Recent reports of Iranian influence and involvement in Iraq are being met with a deep wariness by many Americans. We have in our memories the errors and deceptions that got us into Iraq. The media coverage, secret reports, and tough talk call to mind the rhetoric we heard leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Even the denials of war planning are the same.
Much is made of the so-called “fog of war,” but we seem mired in a fog of error and deception. Thoughtful citizens cannot make a judgment about the danger Iran poses because we cannot trust the information being released by the government or uncovered by the press. Some throw up their hands and throw their trust to our leadership. Others grow deeply concerned. Is there a real threat? Or are we being duped again? Beneath it all, most harbor a terrible, hidden feeling: Perhaps, we cannot know.
Anthony Signorelli is author of Call to Liberty: Bridging the Divide Between Liberals and Conservatives.
I think it's time we take another look at our history. Arguing over whether Iran will have nukes in ten years or five years seems a bit contradictory when looking at Isreal nuclear arsenal that the U.S. continues to support. Is Iran a threat? I'm not sure. Is criminal elements in our own government more of a threat?...more likely.
I find it odd when people critcize Bush for lying us into Iraq, and yet when it comes to 9/11, those same people think he was like honest Abe.
Let's face it. Government's throughout history have attacked their own citizens as a grab for power and control. I'm not sure how to add links to this comment, so you'll just have to google what I'm going to say. Hitler burned his own Reichstag as an excuse to go to war. The Gulf of Tonkin was staged in order to get us into the Vietnam War. The attack on the U.S.S Liberty is another example. Operation Northwoods was a plan that ultimately failed, but it featured 9/11 style attacks that would've gotten us into a war with Cuba. Check out the Downing Street minutes where Bush and Blair had discussion about trying to get Saddam to shoot down a plane that would've been decorated with U.N. symbols.
As far as 9/11 goes, there are so many aspects of that day that should raise your questioning interest. NORAD stand down for an hour and a half. WTC 7 falling down in under 7 seconds when it wasn't hit by a plane. CIA insider trading, where put options were placed on the specific airlines in the attacks. Military drills on that day coexisting with the actual attacks. The list can go on...
If you want to understand what's going on in this world better, you have to begin to realize that Big Brother is not your friend.
Will they stage an attack to get us to accept going to war with Iran? We can't let it happen again.
9/11 was an inside job!
The danger of purposeful provocation to prompt another war is very present in the Iran situation. We may even be seeing it play out today with the British troops being held by Iran. Especially with this outfit so apparently determined to go to war, one should be wary about any story denying that the British were in Iranian waters illegally. Americans need to be more skeptical now than at any time in at least 30 years.
The problem with your comments on 9/11 is that nearly every national disaster becomes controversial and raises lots of information, disinformation, and real, serious thoughtful questions. Most serious Americans struggle to work out these ideas in an attempt to understand. The facts are swayed, as we have seen all too often, by our emotions--some are inspired to unrealistic patriotism that America can do nothing right, while others are swayed to the idea that a conspiracy lurks around every corner. And yet, governments do undertake terrible projects to provoke populations into wars. How does a thoughtful person work this out?
In the case of 9/11, there is also the graphic horror of it. It's not that I totally trust Bush about that; it's just that complicit orchestration of such an event by an American president creates a cognitive dissonance that most people find deeply disturbing. But it is not totally unbelievable either. After all, it was his father's people who told Saddam Hussein that the United States has no position on territorial disputes between Iraq and its neighbors, thus luring Saddam to invade Kuwait.
See the news on US Navy maneuvers off Iran. A doubtful coincidence. Check here.
Well, I'm not sure if this 'hostage' ordeal will be the straw that breaks the camels back. Anyway it turns out, the push for Iran has been there in force for months now. The hostage situation could just be a primer for an event more concrete for the people's minds. In other words, they may need a better excuse. It is a bit ironic how much emphasis is placed on this hostage thing, when the U.S. locks up people from foreign nations, does not tell them their charges, 'pressures' them, and gives them a military show trial.
As far as your reply to my 9/11 comments...even though you didn't come right out and give your opinion, from reading your book and reading between the lines, you don't seem to consider an insider aspect to the attacks to be plausible. "The world changed after 9/11" has been said many times in the media. That event has been the justification for so much of the bad decisions by our political elite. I believe an honest look into those events should be one of the most important things to do to be 'informed'. Even though it may seem extremely difficult to believe that individuals in our government could purposefully murder our citizens, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be true. You already understand how bad it's getting politically in our country, it's only a few more steps at that point to look at the possibility without overwhelming cognitive dissonance. I also don't understand how considering government involvement can make one feel more safe...the more simplifying opinion is to think that those who consider this possibility also think that violent Islamic fundamentalist are our friend.
With that said...I've been researching 9/11 for over a year and all the arrows point to criminal elements in our government behind the attacks. That is not to say that there weren't Islamic patsies involved. What I would like from you is to get your specific comments on a few things: it's not disrespectful to the victims families to consider the inside job possibility. Google 'Bill Doyle' the head of one of the victims families groups and see that he thinks 9/11 was covered up and that the U.S. was complicit. Research WTC 7 that fell on that day and that they announced it's collapse on the BBC before it happened. It fell in under seven seconds! Research the NORAD standdown and the testimony that Cheney gave standdown orders. He got the power to give or deny shootdown orders months before 9/11.
Comment on those three things before writing off the 9/11 truth movement.
9/11 was an inside job!