"Lies, More Lies, and Damn Lies"

[Elwood P Dowd]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis83.html

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The fact recent polls found 60% of Americans – and 90% of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – still believe Saddam and bin Laden had colluded to launch 9/11 is shocking, but not surprising. Ignorance of foreign affairs and mindless flag waving are as American as apple pie.

Tens of millions of Americans are fed a steady diet of political or religious ideology disguised as news from the administration’s house organ, Fox News; from evangelical Christian TV and radio; or from the neoconservative’s version of Pravda, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages. The rest are too busy watching brain-deadening TV pap to pay the least attention to events overseas.

They remain unaware the faux "war against global terror" is now costing a mind-boggling US $12 billion monthly, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. That’s the cost of 3 nuclear-powered "Nimitz" class 97,000-ton aircraft carriers every month.

The Bush Administration has spent $610 billion dollars since 2001 on its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, making them the second most expensive conflict in US history after World War II.

Last week, US Homeland Security Czar Michael Chertoff allowed he had a "gut feeling" that an al-Qaida attack on America was imminent this summer. At the same time, Washington was abuzz with a leaked US intelligence report that al-Qaida – the objective of the so-called war on terror – had reconstituted and was as strong as prior to 9/11, 2001.

America’s sixteen intelligence agencies spend $40 billion annually, with another $15–20 billion in their hidden "black budgets." Homeland Security spends $44.6 billion. In spite of these gargantuan expenditures of a trillion dollars – that’s $1,000,000,000,000 – the best intelligence Czar Chertoff can come up with is "gut feeling?"

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers68.html


You may be wondering how many terrorists it takes to twist Chertoff’s knickers so tight his gut starts burbling. It’s hard to say because no one knows Al Qaeda’s numbers for sure. And I’ll bet the Feds aren’t working overtime to count since they play the uncertainty to their advantage: though the South Asia Analysis Group calculates the group’s membership at 500 to 600, the Feds inflate that to 20,000 to 60,000. These charlatans set your tax rates, too.

Chertoff likes his propaganda explicit and emphatic, by gum: "Americans must soon decide between enduring greater inconvenience and costs or allowing terrorists easier access to the borders. warned against increasing resistence to security measures based on comfort and self-centered motives. ‘If you get to complacency then I guarantee you we will lose the race with the terrorists,’ he said." Somebody tell this goofball that we’ve already lost it. He and his henchmen have destroyed far more folks and freedom than have all the terrorists, now or ever, put together.

Yet we’re supposed to fear the terrorists, not the Feds. And what does Chertoff plug as our best protection? Yep: more surveillance. "Chertoff cited Chicago's technologically savvy police department and its use of street-corner, blue-lighted cameras as a blueprint for strong homeland security. ‘I think the use of cameras here and other technologies is a model for the country,’ he said." Nor is Chertoff’s police state for the faint of heart. "‘We are going to do more law enforcement actions ,’ he said. Conceding the raids are ‘going to be ugly’ and tear parents from their children who wonder why they have not returned from work, Chertoff warned: ‘the consequences are going to be tough from an economic and humanitarian standpoint.’" Ironically heartless words from the grandson of Russian immigrants.

This isn’t Chertoff’s first foray into irony or barbarity. A few months ago, he sneered, "We are at war with a global movement and ideology whose members seek to advance totalitarian aims through terrorism." Well, after all, Mike, not every totalitarian has a Department of Homeland Security at his disposal.

And, hey, next time your gut grumbles, try some Bean-o.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Well said.