposite of what we see.

[bemildred]

23. I am all for questioning everything, but not everything can be verified.

We live in a state of incomplete knowledge.

[zonmoy]

24. quite true which to me means that the things that cannot be verified

need to be constantly questioned and reexamined every time new knowledge or viewpoints appear.

[bemildred]

26. Indeed, one must be constantly vigilant. nt

[zonmoy]

27. on that we agree.

I also believe that one should always challenge the assumptions of others at every possible opportunity. to get them to question their own assumptions is always a good thing. by the way thank you for the intelligent and stimulating conversation. that is something so rare in a world that people are too busy pushing their own views that they forget to question their own ideas.

[CJCRANE]

8. I agree

except I think Cheney was hoping for something even worse than what actually transpired (e.g. United 93 to knock down the dome of the Capitol. In the end it was delayed which led to it being brought down by the passengers or shot down. Cheney then didn't have the luxury of a COG emergency administration and so had to rely on the anthrax to get Congress in line).

[selador]

9. airplane security suckage

lax security actually (contrary to the articles implication) is correlated WITH the attitudes present.

i will tell you how bad airplane security was before 9/11

i did several prisoner extraditions in that time period.

this was ALL i did to get on an airplane fully armed. i walked up to the security entrance (you know where they xray yer bags, and you walk through the metal detector) flashed my badge, and they waved me through.

that's ridiculous. any dingdong can get a real looking fake badge (or steal a real one). that was the sole extent of scrutiny i got.

even pre-911 mindset, *i* was amazed at how lax the security was.

hubris is dangerous.

[Outraged As Usual]

10. There was no mistakes made..

Dick Cheney caused the stand down at the Pentagon, as reported by Trans Sec. Norman Mineta to the 9-11 c(O)mmission...it was all planned by the Neocon Mossad black ops boys and executed using space based DEW ( Directed Energy Weapons). No cave dwellers have the keys to the kingdom, but Israel does..the Mitre system among others.They had the codes and the controls. Read the Mineta testimony for a real shocker: Cheney told the Pentagon defensive officers to stand down the defenses there, all proven.

People, this was not a plot by outside Muslim terrorists, it was and is a coup, a fascist coup, that was successful in gaining territory and massive monies, as planned. Please go to: Patriotsquestion911.com and read the words of the very best and most loyal soldiers, professionals, pilots, engineers and architects, who state without doubt that the 9-11 events were planned far in advance and executed using state of the art weapons...recall the ' toasted cars ' blocks from the Towers that showed all the signs of the DEW affects? Google " hutchinson effect ' or see it at the Dr. Judy Woods site and see exactly what happened to the Towers that day.

Qui Tam lawsuits have been filed supporting this set of facts to force the contractors into testifying about the technology used that day...it was available ONLY to US, the perps are the Neocons and Mossad elements..with Cheney the central figure in the White House.

Able Danger being discredited and silenced without cause...the evidence being destroyed and hauled away...witnesses, scores of them, testifying to massive explosions prior and far away from the tops of the Towers...the TOTAL pulverization of concrete, free fall speed, etc. etc. It goes on forever.

Forget foreign terrorists, we have all we need at the highest levels of the military and political scene currently in power. Cheney and Bush and gang are traitors, murderers and the worst sort of criminals that we have ever seen...and the band plays on...people still believing the lies about Osama and the cave dwellers...dear God, when will the slumberer's wake up?

[RethugAssKicker]

12. I agree.. I don't know if we ever will truly find out.... But

I am personally sure that it was done by the neocons

[tomreedtoon]

13. Article is disjointed, and author claims no authority.

The Asia Times Online site does offer a "print article" function. Which would help, because pages 1 and 2 end in the middle of a sentence.

But what troubles me the most is that at the end, the author's mini-bio says that he has no authority, and that "the article stands on its own." That's essentially saying he or she doesn't give a damn about proof.

Which is a shame, because the article speaks about a cause near and dear to many DU'ers hearts - how stupid and corrupt we as a nation were before September 11. It could be summarized by saying "9/11 was a third-rate operation, but it worked because America was a tenth-rate country." I think that's true, but you need more facts and verification, and not just hearsay, to make it stick.

[zonmoy]

15. Yes but we need to ask the questions first and reopen the investigation to what really happened

to find that proof.

[tomreedtoon]

30. I thought it was obvious. Republicans are morons.

If you were edging towards the "conspiracy theory" of Bush actually performing September 11, I refer you to Bill Maher's very simple phrasing.

Did Saddam Hussein cause the 9/11 attacks? No, he didn't.
And you know what else? Neither did Bush.
Why? Because it worked!

The conspiracy theorists make the same mistakes they did with the JFK assassination. The conspirators had perfect security and control up until the incident they cause, then they become stumblebums who couldn't hide a stolen piece of candy with the aid of Darkseid and the Female Furies. It is much more reasonable to believe that American security, especially underfunded by Bush, is at least as crack-brained and drunken as Bush himself.

Have you been to an airport since September 11? Seen the TSA idiots who run security? I rest my case.

[DemzRock]

22. If this means W and company ignored warnings and pretty much didn't care..

if it happened, well, then, the editorial writer has a point.

[zonmoy]

25. Or perhaps they wanted it to happen because it fit their plans for

empire abroad and tyranny at home. or perhaps they actively did things to make sure it happened. there is more than enough that the current explanation doesn't explain to make one wonder if they might not have taken a more active role in the events then just letting it happen.

[DemzRock]

So true n/t

[DemzRock]

28. So true n/t

[aldo]

29. The claim of bungling incompetence is just a smoke screen

This was a crime designed by the PNAC RepubliCONs. They must be getting worried to throw up such gibberish. Go back to the PNAC documents.