Ever since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, America has unleashed an unprecedented legal revolution that brings America closer to becoming a Totalitarian State. The president of the United States of America now has unprecedented legal power to arrest American citizens without trial (The NDAA) if this citizen is suspected of terrorist activity. The current U.S. president, Barack Obama, is also launching a covert drone war that is subject to no international law and has no international boundaries. Of course, there is also The Patriot Act and the widespread persecution of whistle blowers. Read more about these items below.
The term "war on terror" as used by former President Bush is really not a correct term. The overwhelming majority of people who have been killed by "terror" in the last 100 years have been killed by state terror, not the terror of extremists who lack any real political power. Mr. Bush's plan is not concerned at all about that. Indeed, his plan actually creates a system of state terror by using torture to enforce state authority. Rather than reversing this "terror of the state," current president Obama has done much to increase the "War on Terror."
Totalitarianism in America: (World Future Fund)
A comprehensive report on America's unprecedented move towards totalitarianism since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. This report includes America's covert drone wars, the bill that allows the U.S. to detain anyone indefinitely without trial, Guantanamo Bay, the lies about weapons in Syria, NSA's unlimited and warrantless data collection of millions of verizon customers and the fact that Obama has charged more people with espionage today, than all past presidencies put together.
America Has Turned a World Without Serious Enemies into the Most Threatening Place in the Universe (Alternet, 4-14-13)
PRESIDENT OBAMA
Obama Drone Attacks (World Future Fund)
Never before in American history has the president had the power to kill anyone on the planet. Yet now, Obama is launching a covert drone war that knows no boundaries and does not adhere to any international laws about warfare.
Growing Delusions in America's Leadership: Top 10 Foolish Quotes From Obama Administration (The Telegraph, 12-22-11)
This list includes Hilary Clinton calling the Mubarak regime "stable" as well as the time she referred to Syrian Dictator Assad as a "reformer."
Obama says Russian Nukes are not a threat (Business Insider, 3-25-14)
Despite the fact that Russia is a country with the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world, with anywhere from 2,000 - 9,000 nukes, Obama says that they are not a threat. List of States With Nuclear Weapons
Malala Tells Obama: 'End The Drone Strikes' (Sky News, 10-12-13)
Ellsberg: All the crimes Nixon committed against me are now legal (Raw Story, 6-9-11)
"Disgraced former Republican President M. Nixon would admire Obama's boldness in trying to stifle whistle blowers" says Daniel Ellsberg. In today's modern surveillance state, the crimes that got Nixon impeached would be legal. This includes warrantless wiretapping, using the CIA against American citizens and the authorization by the White House for secret assassinations. The laws that make these actions legal today are Bush's Patriot Act, the FISA amendment and President Obama's executive orders.
The NDAA and the Death of the Democratic State (Common Dreams, 2-11-13)
Section 1021(b)(2) of the 2012 NDAA permits the military to detain anyone, who "substantially support" Al Qaida (an undefined legal term) or "associated forces" (another undefined legal term). Those detained can be imprisoned indefinitely by the military and denied due process until "the end of hostilities."
Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will (New York Times, 5-29-12)
"Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret "nominations" process to designate terrorists for kill or capture...Mr Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding "kill list," poring over terrorist suspects' biographies on what one official calls the macabre "baseball cards" of an unconventional war."
Obama Administration Worked With Republicans To Kill Bush Torture Probe, WikiLeaks Cable Reveals (Huffington Post, 5-25-12)
In the beginning months of President Obama's first term, he worked to protect Bush Administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in the questionable interrogation techniques (illegal torture) of detained terrorist suspects.
Obama Administration Secretly Obtains Phone Records of AP Journalists (Wired, 5-13-13)
PRESIDENT BUSH
In his fight against "Islamic Fascism," George Bush enacted some very fascist policies during his two presidential terms, such as the Patriot Act for example. He claimed that these policies were necessary for fighting fascism and keeping America free. Yet America is now less free and less safe because of the legacy George Bush has started. A particularly troubling problem for George Bush is that a former prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (somebody who knows something about real fascism) has stated that Mr. Bush should be put on trial as a war criminal.
Bush and Saddam
should Both Stand Trial, Says Former Nuremberg Prosecutor
This
article details comments made by Benjamin Ferencz, a former U.S.
prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Ferencz believes that former president Bush's actions against Iraq in 2003 meet standards of international law established after World War II
for launching an "aggressive war". (Common Dreams, 8-25-06)
Reclaiming the Issues: Islamic or Republican Fascism? The article states that Neo-Conservative policies, as exemplified by the Bush Administration, are ideologically closer to historical Fascism than the "Islamic Fascists" that the administration argues it is fighting. (Common Dreams Web Site, 8-28-06)
The Kuala Lampur Foundation:
The Malaysian Kuala Lampur Foundation has set up a tribunal to criminalize warcrimes and encourage peace worldwide. They are not afraid to take on the world's largest military super power, the United States of America. In 2012 they found former U.S. President George Bush as well as former Vice President Dick Cheney guilty of warcrimes. This Malaysian Foundation is an example of how other cultures in the world are beginning to doubt America's role as the "World Police," and are interested in finding an alternative form of justice.
War Tribunal Finds Bush, Cheney Guilty of War Crimes (Common Dreams, 5-13-12)
A tribunal in Malaysia finds former president George Bush, Dick Cheney and six other members of the Bush administration guilty of war crimes.
War crimes: Why should Bush, Blair and Obama be exempt? (First Post, 9-3-12)
The leaders of the free world are committing war crimes that would be considered terrorism if anyone else did the same thing. Bush authorized the use of torture, even though it is banned by the Geneva Convention. His invasion of Iraq was made under false premises (the weapons of mass destruction that were never there) and his war in the region has ended up killing more Iraqi's than Saddam Hussein killed himself. Obama has continued Bush's legacy by having a secretive kill list that violates international law and geographic boundaries.
Hunger Striking and Force Feeding at Guantanamo Bay (New York Times, 4-14-13)
A horrifying, first hand account of what it is like to be a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay. Many of the men in this prison have not been formally charged of a crime and yet have been detained for more than a decade. Now many of the prisoners simply want an exit strategy - even if that exit is death itself. There are at least 40 men in the prison who are hunger striking and being force fed in painful and humiliating ways.
Beatings, Attempted Suicides and Deliberate Starvation: The Dystopic Hell of Guantanamo Bay (Alternet, 4-12-13)
More on the mass hunger strikes in Guantanamo Bay. This strike is shedding light on the issue of indefinite detention without charge and the Obama Administrations failure to close the prison despite frequent promises to do so.
Human
Rights Watch Report on U.S. Use of Torture June 2006 (PDF)
An updated Human Rights Watch study documenting the use of
torture and renditions (secret detentions) against terror suspects.
UN
Condemns U.S. Human Rights Record in War on Terror
The U.N. Human
Rights Committee issued a strongly worded critique of the U.S.
government’s rights record at home and abroad, which reflects a growing
international consensus that the U.S. is violating basic human rights
norms. (Human Rights News, 7-28-06)
U.S. Government Official Statements on War Crimes
President
Bush Officially Admits the Existence of Secret CIA Prisons
After
denying their existence since 2003, President Bush admits in this speech
of September 6, 2006 that secret CIA prisons exist outside of the U.S.
(The White House, 9-6-06)
The Bush Administration began eroding civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York City. Barack Obama won his election on promises for more government transparency, less war and more civil liberties for all. Yet the ultimate irony is that President Obama, a former constitutional law professor and lawyer, has given himself unprecedented powers to detain, kill and spy on American Citizens. He has placed more troops in Afghanistan than the Russians did, he voted yes to the National Defense Authorization Act (an act that grants the government power to detain individuals indefinitely without trial) and he is conducting a secretive drone war that violates international law and has no geographic boundaries.
Patriot Act Author Jim Sesenbrenner: DNI James Clapper Should be Prosecuted for Lying to Congress (Huffington Post, 12-6-13)
The Director of Intelligence has lied to congress about NSA's widespread surveillance activity. This article gives an argument for why James Clapper needs to be prosecuted.
Could Google and the NSA Make Whistleblowers Disappear? (The Nation, 12-3-13)
One scary possibility to consider. In the future, it could be theoretically possible to make any information or news about whistle blowers disappear
Police Can Access Your Email Without A Warrant If It's 180 Days Old (Business Insider, 11-30-12)
According to the current laws, police can access email through a provider such as Gmail or Yahoo without a warrant as long as the message is more than 180 days old. Technological advances are increasingly giving law enforcement officials ways to track and monitor dissent.
The Department of Homeland Security’s New HQ is an Abandoned Insane Asylum (Public Intelligence, 9-26-11)
This will be Washington's largest construction project since the Pentagon was built 70 years ago. Is this project highly symbolic of where the American Security State is going?
Chris Hedges in one of the leading journalistic voices today in questioning the current American Establishment as well as the "Liberal Left." In many of his articles and speeches, Hedges criticizes the Left for not doing their job: defending the poor, the working class, women, minorities and the environment. Hedges argues that instead, many of the prominent politicians on the Left have sold out, which has lead to a complete failure in attempting real government reform.
Chris Hedges has spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has worked for a number of prominent news organizations, including National Public Radio and The New York Times. He even won a Pulitzer prize in 2002 for his coverage of global terrorism. Read his articles below.
Inverted Totalitarianism (You Tube Video)
Iraq and the Failure of the Liberal Elite (Truth Out, 4-1-13)
The Hijacking of Human Rights (Truth Dig, 4-7-13)
The Myth of Human Progress(Truth Dig, 1-13-13)
Stand Still for the Apocalypse (Truth Dig, 11-26-12)
This Time We’re Taking the Whole Planet With Us (Truth Dig, 3-7-11)
Islamic
Militants are Defeating U.S. Technology Five Years after
9/11
An excellent article by respected Pakistani journalist
Ahmed Rashid on the ways in which the West's military response to Islamic
radicalism has been failing. High technology is no substitute for
ideas and the human element. (Washington Post, 9-11-06)
Biotechnology and Biological Warfare. Chilling news of how even smallpox might be created by biotechnology. (Washington Post, 7-31-06)
Home-made bombs are easy to build. Internet search engines turn up hundreds of sites that even include information on how to make an atom bomb. Here is a popular site. (Bomb Shock Web Site)