Oil Addiction, 9/11 and the Global War on Terror
Keith Hazelton
May 11, 2007
Spend a worthwhile hour and view this video courtesy of Oil, Smoke & Mirrors which may help "connect the dots" between the emerging reality of America's oil addiction, the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing global war on terror now so devastatingly manifesting itself in the killing streets of Baghdad and throughout Iraq.
The tragedy of 9/11 clearly was used as a pretext to put into motion long-standing Iraq invasion plans. The Bush administration collectively, and quickly, realized as that day's horror unfolded, it was to be that “catalyzing and catastrophic event – like a new Pearl Harbor” described in the infamous Project for a New American Century's 2000 white paper “Rebuilding America's Defenses” (p.51).
Any involvement by this administration in the planning, execution or cover-up of 9/11 is unthinkable, abundant conspiracy theories to the contrary, and despite some of the opinions expressed in this video. At worst, many have concluded, the Bush administration may have been aware of an impending terrorist attack on American interests somewhere in the world in the late summer of 2001, but even they could not connect the dots sufficiently to conceive of the possibility of an attack within the U.S. Watch the video and judge for yourself.
Notwithstanding the truth of 9/11, it became that catalyst that now, after two centuries of republican democracy, has America slouching toward despotism – predicted by Benjamin Franklin in 1787 – in the form of a "unitary executive."
It likely will not be the (secret, unofficial) First American Triumvirate of George Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, barring a 9/11-like incident before November 4, 2008 or January 20, 2009 which is used as a "national security" pretext to suspend the Constitution and remain in power (yes, there are contingency plans in such event as we learned after the 2004 election), but it will be helpful in the future to understand exactly how it happened while we were asleep at the wheel of "democracy."
The fascinating parallels of the present course of our American Empire to the Roman Republic's transition to dictatorship two millennia past are numerous and instructive.
From the creation of the (secret, unofficial) First Triumvirate of the Roman Republic (Julius Caesar, Pompeius Magnus and Licinius Crassus) in 60 BCE, only 17 years elapsed before an official (Second) Triumvirate was formed in 43 BCE, allying Caesar Octavianus, Marcus Antonius and Marcus Lepidus lasting a decade. Within a few years after their political alliance disintegrated and Antony committed suicide, by 27 BCE Octavianus became emperor, Caesar Augustus, and effectively ended in one generation a republic which had stood for centuries.
For citizens and subjects of the new Roman empire, however, life went on with bread and circuses until it crumbled from within, albeit nearly five centuries later.
America is our country. We cannot allow ourselves to be tempted by economic prosperity and leisure (our bread and circuses) or to be scared by vague threats from the current enemy of choice. Such excuses will only permit, and make inevitable this slouch toward despotism.
The tragedy of 9/11 clearly was used as a pretext to put into motion long-standing Iraq invasion plans. The Bush administration collectively, and quickly, realized as that day's horror unfolded, it was to be that “catalyzing and catastrophic event – like a new Pearl Harbor” described in the infamous Project for a New American Century's 2000 white paper “Rebuilding America's Defenses” (p.51).
Any involvement by this administration in the planning, execution or cover-up of 9/11 is unthinkable, abundant conspiracy theories to the contrary, and despite some of the opinions expressed in this video. At worst, many have concluded, the Bush administration may have been aware of an impending terrorist attack on American interests somewhere in the world in the late summer of 2001, but even they could not connect the dots sufficiently to conceive of the possibility of an attack within the U.S. Watch the video and judge for yourself.
Notwithstanding the truth of 9/11, it became that catalyst that now, after two centuries of republican democracy, has America slouching toward despotism – predicted by Benjamin Franklin in 1787 – in the form of a "unitary executive."
It likely will not be the (secret, unofficial) First American Triumvirate of George Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, barring a 9/11-like incident before November 4, 2008 or January 20, 2009 which is used as a "national security" pretext to suspend the Constitution and remain in power (yes, there are contingency plans in such event as we learned after the 2004 election), but it will be helpful in the future to understand exactly how it happened while we were asleep at the wheel of "democracy."
The fascinating parallels of the present course of our American Empire to the Roman Republic's transition to dictatorship two millennia past are numerous and instructive.
From the creation of the (secret, unofficial) First Triumvirate of the Roman Republic (Julius Caesar, Pompeius Magnus and Licinius Crassus) in 60 BCE, only 17 years elapsed before an official (Second) Triumvirate was formed in 43 BCE, allying Caesar Octavianus, Marcus Antonius and Marcus Lepidus lasting a decade. Within a few years after their political alliance disintegrated and Antony committed suicide, by 27 BCE Octavianus became emperor, Caesar Augustus, and effectively ended in one generation a republic which had stood for centuries.
For citizens and subjects of the new Roman empire, however, life went on with bread and circuses until it crumbled from within, albeit nearly five centuries later.
America is our country. We cannot allow ourselves to be tempted by economic prosperity and leisure (our bread and circuses) or to be scared by vague threats from the current enemy of choice. Such excuses will only permit, and make inevitable this slouch toward despotism.
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