NSA's Fake War on Terror
A New America Foundation report suggests it. NSA spying is longstanding. It's ongoing abroad and at home. It has nothing to do with national security. It's unrelated to uncovering terrorist plots. Homegrown ones virtually don't exist. Alleged ones are hatched. They're fake. Claiming dozens were foiled in time is false. They're Big Lies. Previous articles discussed dozens of innocent victims. They included:
■ a fake shoe bomber;
■ fake underwear bomber;
■ fake Times Square bomber;
■ an earlier one there;
■ fake shampoo bombers;
■ fake Al Qaeda woman planning fake mass casualty attacks on New York landmarks;
■ fake Oregon bomber;
■ fake armed forces recruiting station bomber;
■ fake synagogue bombers;
■ fake Chicago Sears Tower bombers;
■ fake FBI and other building bombers;
■ fake National Guard, Fort Dix and Quantico marine base attackers;
■ fake 9/11 bombers;
■ fake Boston bombers; and
■ numerous others.
At issue is generating fear. Washington's fake war on terror needs public support. FBI operatives are involved. Orchestrated stings are used. Innocent victims are entrapped. Familiar schemes repeat. 9/11 is the Big Lie of our time. So is the fake war on terror.
Innocent victims languish in America's gulag. NSA spying watches everyone. It's unconstitutional. It's for police state control. It's ending privacy. It's destroying freedom.
Global spying is espionage. It's for political and economic advantage. It's to be one up on foreign competitors. It's for information used advantageously in trade, political, and military relations.
The New America Foundation (NAF) is an establishment organization. Bilderberg Group/CIA-connected Google CEO Eric Schmidt chairs its board of directors. Right-wing ideologue Anne-Marie Slaughter is president and CEO. NAF study co-author Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst. His articles appear in establishment publications. NAF's report is titled "Do NSA's Bulk Surveillance Programs Stop Terrorists?"
Two weeks after Edward Snowden's first revelations were published, Obama lied saying:
We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but, abroad as well.
NSA director General Keith Alexander repeated the lie claiming:
information gathered from these programs provided the US government with critical leads to help prevent over 50 potential terrorist events in more than 20 countries around the world.
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Mike Rogers (R. MI) said:
Fifty-four times (NSA spying) stopped and thwarted terrorist attacks both here and in Europe - saving real lives.
False! According to NAF's analysis, government contentions "about the role that NSA 'bulk' surveillance of phone and email communications records has had in keeping the United States safe from terrorism shows that these claims are overblown and even misleading." Mass NSA surveillance "had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism." So-called evidence NSA claimed to uncover is easily gotten through conventional investigatory methods.
NAF analyzed 225 instances of alleged post-9/11 terrorism. Only two involved NSA meta-data. None were legitimate. Alleged homegrown terrorism is fabricated. So are others abroad. They're fake. NAF's report didn't explain. It said:
The overall problem for US counterterrorism officials is not that they need vaster amounts of information from the bulk surveillance programs, but that they don’t sufficiently understand or widely share the information they already possess that was derived from conventional law enforcement and intelligence techniques.
On Friday, Obama will address so-called NSA reforms. Last month, his hand-picked advisory committee recommended minor changes. They're too inconsequential to matter. They legitimized lawless spying. They ignored what federal Judge Richard Leon called unconstitutional. They're "almost Orwellian," he said. Expect Obama to rubber-stamp continuity. He'll maintain business as usual. He'll stress balancing civil liberties with protecting national security. He'll lie claiming it. He'll legitimize what Electronic Frontier Foundation's Kurt Opsahl called "heinous." He'll leave NSA's worst lawlessness untouched. He'll whitewash its crimes. He'll lie claiming otherwise.
Last November, the General Assembly addressed privacy rights in the digital age. Over 50 member states co-sponsored a resolution. It supports what's too precious to lose. On December 18, the 193-member body unanimously approved a resolution titled: "The Right to privacy in the digital age." It reaffirmed a fundamental human right. No one should be denied the right to privacy. No one should be lawlessly spied on.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the General Assembly's resolution "one small step for privacy, one giant leap against surveillance."
Obama stacked his so-called Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies with longstanding Washington insiders. A previous article discussed them. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) head James Clapper supervised. He's an acknowledged perjurer. He's complicit in NSA crimes.
On December 12, Obama's committee released its report. It's titled "Liberty and Security in a Changing World." Its handpicked members included:
■ former acting CIA head Michael Morell;
■ former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism Richard Clarke;
■ former Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein; Francis Boyle calls him a neocon;
■ Democrat party connected/political advocacy group Center for American Progress member Peter Swire; and
■ University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone.
Forty recommendations were made. They stopped well short of what's needed. They legitimized mass surveillance. They ignored what's most important. Constitutional issues were unaddressed. Mass surveillance is illegal. It's unacceptable everywhere. It's unrelated to alleged terrorism. It's police state ruthlessness writ large. It's Obama's war on freedom. He promised no warrantless spying. Straightaway he authorized it. His explanation fell short and then some. He said:
When I came into this office, I made two commitments that are more important than any commitment I made: number one to keep the American people safe, and number two to uphold the Constitution.
Americans are less safe than ever. Freedom is disappearing in plain sight. Obama's done more to subvert constitutional law than any previous president. He made freedom a four-letter word. He claimed:
You can't have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience. We're going to have to make some choices as a society. I think that on balance, we have established a process and a procedure that the American people should feel comfortable about.
He lied saying mass surveillance "help(s) prevent terrorist attacks." None whatever exist. He lied again calling NSA spying "modest encroachments on privacy." It's sweeping, pervasive and lawless. It's unrelated to alleged terrorism. Obama wants Americans to trust him. Why anyone would, they'll have to explain. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's done more to destroy freedom than any of his predecessors. He wants it eliminated altogether. He's a serial liar. Nothing he says has credibility. He lied claiming:
When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That's not what this program is about. As was indicated, what the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers and durations of calls.
They are not looking at people's names and they are not looking at content." Permission to do so, he claimed, requires "go(ing) back to a federal judge just like (for) a criminal investigation.
With respect to the Internet and emails, this does not apply to US citizens and it does not apply to people living in the United States.
False! Obama authorized sweeping domestic spying. He did so unconstitutionally. He institutionalized it. It's ongoing daily. It's warrantless. No one escapes NSA's spying eye. Everything communicated electronically is vulnerable. It's fair game. NSA's mandate is "Get it all." Phone calls, emails, and other electronic communications are secretly collected. They're gotten without court authorization. Probable cause isn't needed.
Major telecom and Internet companies cooperate. They do so willingly. All three branches of government are involved. They're complicit in sweeping lawlessness. Police states operate this way. America is by far the worst.
Expect nothing ahead to change. Expect worse with increasingly sophisticated NSA technology. Cyberwar on freedom is official US policy. NSA is Big Brother writ large. Privacy no longer exists. Obama's waging war on freedom. It's vanishing in plain sight.
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He has devoted his time and efforts to progressive causes and organizations, all involved in working for a more humane and just world for all people everywhere, but especially for the most needy, disadvantaged and oppressed. His efforts since summer 2005 have included writing on a broad range of vital topics ranging from war and peace; social, economic and political equity for all; and justice for all the oppressed peoples of the world like the long-suffering people of Haiti and the Palestinians. He also co-hosts The Global Research News Hour, gives occasional public talks, and appears frequently on radio and at times television. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. Also visit his blog and listen to The Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening. His new book "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War" can be ordered HERE. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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