wearechange--2020-09-10--The 20-Year Journey From 9/11 to COVID-19 and the Freedoms Lost Along the Way

You can map the nearly 20-year journey from the 9/11 attacks to the COVID-19 pandemic by the freedoms we ’ ve lost along the way .
The road we have been traveling has been littered with the wreckage of our once-vaunted liberties , especially those enshrined in the Fourth Amendment .
The assaults on our freedoms that began with the post-9/11 passage of the USA Patriot Act laid the groundwork for the eradication of every vital constitutional safeguard against government overreach , corruption and abuse .
The COVID-19 pandemic with its lockdowns , mask mandates , surveillance , snitch lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for engaging in risky behavior , and veiled threats of forced vaccinations has merely provided the architects of the American police state with an opportunity to flex their muscles .
These have become mile markers on the road to tyranny .
Free speech , the right to protest , the right to challenge government wrongdoing , due process , a presumption of innocence , the right to self-defense , accountability and transparency in government , privacy , press , sovereignty , assembly , bodily integrity , representative government : all of these and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ongoing war on the American people .
In the process , the American people have been treated like enemy combatants , to be spied on , tracked , scanned , frisked , searched , subjected to all manner of intrusions , intimidated , invaded , raided , manhandled , censored , silenced , shot at , locked up , denied due process , and killed .
What the past 20 years have proven is that the U.S. government poses a greater threat to our individual and collective freedoms and national security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic .
In allowing ourselves to be distracted by terror drills , foreign wars , color-coded warnings , partisan politics , pandemic scares , and other carefully constructed exercises in propaganda , sleight of hand , and obfuscation , we failed to recognize that the U.S. government—the government that was supposed to be a “ government of the people , by the people , for the people ” —has become the enemy of the people .
Indeed , the U.S. government has grown so corrupt , greedy , power-hungry and tyrannical over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our constitutional republic has since given way to an idiocracy , and representative government has given way to a kleptocracy ( a government ruled by thieves ) and a kakistocracy ( a government run by unprincipled career politicians , corporations and thieves that panders to the worst vices in our nature and has little regard for the rights of American citizens ) .
Although the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments to the Constitution—was adopted as a means of protecting the people against government tyranny , in America today , the government does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We the people ” have been terrorized , traumatized , and tricked into a semi-permanent state of compliance by a government that cares nothing for our lives or our liberties .
The bogeyman ’ s names and faces have changed over time ( terrorism , the war on drugs , illegal immigration , a viral pandemic ) , but the end result remains the same : in the so-called name of national security , the Constitution has been steadily chipped away at , undermined , eroded , whittled down , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the White House , and the courts .
What we are left with today is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago .
Sadly , most of the damage has been inflicted upon the Bill of Rights .
Here is what it means to live under the Constitution , post-9/11 and in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic .
The First Amendment is supposed to protect the freedom to speak your mind , assemble and protest nonviolently without being bridled by the government .
It also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well as the right to worship and pray without interference .
In other words , Americans should not be silenced by the government .
To the founders , all of America was a free speech zone .
Despite the clear protections found in the First Amendment , the freedoms described therein are under constant assault .
Increasingly , Americans are being arrested and charged with bogus “ contempt of cop ” charges such as “ disrupting the peace ” or “ resisting arrest ” for daring to film police officers engaged in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being prosecuted for reporting on whistleblowers .
States are passing legislation to muzzle reporting on cruel and abusive corporate practices .
Religious ministries are being fined for attempting to feed and house the homeless .
Protesters are being tear-gassed , beaten , arrested and forced into “ free speech zones.
” And under the guise of “ government speech , ” the courts have reasoned that the government can discriminate freely against any First Amendment activity that takes place within a government forum .
The Second Amendment was intended to guarantee “ the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bear arms.
” Essentially , this amendment was intended to give the citizenry the means to resist tyrannical government .
Yet while gun ownership has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as an individual citizen right , Americans remain powerless to defend themselves against SWAT team raids and government agents armed to the teeth with military weapons better suited to the battlefield .
As such , this amendment has been rendered null and void .
The Third Amendment reinforces the principle that civilian-elected officials are superior to the military by prohibiting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home without “ the consent of the owner.
” With the police increasingly training like the military , acting like the military , and posing as military forces—complete with heavily armed SWAT teams , military weapons , assault vehicles , etc.—it is clear that we now have what the founders feared most—a standing army on American soil .
The Fourth Amendment prohibits government agents from conducting surveillance on you or touching you or invading you , unless they have some evidence that you ’ re up to something criminal .
In other words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bodily integrity .
Unfortunately , the Fourth Amendment has suffered the greatest damage in recent years and has been all but eviscerated by an unwarranted expansion of police powers that include strip searches and even anal and vaginal searches of citizens , surveillance ( corporate and otherwise ) and intrusions justified in the name of fighting terrorism , as well as the outsourcing of otherwise illegal activities to private contractors .
The Fifth Amendment and the Sixth Amendment work in tandem .
These amendments supposedly ensure that you are innocent until proven guilty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you of your life , your liberty or your property without the right to an attorney and a fair trial before a civilian judge .
However , in the new suspect society in which we live , where surveillance is the norm , these fundamental principles have been upended .
Certainly , if the government can arbitrarily freeze , seize or lay claim to your property ( money , land or possessions ) under government asset forfeiture schemes , you have no true rights .
The Seventh Amendment guarantees citizens the right to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ populace has no idea of what ’ s in the Constitution—civic education has virtually disappeared from most school curriculums—that inevitably translates to an ignorant jury incapable of distinguishing justice and the law from their own preconceived notions and fears .
However , as a growing number of citizens are coming to realize , the power of the jury to nullify the government ’ s actions—and thereby help balance the scales of justice—is not to be underestimated .
Jury nullification reminds the government that “ we the people ” retain the power to ultimately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eighth Amendment is similar to the Sixth in that it is supposed to protect the rights of the accused and forbid the use of cruel and unusual punishment .
However , the Supreme Court ’ s determination that what constitutes “ cruel and unusual ” should be dependent on the “ evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society ” leaves us with little protection in the face of a society lacking in morals altogether .
The Ninth Amendment provides that other rights not enumerated in the Constitution are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sovereignty—the belief that the power to govern flows upward from the people rather than downward from the rulers—is clearly evident in this amendment .
However , it has since been turned on its head by a centralized federal government that sees itself as supreme and which continues to pass more and more laws that restrict our freedoms under the pretext that it has an “ important government interest ” in doing so .
As for the Tenth Amendment ’ s reminder that the people and the states retain every authority that is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assurance of a system of government in which power is divided among local , state and national entities has long since been rendered moot by the centralized Washington , DC , power elite—the president , Congress and the courts .
If there is any sense to be made from this recitation of freedoms lost , it is simply this : our individual freedoms have been eviscerated so that the government ’ s powers could be expanded .
Mind you , by “ government , ” I ’ m not referring to the highly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Democrats .
Rather , I ’ m referring to the Deep State—the corporatized , militarized , entrenched bureaucracy that has set itself beyond the reach of the law and is unaffected by elections , unaltered by populist movements , and staffed by unelected officials who are , in essence , running the country and calling the shots in Washington DC , no matter who sits in the White House .
This is a government that , in conjunction with its corporate partners , views the citizenry as consumers and bits of data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This is a government that spies on and treats its citizens as if they have no right to privacy , especially in their own homes .
This is a government that is laying the groundwork to weaponize the public ’ s biomedical data as a convenient means by which to penalize certain “ unacceptable ” social behaviors .
This is a government that subjects its people to scans , searches , pat downs and other indignities by the TSA and VIPR raids on so-called “ soft ” targets like shopping malls and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ look-alikes .
This is a government that uses fusion centers , which represent the combined surveillance efforts of federal , state and local law enforcement , to track the citizenry ’ s movements , record their conversations , and catalogue their transactions .
This is a government whose wall-to-wall surveillance has given rise to a suspect society in which the burden of proof has been reversed such that Americans are now assumed guilty until or unless they can prove their innocence .
This is a government that treats its people like second-class citizens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working overtime to stigmatize and dehumanize any and all who do not fit with the government ’ s plans for this country .
This is a government that uses free speech zones , roving bubble zones and trespass laws to silence , censor and marginalize Americans and restrict their First Amendment right to speak truth to power .
The kinds of speech the government considers dangerous enough to red flag and subject to censorship , surveillance , investigation , prosecution and outright elimination include : hate speech , bullying speech , intolerant speech @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threatening speech , incendiary speech , inflammatory speech , radical speech , anti-government speech , right-wing speech , left-wing speech , extremist speech , politically incorrect speech , etc .
This is a government that adopts laws that criminalize Americans for otherwise lawful activities such as holding religious studies at home , growing vegetables in their yard , and collecting rainwater .
This is a government that persists in renewing the National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) , which allows the president and the military to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us with the Patriot Act , which opened the door to all manner of government abuses and intrusions on our privacy .
This is a government that , in direct opposition to the dire warnings of those who founded our country , has allowed the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) to establish a standing army by way of programs that transfer surplus military hardware to local and state police .
This is a government that has militarized American ’ s domestic police , equipping them with military weapons such as “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines ; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment ; and hundreds of silencers , armored cars and aircraft , ” in addition to armored vehicles , sound cannons and the like .
This is a government that has provided cover to police when they shoot and kill unarmed individuals just for standing a certain way , or moving a certain way , or holding something—anything—that police could misinterpret to be a gun , or igniting some trigger-centric fear in a police officer ’ s mind that has nothing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their safety .
This is a government that has allowed private corporations to get rich at taxpayer expense by locking people up in private prisons for non-violent crimes , while providing Corporate America with a source of cheap labor .
This is a government that has created a Constitution-free zone within 100 miles inland of the border around the United States , paving the way for Border Patrol agents to search people ’ s homes , intimately probe their bodies , and rifle through their belongings , all without a warrant .
Incredibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2/3 of the U.S. population , 197.4 million people ) now live within that 100-mile-deep , Constitution-free zone .
This is a government that treats public school students as if they were prison inmates , enforcing zero tolerance policies that criminalize childish behavior , failing to teach them their rights under the Constitution , and indoctrinating them with teaching that emphasizes rote memorization and test-taking over learning , synthesizing and critical thinking .
This is a government that is operating in the negative on every front : it ’ s spending far more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the American taxpayers ) and it is borrowing heavily ( from foreign governments and Social Security ) to keep the government operating and keep funding its endless wars abroad .
Meanwhile , the nation ’ s sorely neglected infrastructure—railroads , water pipelines , ports , dams , bridges , airports and roads—is rapidly deteriorating .
This is a government whose gun violence—inflicted on unarmed individuals by battlefield-trained SWAT teams , militarized police , and bureaucratic government agents trained to shoot first and ask questions later—poses a greater threat to the safety and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shooter .
There are now reportedly more bureaucratic ( non-military ) government agents armed with high-tech , deadly weapons than U.S. Marines .
This is a government that has allowed the presidency to become a dictatorship operating above and beyond the law , regardless of which party is in power .
This is a government that treats dissidents , whistleblowers and freedom fighters as enemies of the state .
This is a government—a warring empire—that forces its taxpayers to pay for wars abroad that serve no other purpose except to expand the reach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a government that has in recent decades unleashed untold horrors upon the world—including its own citizenry—in the name of global conquest , the acquisition of greater wealth , scientific experimentation , and technological advances , all packaged in the guise of the greater good .
This is a government that allows its agents to break laws with immunity while average Americans get the book thrown at them .
This is a government that speaks in a language of force .
What is this language of force ?
Militarized police .
Riot squads @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Armored vehicles .
Mass arrests .
Pepper spray .
Tear gas .
Batons .
Strip searches .
Surveillance cameras .
Kevlar vests .
Drones .
Lethal weapons .
Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force .
Rubber bullets .
Water cannons .
Stun grenades .
Arrests of journalists .
Crowd control tactics .
Intimidation tactics .
Brutality .
Contempt of cop charges .
This is a government that justifies all manner of government tyranny and power grabs in the so-called name of national security , national crises and national emergencies .
This is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of this country ’ s most profitable exports being weapons .
Indeed , the United States , the world ’ s largest exporter of arms , has been selling violence to the world in order to prop up the military industrial complex and maintain its endless wars abroad .
This is a government that is consumed with squeezing every last penny out of the population and seemingly unconcerned if essential freedoms are trampled in the process .
This is a government that believes it has the authority to search , seize , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probe , pat down , taser , and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation , the Constitution be damned .
In sum , this is a government that routinely undermines the Constitution and rides roughshod over the rights of the citizenry .
This is not a government that believes in , let alone upholds , freedom .
So where does that leave us ?
As always , the first step begins with “ we the people.
” Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behest of its citizens .
It is there to protect , defend and even enhance our freedoms , not violate them .
Our power as a citizenry comes from our ability to agree and stand united on certain freedom principles that should be non-negotiable .
It was no idle happenstance that the Constitution opens with these three powerful words : “ We the people.
” In other words , we have the power to make and break the government .
We are the masters and they are the servants .
We the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of America ’ s welfare , defense , liberty , laws and prosperity .
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , we have managed to keep the wolf at bay so far .
Barely .
Our national priorities need to be re-prioritized .
For instance , some argue that we need to make America great again .
I , for one , would prefer to make America free again .

“No one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.”—George Orwell
You can map the nearly 20-year journey from the 9/11 attacks to the COVID-19 pandemic by the freedoms we’ve lost along the way.
The road we have been traveling has been littered with the wreckage of our once-vaunted liberties, especially those enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.
The assaults on our freedoms that began with the post-9/11 passage of the USA Patriot Act laid the groundwork for the eradication of every vital constitutional safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse.
The COVID-19 pandemic with its lockdowns, mask mandates, surveillance, snitch lines for Americans to report their fellow citizens for engaging in risky behavior, and veiled threats of forced vaccinations has merely provided the architects of the American police state with an opportunity to flex their muscles.
These have become mile markers on the road to tyranny.
Free speech, the right to protest, the right to challenge government wrongdoing, due process, a presumption of innocence, the right to self-defense, accountability and transparency in government, privacy, press, sovereignty, assembly, bodily integrity, representative government: all of these and more have become casualties in the government’s ongoing war on the American people. In the process, the American people have been treated like enemy combatants, to be spied on, tracked, scanned, frisked, searched, subjected to all manner of intrusions, intimidated, invaded, raided, manhandled, censored, silenced, shot at, locked up, denied due process, and killed.
What the past 20 years have proven is that the U.S. government poses a greater threat to our individual and collective freedoms and national security than any terrorist, foreign threat or pandemic.
In allowing ourselves to be distracted by terror drills, foreign wars, color-coded warnings, partisan politics, pandemic scares, and other carefully constructed exercises in propaganda, sleight of hand, and obfuscation, we failed to recognize that the U.S. government—the government that was supposed to be a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”—has become the enemy of the people.
Indeed, the U.S. government has grown so corrupt, greedy, power-hungry and tyrannical over the course of the past 240-plus years that our constitutional republic has since given way to an idiocracy, and representative government has given way to a kleptocracy (a government ruled by thieves) and a kakistocracy (a government run by unprincipled career politicians, corporations and thieves that panders to the worst vices in our nature and has little regard for the rights of American citizens).
Although the Bill of Rights—the first ten amendments to the Constitution—was adopted as a means of protecting the people against government tyranny, in America today, the government does whatever it wants, freedom be damned.
“We the people” have been terrorized, traumatized, and tricked into a semi-permanent state of compliance by a government that cares nothing for our lives or our liberties.
The bogeyman’s names and faces have changed over time (terrorism, the war on drugs, illegal immigration, a viral pandemic), but the end result remains the same: in the so-called name of national security, the Constitution has been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded with the support of Congress, the White House, and the courts.
What we are left with today is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago. Sadly, most of the damage has been inflicted upon the Bill of Rights.
Here is what it means to live under the Constitution, post-9/11 and in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic.
The First Amendment is supposed to protect the freedom to speak your mind, assemble and protest nonviolently without being bridled by the government. It also protects the freedom of the media, as well as the right to worship and pray without interference. In other words, Americans should not be silenced by the government. To the founders, all of America was a free speech zone.
Despite the clear protections found in the First Amendment, the freedoms described therein are under constant assault. Increasingly, Americans are being arrested and charged with bogus “contempt of cop” charges such as “disrupting the peace” or “resisting arrest” for daring to film police officers engaged in harassment or abusive practices. Journalists are being prosecuted for reporting on whistleblowers. States are passing legislation to muzzle reporting on cruel and abusive corporate practices. Religious ministries are being fined for attempting to feed and house the homeless. Protesters are being tear-gassed, beaten, arrested and forced into “free speech zones.” And under the guise of “government speech,” the courts have reasoned that the government can discriminate freely against any First Amendment activity that takes place within a government forum.
The Second Amendment was intended to guarantee “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” Essentially, this amendment was intended to give the citizenry the means to resist tyrannical government. Yet while gun ownership has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as an individual citizen right, Americans remain powerless to defend themselves against SWAT team raids and government agents armed to the teeth with military weapons better suited to the battlefield. As such, this amendment has been rendered null and void.
The Third Amendment reinforces the principle that civilian-elected officials are superior to the military by prohibiting the military from entering any citizen’s home without “the consent of the owner.” With the police increasingly training like the military, acting like the military, and posing as military forces—complete with heavily armed SWAT teams, military weapons, assault vehicles, etc.—it is clear that we now have what the founders feared most—a standing army on American soil.
The Fourth Amendment prohibits government agents from conducting surveillance on you or touching you or invading you, unless they have some evidence that you’re up to something criminal. In other words, the Fourth Amendment ensures privacy and bodily integrity. Unfortunately, the Fourth Amendment has suffered the greatest damage in recent years and has been all but eviscerated by an unwarranted expansion of police powers that include strip searches and even anal and vaginal searches of citizens, surveillance (corporate and otherwise) and intrusions justified in the name of fighting terrorism, as well as the outsourcing of otherwise illegal activities to private contractors.
The Fifth Amendment and the Sixth Amendment work in tandem. These amendments supposedly ensure that you are innocent until proven guilty, and government authorities cannot deprive you of your life, your liberty or your property without the right to an attorney and a fair trial before a civilian judge. However, in the new suspect society in which we live, where surveillance is the norm, these fundamental principles have been upended. Certainly, if the government can arbitrarily freeze, seize or lay claim to your property (money, land or possessions) under government asset forfeiture schemes, you have no true rights.
The Seventh Amendment guarantees citizens the right to a jury trial. Yet when the populace has no idea of what’s in the Constitution—civic education has virtually disappeared from most school curriculums—that inevitably translates to an ignorant jury incapable of distinguishing justice and the law from their own preconceived notions and fears. However, as a growing number of citizens are coming to realize, the power of the jury to nullify the government’s actions—and thereby help balance the scales of justice—is not to be underestimated. Jury nullification reminds the government that “we the people” retain the power to ultimately determine what laws are just.
The Eighth Amendment is similar to the Sixth in that it is supposed to protect the rights of the accused and forbid the use of cruel and unusual punishment. However, the Supreme Court’s determination that what constitutes “cruel and unusual” should be dependent on the “evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society” leaves us with little protection in the face of a society lacking in morals altogether.
The Ninth Amendment provides that other rights not enumerated in the Constitution are nonetheless retained by the people. Popular sovereignty—the belief that the power to govern flows upward from the people rather than downward from the rulers—is clearly evident in this amendment. However, it has since been turned on its head by a centralized federal government that sees itself as supreme and which continues to pass more and more laws that restrict our freedoms under the pretext that it has an “important government interest” in doing so.
As for the Tenth Amendment’s reminder that the people and the states retain every authority that is not otherwise mentioned in the Constitution, that assurance of a system of government in which power is divided among local, state and national entities has long since been rendered moot by the centralized Washington, DC, power elite—the president, Congress and the courts.
If there is any sense to be made from this recitation of freedoms lost, it is simply this: our individual freedoms have been eviscerated so that the government’s powers could be expanded.
Mind you, by “government,” I’m not referring to the highly partisan, two-party bureaucracy of the Republicans and Democrats. Rather, I’m referring to the Deep State—the corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that has set itself beyond the reach of the law and is unaffected by elections, unaltered by populist movements, and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country and calling the shots in Washington DC, no matter who sits in the White House.
This is a government that, in conjunction with its corporate partners, views the citizenry as consumers and bits of data to be bought, sold and traded.
This is a government that spies on and treats its citizens as if they have no right to privacy, especially in their own homes.
This is a government that is laying the groundwork to weaponize the public’s biomedical data as a convenient means by which to penalize certain “unacceptable” social behaviors.
This is a government that subjects its people to scans, searches, pat downs and other indignities by the TSA and VIPR raids on so-called “soft” targets like shopping malls and bus depots by black-clad, Darth Vader look-alikes.
This is a government that uses fusion centers, which represent the combined surveillance efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement, to track the citizenry’s movements, record their conversations, and catalogue their transactions.
This is a government whose wall-to-wall surveillance has given rise to a suspect society in which the burden of proof has been reversed such that Americans are now assumed guilty until or unless they can prove their innocence.
This is a government that treats its people like second-class citizens who have no rights, and is working overtime to stigmatize and dehumanize any and all who do not fit with the government’s plans for this country.
This is a government that uses free speech zones, roving bubble zones and trespass laws to silence, censor and marginalize Americans and restrict their First Amendment right to speak truth to power. The kinds of speech the government considers dangerous enough to red flag and subject to censorship, surveillance, investigation, prosecution and outright elimination include: hate speech, bullying speech, intolerant speech, conspiratorial speech, treasonous speech, threatening speech, incendiary speech, inflammatory speech, radical speech, anti-government speech, right-wing speech, left-wing speech, extremist speech, politically incorrect speech, etc.
This is a government that adopts laws that criminalize Americans for otherwise lawful activities such as holding religious studies at home, growing vegetables in their yard, and collecting rainwater.
This is a government that persists in renewing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows the president and the military to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely.
This is a government that saddled us with the Patriot Act, which opened the door to all manner of government abuses and intrusions on our privacy.
This is a government that, in direct opposition to the dire warnings of those who founded our country, has allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a standing army by way of programs that transfer surplus military hardware to local and state police.
This is a government that has militarized American’s domestic police, equipping them with military weapons such as “tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft,” in addition to armored vehicles, sound cannons and the like.
This is a government that has provided cover to police when they shoot and kill unarmed individuals just for standing a certain way, or moving a certain way, or holding something—anything—that police could misinterpret to be a gun, or igniting some trigger-centric fear in a police officer’s mind that has nothing to do with an actual threat to their safety.
This is a government that has allowed private corporations to get rich at taxpayer expense by locking people up in private prisons for non-violent crimes, while providing Corporate America with a source of cheap labor.
This is a government that has created a Constitution-free zone within 100 miles inland of the border around the United States, paving the way for Border Patrol agents to search people’s homes, intimately probe their bodies, and rifle through their belongings, all without a warrant. Incredibly, nearly 66% of Americans (2/3 of the U.S. population, 197.4 million people) now live within that 100-mile-deep, Constitution-free zone.
This is a government that treats public school students as if they were prison inmates, enforcing zero tolerance policies that criminalize childish behavior, failing to teach them their rights under the Constitution, and indoctrinating them with teaching that emphasizes rote memorization and test-taking over learning, synthesizing and critical thinking.
This is a government that is operating in the negative on every front: it’s spending far more than what it makes (and takes from the American taxpayers) and it is borrowing heavily (from foreign governments and Social Security) to keep the government operating and keep funding its endless wars abroad. Meanwhile, the nation’s sorely neglected infrastructure—railroads, water pipelines, ports, dams, bridges, airports and roads—is rapidly deteriorating.
This is a government whose gun violence—inflicted on unarmed individuals by battlefield-trained SWAT teams, militarized police, and bureaucratic government agents trained to shoot first and ask questions later—poses a greater threat to the safety and security of the nation than any mass shooter. There are now reportedly more bureaucratic (non-military) government agents armed with high-tech, deadly weapons than U.S. Marines.
This is a government that has allowed the presidency to become a dictatorship operating above and beyond the law, regardless of which party is in power.
This is a government that treats dissidents, whistleblowers and freedom fighters as enemies of the state.
This is a government—a warring empire—that forces its taxpayers to pay for wars abroad that serve no other purpose except to expand the reach of the military industrial complex.
This is a government that has in recent decades unleashed untold horrors upon the world—including its own citizenry—in the name of global conquest, the acquisition of greater wealth, scientific experimentation, and technological advances, all packaged in the guise of the greater good.
This is a government that allows its agents to break laws with immunity while average Americans get the book thrown at them.
This is a government that speaks in a language of force. What is this language of force? Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality. Contempt of cop charges.
This is a government that justifies all manner of government tyranny and power grabs in the so-called name of national security, national crises and national emergencies.
This is a government that exports violence worldwide, with one of this country’s most profitable exports being weapons. Indeed, the United States, the world’s largest exporter of arms, has been selling violence to the world in order to prop up the military industrial complex and maintain its endless wars abroad.
This is a government that is consumed with squeezing every last penny out of the population and seemingly unconcerned if essential freedoms are trampled in the process.
This is a government that believes it has the authority to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation, the Constitution be damned.
In sum, this is a government that routinely undermines the Constitution and rides roughshod over the rights of the citizenry.
This is not a government that believes in, let alone upholds, freedom.
So where does that leave us?
As always, the first step begins with “we the people.”
Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. It is there to protect, defend and even enhance our freedoms, not violate them. Our power as a citizenry comes from our ability to agree and stand united on certain freedom principles that should be non-negotiable.
It was no idle happenstance that the Constitution opens with these three powerful words: “We the people.” In other words, we have the power to make and break the government. We are the masters and they are the servants. We the American people—the citizenry—are the arbiters and ultimate guardians of America’s welfare, defense, liberty, laws and prosperity.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we have managed to keep the wolf at bay so far. Barely.
Our national priorities need to be re-prioritized. For instance, some argue that we need to make America great again. I, for one, would prefer to make America free again.


wearechange--2020-09-09--NSA Chief Who Oversaw Sweeping Domestic Phone Surveillance Joins Amazon Board as Director

Just days after Amazon published a scathing letter slamming President Trump for not allowing the American multinational tech company to get the $ 10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure ( JEDI ) contract , which instead was awarded to Microsoft , Amazon ’ s board has just appointed former NSA head and retired general of the US Army Keith B. Alexander as a director .
Alexander will also serve on the board ’ s audit committee , according to Bloomberg on Wednesday .
The company which has long faced criticism and scrutiny over its deep CIA ties and collaboration , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contract with the CIA for cloud computing services , will now have a well-known national security state hawk who was commander of US Cyber Command from May 2010 to March 2014 .
Crucially his tenure as Director of the National Security Agency went for nearly a decade , from August 2005 to March 2014 .
From there he founded a cybersecurity technology company in 2014 , of which he ’ s still leads as Co-CEO and president , called IronNet Cybersecurity , Inc .
This is the very NSA chief who was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sweeping up of Americans ’ communications exposed by Edward Snowden ’ s leaks .
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit earlier this month ruled the invasive NSA program was “ illegal ” and that US officials lied about it .
At the forefront of the years-long attacks on Snowden , who took refuge in Russia while being sought by US authorities on espionage , was Gen. Alexander , who made consistent media appearances to publicly charge that “ Snowden betrayed us ” and that he “ stole secrets ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ does Amazon own the The Washington Post and oversees the CIA ’ s Commercial Cloud Enterprise , it now has on its powerful board of directors the most visible figure from the NSA who illegally spied on Americans for the better part of a decade .
And concerning Amazon ’ s sour grapes , which it ’ s very much putting out there for public attention , the irony is thick .
Here are some choice lines from last Friday ’ s press release : We strongly disagree with the DoD ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important for our nation that the federal government and its elected leaders administer procurements objectively and in a fashion that ’ s free from political affect .
The query we proceed to ask ourselves is whether or not the President of the USA must be allowed to make use of the finances of the Division of Protection to pursue his personal private and political ends ?
Meanwhile , from the annals of the deep state… This is indeed straight up deep state stuff , seeming to confirm every suspicion that surfaced when years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Again , Amazon literally accused Trump of unprecedented corruption in a public letter and less than a week later it effectively brings the NSA on board.
’ Hollywood couldn ’ t even write this script — brought to you by the CIA , NSA , and the richest man in the world Jeff Bezos .

Just days after Amazon published a scathing letter slamming President Trump for not allowing the American multinational tech company to get the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, which instead was awarded to Microsoft, Amazon’s board has just appointed former NSA head and retired general of the US Army Keith B. Alexander as a director.
Alexander will also serve on the board’s audit committee, according to Bloomberg on Wednesday. The company which has long faced criticism and scrutiny over its deep CIA ties and collaboration, especially given its prior $600 million contract with the CIA for cloud computing services, will now have a well-known national security state hawk who was commander of US Cyber Command from May 2010 to March 2014.
Crucially his tenure as Director of the National Security Agency went for nearly a decade, from August 2005 to March 2014. From there he founded a cybersecurity technology company in 2014, of which he’s still leads as Co-CEO and president, called IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc.
This is the very NSA chief who was the face of the agency’s mass sweeping up of Americans’ communications exposed by Edward Snowden’s leaks. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit earlier this month ruled the invasive NSA program was “illegal” and that US officials lied about it.
At the forefront of the years-long attacks on Snowden, who took refuge in Russia while being sought by US authorities on espionage, was Gen. Alexander, who made consistent media appearances to publicly charge that “Snowden betrayed us” and that he “stole secrets”.
For those keeping score, not only does Amazon own the The Washington Post and oversees the CIA’s Commercial Cloud Enterprise, it now has on its powerful board of directors the most visible figure from the NSA who illegally spied on Americans for the better part of a decade.
“Alexa, what is everyone in the world doing right now?” — Btcn Ftrs (@BtcnFtrs) September 9, 2020
And concerning Amazon’s sour grapes, which it’s very much putting out there for public attention, the irony is thick. Here are some choice lines from last Friday’s press release:
We strongly disagree with the DoD’s flawed analysis and imagine it’s important for our nation that the federal government and its elected leaders administer procurements objectively and in a fashion that’s free from political affect. The query we proceed to ask ourselves is whether or not the President of the USA must be allowed to make use of the finances of the Division of Protection to pursue his personal private and political ends?
And more:
On JEDI, President Trump reportedly ordered former Secretary Mattis to “screw’” Amazon, blatantly interfered in an active procurement, directed his subordinate to conduct an unorthodox “review” prior to a contract award announcement and then stonewalled an investigation into his own political interference.
Meanwhile, from the annals of the deep state…
This is indeed straight up deep state stuff, seeming to confirm every suspicion that surfaced when years ago Amazon teamed up with the CIA.
Again, Amazon literally accused Trump of unprecedented corruption in a public letter and less than a week later it effectively brings the NSA on board.’
Hollywood couldn’t even write this script — brought to you by the CIA, NSA, and the richest man in the world Jeff Bezos.
Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission


wearechange--2020-09-09--I Can’t Believe They Did This To Grandma!!

In this video , we go over the latest insane government overreach going on in places like Australia and New @ @ @ @ @ same time police allow mass protesting and rioting .
Plus , we cover Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ withdrawal and nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize .
Don ’ t miss out : @ @ @ @ @ ) training this weekend in New Hampshire – Sign up !

In this video, we go over the latest insane government overreach going on in places like Australia and New York, while at the same time police allow mass protesting and rioting. Plus, we cover Donald Trump’s Middle East troop withdrawal and nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Don’t miss out: Close Quarter Battle (CQB) training this weekend in New Hampshire – Sign up!


wearechange--2020-09-09--Fauci, WHO Downplayed Virus When Trump Knew It Was Airborne, Restricted China Travel: Woodward Tapes

On February 7 , two days after President Trump was acquitted by the Senate of impeachment charges , he gave a lengthy interview to veteran journalist Bob Woodward which he allowed to be taped .
Instead of talking about the impeachment , however , Woodward was ‘ surprised ’ that Trump was focused on COVID-19 , the deadly virus gripping Wuhan , China while Dr. Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization downplayed the risks .
“ This is deadly stuff , ” Trump told Woodward , adding that the virus was possibly five times “ more deadly ” than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the virus was airborne ( while the World Health Organization explicitly said it was not , and maintained in January there was no human-to-human transmission ) .
Fauci , on the other hand , told Newsmax TV on January 21 it was no big deal : “ Obviously , you need to take it seriously and do the kind of things the ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ) and the Department of Homeland Security is doing .
But this is not a major threat to the people of the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about.
” -Dr Anthony Fauci , January 21 On February 17 , Fauci continued to downplay the virus – saying that the risk to the US is “ minuscule , ” and that people shouldn ’ t wear masks .
Yet , days before Trump ’ s February 7 interview with Woodward , he restricted travel from China on the advice of his National Security team – for which he was called a ‘ xenophobe ’ by Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to come to Chinatown , without masks , to “ say everything is fine here.
” Now , Pelosi is on MSNBC claiming that Trump ’ s “ delay , distortion and denial is responsible for many of the deaths we have today.
” And so , CNN ‘ s ‘ gotcha ’ is this : Trump also admitted to Woodward in a follow-up interview on March 19 that he purposefully downplayed the virus in order to avoid panic .
“ I wanted to always play it down , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it down , because I don ’ t want to create a panic.
” CNN somehow overlooks Fauci , Pelosi and Biden downplaying the virus themselves – with the latter two calling Trump a xenophobe for his China travel restrictions .
Three days later , Trump announced restrictions on travel from China , a move suggested by his national security team — despite Trump ’ s later claims that he alone backed the travel limitations .
Nevertheless , Trump continued to publicly downplay the danger of the virus .
February was a lost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ damning missed opportunity for Trump to reset “ the leadership clock ” after he was told this was a “ once-in-a-lifetime health emergency.
” –CNN In other words—Trump took the virus seriously , restricted travel , was called a ‘ xenophobe ’ for it , and is now under attack for downplaying it in the same way his advisers , Pelosi , the WHO and others were in order to avoid public panic .
Let ’ s see if this latest ‘ bombshell ‘ gains traction .

On February 7, two days after President Trump was acquitted by the Senate of impeachment charges, he gave a lengthy interview to veteran journalist Bob Woodward which he allowed to be taped.
Instead of talking about the impeachment, however, Woodward was ‘surprised’ that Trump was focused on COVID-19, the deadly virus gripping Wuhan, China while Dr. Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization downplayed the risks.
“This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward, adding that the virus was possibly five times “more deadly” than the flu. Trump also told Woodward that the virus was airborne (while the World Health Organization explicitly said it was not, and maintained in January there was no human-to-human transmission).
This is the tape: ?pic.twitter.com/ozX8O8fVKm — Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 9, 2020
Fauci, on the other hand, told Newsmax TV on January 21 it was no big deal:
“Obviously, you need to take it seriously and do the kind of things the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Department of Homeland Security is doing. But this is not a major threat to the people of the United States and this is not something that the citizens of the United States right now should be worried about.” -Dr Anthony Fauci, January 21
On February 17, Fauci continued to downplay the virus – saying that the risk to the US is “minuscule,” and that people shouldn’t wear masks.
Yet, days before Trump’s February 7 interview with Woodward, he restricted travel from China on the advice of his National Security team – for which he was called a ‘xenophobe’ by Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. Three weeks later, Pelosi invited people to come to Chinatown, without masks, to “say everything is fine here.”
Pelosi, touring San Fran’s Chinatown Feb. 24: “We do want to say to people, come to Chinatown, here we are … come join us” pic.twitter.com/0FEOq9t4VM — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 29, 2020
Now, Pelosi is on MSNBC claiming that Trump’s “delay, distortion and denial is responsible for many of the deaths we have today.”
And so, CNN‘s ‘gotcha’ is this: Trump also admitted to Woodward in a follow-up interview on March 19 that he purposefully downplayed the virus in order to avoid panic.
“I wanted to always play it down,” he said, adding “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
CNN somehow overlooks Fauci, Pelosi and Biden downplaying the virus themselves – with the latter two calling Trump a xenophobe for his China travel restrictions. Three days later, Trump announced restrictions on travel from China, a move suggested by his national security team — despite Trump’s later claims that he alone backed the travel limitations. Nevertheless, Trump continued to publicly downplay the danger of the virus. February was a lost month. Woodward views this as a damning missed opportunity for Trump to reset “the leadership clock” after he was told this was a “once-in-a-lifetime health emergency.” –CNN
In other words—Trump took the virus seriously, restricted travel, was called a ‘xenophobe’ for it, and is now under attack for downplaying it in the same way his advisers, Pelosi, the WHO and others were in order to avoid public panic.
Let’s see if this latest ‘bombshell‘ gains traction.
Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission


wearechange--2020-09-10--It’s Not Just Netflix That’s The Problem — It Gets A Lot Worse!

In this video , we break down the horrifying rollout of the normalization of child abuse through the Netflix “ @ @ @ @ @ OH YEAH , since we are not corporate or government owned help us out here @ @ @ @ @ US ON

In this video, we break down the horrifying rollout of the normalization of child abuse through the Netflix “coming-of-age” film Cuties.
Sign up on lukeunfiltered.com or to check out our store on thebestpoliticalshirts.com.


wearechange--2020-09-10--“Courtroom at Risk”: Assange Trial Abruptly Halted After US Attorney Exposed to COVID-19

During the fourth day of resumed Julian Assange extradition hearings the judge has unexpectedly halted proceedings due to one of the lawyers possibly being exposed to coronavirus .
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said the London hearing has been adjourned until at least next Monday , pending the US government ’ s attorney awaiting results of a COVID-19 test .
The judge and lawyers for both sides are said to be in deliberations over what course the hearings should take if indeed the US lawyer is confirmed with COVID-19 .
The WikiLeaks founder ’ s defense team is especially concerned over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given he ’ s been held within the harsh and virus-prone confines of Belmarsh prison : Assange ’ s attorney , Edward Fitzgerald , said it had to be assumed that the lawyer had the virus and “ COVID will be in the courtroom.
” “ Court staff themselves would be at risk , and you yourself may well be at risk , ” he told the judge .
“ Finally , our client Mr. Assange , who is vulnerable you are aware , would be at risk in court.
” The New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pause as having happened “ abruptly ” after it was made known of the US federal government team ’ s exposure .
It ’ s as yet unknown which among the prosecution ’ s team is undergoing testing , but at this point it ’ s likely all of them will .
According to notes from journalist Kevin Gosztola , reporting on the trial live from the Old Bailey courthouse , the US attorney ’ s test results are expected back Friday .

During the fourth day of resumed Julian Assange extradition hearings the judge has unexpectedly halted proceedings due to one of the lawyers possibly being exposed to coronavirus.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said the London hearing has been adjourned until at least next Monday, pending the US government’s attorney awaiting results of a COVID-19 test.
The judge and lawyers for both sides are said to be in deliberations over what course the hearings should take if indeed the US lawyer is confirmed with COVID-19.
The WikiLeaks founder’s defense team is especially concerned over the fragile health of their client, given he’s been held within the harsh and virus-prone confines of Belmarsh prison:
Assange’s attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, said it had to be assumed that the lawyer had the virus and “COVID will be in the courtroom.” “Court staff themselves would be at risk, and you yourself may well be at risk,” he told the judge. “Finally, our client Mr. Assange, who is vulnerable you are aware, would be at risk in court.”
Baraitser then reiterated, for those in video link who didn't hear, that one of barristers on prosecution team may have been exposed to COVID-19. Testing will occur today. Results expected on Friday. #Assange — Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) September 10, 2020
The New York Times described the hearing’s pause as having happened “abruptly” after it was made known of the US federal government team’s exposure.
Looking forward to the courtroom sketch of Assange in a glass box with only judge in the room as we all proceed virtually. That'll be quite appropriate image for this case. #COVID19 #AssangeCase — Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) September 10, 2020
It’s as yet unknown which among the prosecution’s team is undergoing testing, but at this point it’s likely all of them will.
According to notes from journalist Kevin Gosztola, reporting on the trial live from the Old Bailey courthouse, the US attorney’s test results are expected back Friday.
Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission


wearechange--2020-09-11--The Dancing Israelis: FBI Docs Shed Light on Apparent Mossad Foreknowledge of 9/11 Attacks

For nearly two decades , one of the most overlooked and little known arrests made in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was that of the so-called “ High Fivers , ” or the “ Dancing Israelis.
” However , new information released by the FBI on May 7 has brought fresh scrutiny to the possibility that the “ Dancing Israelis , ” at least two of whom were known Mossad operatives , had prior knowledge of the attacks on the World Trade Center .
Shortly after 8:46 a.m. on the day of the attacks , just minutes after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center , five men — later revealed to be Israeli nationals — had positioned themselves in the parking lot of the Doric Apartment Complex in Union City , New Jersey , where they were seen taking pictures and filming the attacks while also celebrating the destruction of the towers and “ high fiving ” each other .
At least one eyewitness interviewed by the FBI had seen the Israelis ’ van in the parking lot as early as 8:00 a.m. that day , more than 40 minutes prior to the attack .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the time but has since been largely forgotten .
The men — Sivan Kurzberg , Paul Kurzberg , Oded Ellner , Yaron Shimuel and Omar Marmari — were subsequently apprehended by law enforcement and claimed to be Israeli tourists on a “ working holiday ” in the United States where they were employed by a moving company , Urban Moving Systems .
Upon his arrest , Sivan Kurzberg told the arresting officer , “ We are Israeli ; we are not your problem .
Your problems are our problems , The Palestinians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the official story has been that these individuals , while they had engaged in “ immature ” behavior by celebrating and being “ visibly happy ” in their documenting of the attacks , had no prior knowledge of the attack .
However , newly released FBI copies of the photos taken by the five Israelis strongly suggest that these individuals had prior knowledge of the attacks on the World Trade Center .
The copies of the photos were obtained via a FOIA request made by a private citizen .
According to a former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Jewish Daily Forward in 2002 , the FBI concluded in its investigation that the five Israelis arrested “ were conducting a Mossad surveillance mission and that their employer , Urban Moving Systems of Weehawken , NJ , served as a front.
” At least two of the men arrested were determined to have direct links to the Mossad after their names appeared in a CIA-FBI database of foreign intelligence operatives .
According to one of their lawyers , one of the men , Paul Kurzberg , had previously worked for the Mossad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States .
Another of those arrested , Oded Ellner , subsequently stated on Israeli TV that the five Israelis had been in New York at the time “ to document the event , ” meaning the attack on the World Trade Center .
The FOIA release of the photos is notable because responses to prior FOIA requests to the Department of Justice , which oversees the FBI , had previously claimed that all of the photos taken by the Israeli nationals had been destroyed in January 2014 .
The photos themselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see the Israelis ’ facial expressions .
However , previously declassified yet heavily redacted FBI reports state that the Israelis are “ visibly happy ” in nearly every photo , even when the burning towers are in the background .
The photos released are also not original copies and instead appear to be photocopies of photocopies of the original pictures .
In addition , of the original 76 pictures developed by authorities from the camera in the Israelis ’ possession , only 14 were released .
Based on the impressions of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three of these photos — despite the heavy redaction and poor quality — appear damning .
Since 2001 , even though the photos were never released until now , it had been known that one of the Israelis arrested — Sivan Kurzberg — was seen in a photo “ holding a lighted lighter in the foreground , with the smoldering wreckage [ of the twin towers ] in the background , ” according to Steven Noah Gordon , then-lawyer for the five Israelis , as cited in a New York Times report from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the lit lighter appears to be photo # 5 in the new FOIA release .
Yet , the picture released includes a visible date of September 10 , 2001 , the day before the attacks , as do two other photos — images # 7 and # 8 in the collection — whereas all other photos with dates show only the month and the year ( 9 ‘ 01 ) .
The FOIA release did not provide any information as to the apparent discrepancy in dates .
While this could be explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ programmed with a slightly inaccurate date , that doesn ’ t seem to be the case for two reasons .
First , only three out of the 14 pictures appear to carry that date and , second , previously declassified FBI reports report an eyewitness adamantly stating that Sivan Kurzberg had visited the Doric Apartments on September 10 , 2001 at around 3 p.m. with at least one other man , with whom he was conversing in a foreign language , and had identified himself as a “ construction worker ” to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report ) .
In addition , the FBI report noted that a van from Urban Moving Systems , the company that employed the five Israelis at the time of their arrest , was present and was involved in moving a tenant out of the complex on September 10 and that the movers all had foreign accents .
Thus , images 5 , 7 and 8 may have been taken at the same complex a day before the attacks .
This raises two possibilities .
First , that there are two images of Kurzberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the towers , one taken before the attack and one taken at the time of the attack , and that the FBI released only one of them .
Second , that Kurzberg took the picture with the lighter only the day before the attack and his lawyer misrepresented the contents of the photo to the New York Times .
Given that the background of the photo — particularly the state of the towers — is indiscernible in the recently released photo , it is difficult to determine which is the case .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quite differently .
For instance , Ryan Dawson , formerly of Newsbud , cited the police report that details the clothing of some of the Israelis at the time of their arrest and used that to link identities to the redacted faces in the pictures .
He believes that the Israeli holding the lighter is not Sivan Kurzberg , but his brother Paul .
Meanwhile , the person who filed the FOIA request that resulted in the picture ’ s release , who wished to remain anonymous , thought that Omer Marmari was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lighter .
Both have stated that all pictures were likely to have been taken on the day of the attacks .
One reason given for the appearance of the date of September 10 , 2001 in only some of the photos is due to the heavy editing , which rendered it invisible in the remaining photos .
Dawson asserted that the incorrect date was due to the Israelis ’ panicking when they were pulled over and attempting to edit the date and hour on the camera upon the arrest in an effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ put forth is that it was the result of a camera configuration error .
Given the highly redacted and edited nature of the pictures , what is most notable of all is the fact of what is not seen ( i.e .
edited out ) in the photos .
Clearly , there was an interest in preventing the public from seeing the state of the towers at the time of the photos were taken and also in preventing the public from seeing the facial expressions of the Israelis , despite it being known @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ visibly happy ” and “ jovial.
” The state of the towers being edited out is particularly telling .
As to whether any of the Israelis knew of the attacks in advance , the relevant section of the FBI report that asks “ 1 .
Did the Israeli nationals have foreknowledge of the events at WTC and were they filming the events prior to and in anticipation of the explosion ?
” is notably redacted in its entirety , suggesting that the FBI did not determine the answer to that question to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the 9/11 loose-ends cover-ups ?
If images 5 and 7 were indeed taken the day prior to the attack , the question then becomes why the FBI officially concluded that the arrested Israelis had no prior knowledge of the attacks ?
One report from ABC News dated June 2002 suggests that the Bush administration intervened in the investigation .
That report states that “ Israeli and U.S. government officials worked out a deal — and after 71 days , the five Israelis were taken out of jail , put on a plane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel ] .
” If the Bush administration had cut a deal with Israel ’ s government to cover up the incident , it certainly would not have been the first time a U.S. presidential administration had done so on Israel ’ s behalf .
Further evidence that higher-ups in the administration intervened is the fact that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft personally signed off on the detainees ’ release .
Upon his entering the private sector as a lobbyist and consultant in 2005 , the Israeli government became one of Ashcroft ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have happened to some extent , between the destruction of records of the investigation and the fact that official conclusions of the investigation do not add up .
In the latter case , the FBI — in a file dated September 24 , 2001– officially stated that they “ determined that none of the Israelis were actively engaged in clandestine intelligence activities in the United States.
” However , that conclusion was directly contradicted by U.S. officials a year later and by the fact that Israel ’ s own government subsequently acknowledged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ involved in “ clandestine intelligence activities in the United States.
” In addition , the new FOIA release of the photos suggests that another FBI conclusion — that “ none of the pictures developed from the film found inside the 35-mm camera depicted the twin towers prior to the attack ” — was inaccurate .
This may explain why the images released via the recent FOIA request were heavily edited leaving details in the background greatly obscured , making it impossible to determine whether the photos were taken prior to or during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the towers .
Beyond the photos and observed activities of the so-called “ Dancing Israelis , ” it is worth revisiting several other suspicious circumstances linked to their arrest that clearly show that the men in question were hardly the “ tourists ” they had claimed to be .
One often cited example is the fact that one of the men , Oded Ellner , had a “ white sock-like sack filled with $ 4,700 in cash , ” as well as maps of the city with certain places highlighted , and box @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which the Israelis were arrested was “ oddly ” lacking “ equipment typically used in a moving company ’ s daily duties , ” according to the FBI , and residue of explosives was found in the van .
Of the explosive residue , the declassified FBI report states : In total , the FBI reported that four items related to explosives were found in the ban and are labeled in the report as “ Fabric Sample ( Explosive Residue ) , ” “ Control Swabs – SA [ – ] Gloves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bomb Suits ) , ” and “ Blanket Samples For Explosive Residue.
” In addition , a VHS tape and some still photographs found in the van “ were sent to Laboratory Examiner [ redacted ] ( Explosives Unit ) .
” In addition to the strange nature of some of the Israelis ’ possessions in the van and on their person , the company that employed them — Urban Moving Systems — was of special interest to the FBI , which concluded that the company was likely a “ fraudulent operation.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s premises , the FBI noted that “ little evidence of a legitimate business operation was found.
” The FBI report also noted that there were an “ unusually large number of computers relative to the number of employees for such a fairly small business ” and that “ further investigation identified several pseudo-names or aliases associated with Urban Moving Systems and its operations.
” The FBI presence at the Urban Moving Systems search site drew the attention of the local media and was later reported on both television and in the local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employee later contacted the Newark Division with information indicating that he had quit his employment with Urban Moving Systems as a result of the high amount of anti-American sentiment present among Urban ’ s employees .
The former employee stated that an Israeli employee of Urban had even once remarked , “ Give us twenty years and we ’ ll take over your media and destroy your country ” ( page 37 of the FBI report ) .
The FBI returned to search the premises of Urban Moving Systems a month later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company ’ s owner — Dominik Otto Suter , an Israeli citizen — had fled to Israel on September 14 , 2001 , two days after he had been questioned by the FBI .
The FBI told ABC News that “ Urban Moving may have been providing cover for an Israeli intelligence operation.
” Surprisingly , since at least 2016 , Suter has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area , where he works for a contractor for major tech companies like Google and Microsoft .
According to the public records database @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also worked for a telecommunications company — Granite Telecommunications — that works for the U.S. military and several other U.S. government agencies .
In addition to Urban Moving Systems , another moving company , Classic International Movers , became of interest in connection with the investigation into the “ Dancing Israelis , ” which led to the arrest and detention of four Israeli nationals who worked for this separate moving company .
The FBI ’ s Miami Division had alerted the Newark Division that Classic International Movers was believed to have been used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hijackers before the attack , and one of the “ Dancing Israelis ” had the number for Classic International Movers written in a notebook that was seized at the time of his arrest .
The report further states that one of the Israelis of Classic International Movers who was arrested “ was visibly disturbed by the Agents ’ questioning regarding his personal email account.
” While the case of the “ Dancing Israelis ” has long been treated as an outlier in the aftermath of September 11 , what is often overlooked is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were arrested in the aftermath of the attacks .
According to a FOX News report from December 2001 , 60 Israelis were apprehended or detained after September 11 , with most deported , and a total of 140 Israelis were arrested and detained in all of 2001 by federal authorities .
That report claimed that the arrests , ostensibly including the “ Dancing Israelis , ” were in relation to an investigation of “ an organized [ Israeli ] intelligence gathering operation designed to ‘ penetrate government facilities.
’ ” The report also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in addition to having served in the IDF , had “ intelligence expertise ” and worked for Israeli companies that specialized in wiretapping .
Some of those detained were also active members of the Israeli military ; and several detainees , including the “ Dancing Israelis , ” had failed polygraph tests when asked if they had been surveilling the U.S. government .
A key aspect of that report , compiled by journalist Carl Cameron , also states that federal investigators widely suspected that Israeli intelligence had prior knowledge of the September 11 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stated : One exchange between Cameron and host Brit Hume included in the report is particularly telling : HUME : “ Carl , what about this question of advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on 9/11 ?
How clear are investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something ?
” CAMERON : “ Well it ’ s very explosive information obviously and there is a great deal of evidence that they say they have collected .
None of it necessarily conclusive .
It ’ s more when they put it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is , ‘ How could they have not known ?
’ — almost a direct quote , Brit.
” However , it is essential to note that Israeli intelligence did attempt to warn the U.S. government at least twice beginning in August 2001 as did the intelligence agencies of many other countries , including France , the UK , Egypt , Russia and Jordan .
Yet , no people connected to any other intelligence agency other than Israel were caught celebrating the attacks as they took place in the area nor were accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spy ring within the U.S. at the time .
One theory to explain this discrepancy is that the Mossad elements of which the “ Dancing Israelis ” and other alleged Israeli spies could have been part of a specific section of Israeli intelligence that were acting independently as a rogue agency .
Such a possibility is not unusual given that divisions of or groups within the CIA have been known to “ go rogue ” on several occasions .
If the “ Dancing Israelis ” , and more broadly the Mossad and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 11 , why would they remain silent and not attempt to warn the American government or public of the coming attacks ?
In the case of the “ Dancing Israelis , ” why would Israelis celebrate such an attack ?
One of the detained “ Dancing Israelis , ” Omer Marmari , told police the following about why he viewed the September 11 attacks in a positive light : While Marmari ’ s statement may suggest one reason some of the “ Dancing Israelis ” were so “ visibly happy ” in their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made by top Israeli politicians that suggest why the Israeli government and its intelligence agency declined to act on apparent foreknowledge of the attack .
When asked , on the day of the 9/11 attacks , how the attacks would affect American-Israeli relations , Benjamin Netanyahu — the current Israeli prime minister — told the New York Times that “ It ’ s very good , ” before quickly adding “ Well , not very good , but it will generate immediate sympathy.
” He then predicted , much as Marmari had , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bond between our two peoples , because we ’ ve experienced terror over so many decades , but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.
” Netanyahu , in a candid conversation recorded in 2001 , also echoed Marmari ’ s claim that Americans are naïve .
In that recording , Netanyahu said : In addition , also on the day of the September 11 attacks , Netanyahu — who at the time was not in political office — held a press conference in which he claimed that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trade Center by “ militant Islam ” in his 1995 book , Fighting Terrorism : How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorism .
In that book , Netanyahu had posited that Iranian-linked “ militants ” would set off a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center .
During his press conference on the day of the attacks , Netanyahu also asserted that the 9/11 attacks would be a turning point for America and compared them to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor .
Netanyahu ’ s statement echoes the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Defenses ” document authored by the neoconservative think tank , the Project for a New Ameican Century ( PNAC ) .
That line reads .
“ Further , the process of transformation [ towards a neo-Reaganite foreign policy and hyper-militarism ] , even if it brings revolutionary change , is likely to be a long one , absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor.
” Then again , years later In 2008 , the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Netanyahu had stated that the September 11 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was quoted as saying : “ We are benefiting from one thing , and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon , and the American struggle in Iraq.
” Indeed , it goes without saying that the aftermath of 9/11 — which involved the U.S. leading a destructive effort throughout the Middle East — has indeed benefited Israel .
Many of the U.S. ’ post-9/11 “ nation-building ” efforts have notably mirrored the policy paper “ A Clean Break : A New Strategy for Securing the Realm , ” which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members among them — for Netanyahu ’ s first term as prime minister .
That document calls for the creation of a “ New Middle East ” by , among other things , “ weakening , containing , and even rolling back Syria ” and “ removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right.
” As is known now , both of those main objectives have since come to pass , each with strong Israeli involvement .

For nearly two decades, one of the most overlooked and little known arrests made in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was that of the so-called “High Fivers,” or the “Dancing Israelis.” However, new information released by the FBI on May 7 has brought fresh scrutiny to the possibility that the “Dancing Israelis,” at least two of whom were known Mossad operatives, had prior knowledge of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Shortly after 8:46 a.m. on the day of the attacks, just minutes after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, five men — later revealed to be Israeli nationals — had positioned themselves in the parking lot of the Doric Apartment Complex in Union City, New Jersey, where they were seen taking pictures and filming the attacks while also celebrating the destruction of the towers and “high fiving” each other. At least one eyewitness interviewed by the FBI had seen the Israelis’ van in the parking lot as early as 8:00 a.m. that day, more than 40 minutes prior to the attack. The story received coverage in U.S. mainstream media at the time but has since been largely forgotten.
The men — Sivan Kurzberg, Paul Kurzberg, Oded Ellner, Yaron Shimuel and Omar Marmari — were subsequently apprehended by law enforcement and claimed to be Israeli tourists on a “working holiday” in the United States where they were employed by a moving company, Urban Moving Systems. Upon his arrest, Sivan Kurzberg told the arresting officer, “We are Israeli; we are not your problem. Your problems are our problems, The Palestinians are the problem.”
For years, the official story has been that these individuals, while they had engaged in “immature” behavior by celebrating and being “visibly happy” in their documenting of the attacks, had no prior knowledge of the attack. However, newly released FBI copies of the photos taken by the five Israelis strongly suggest that these individuals had prior knowledge of the attacks on the World Trade Center. The copies of the photos were obtained via a FOIA request made by a private citizen.
According to a former high-ranking American intelligence official who spoke to the Jewish Daily Forward in 2002, the FBI concluded in its investigation that the five Israelis arrested “were conducting a Mossad surveillance mission and that their employer, Urban Moving Systems of Weehawken, NJ, served as a front.” At least two of the men arrested were determined to have direct links to the Mossad after their names appeared in a CIA-FBI database of foreign intelligence operatives. According to one of their lawyers, one of the men, Paul Kurzberg, had previously worked for the Mossad in another country prior to arriving in the United States. Another of those arrested, Oded Ellner, subsequently stated on Israeli TV that the five Israelis had been in New York at the time “to document the event,” meaning the attack on the World Trade Center.
The FOIA release of the photos is notable because responses to prior FOIA requests to the Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI, had previously claimed that all of the photos taken by the Israeli nationals had been destroyed in January 2014. The photos themselves are heavily redacted, making it impossible to see the Israelis’ facial expressions. However, previously declassified yet heavily redacted FBI reports state that the Israelis are “visibly happy” in nearly every photo, even when the burning towers are in the background. The photos released are also not original copies and instead appear to be photocopies of photocopies of the original pictures. In addition, of the original 76 pictures developed by authorities from the camera in the Israelis’ possession, only 14 were released.
Real full release here.
Based on the impressions of the French website Panamza and subsequently MintPress, three of these photos — despite the heavy redaction and poor quality — appear damning. Since 2001, even though the photos were never released until now, it had been known that one of the Israelis arrested — Sivan Kurzberg — was seen in a photo “holding a lighted lighter in the foreground, with the smoldering wreckage [of the twin towers] in the background,” according to Steven Noah Gordon, then-lawyer for the five Israelis, as cited in a New York Times report from November 2001.
The picture of Kurzberg with the lit lighter appears to be photo #5 in the new FOIA release. Yet, the picture released includes a visible date of September 10, 2001, the day before the attacks, as do two other photos — images #7 and #8 in the collection — whereas all other photos with dates show only the month and the year (9 ‘01). The FOIA release did not provide any information as to the apparent discrepancy in dates.
While this could be explained away as the camera in question being programmed with a slightly inaccurate date, that doesn’t seem to be the case for two reasons. First, only three out of the 14 pictures appear to carry that date and, second, previously declassified FBI reports report an eyewitness adamantly stating that Sivan Kurzberg had visited the Doric Apartments on September 10, 2001 at around 3 p.m. with at least one other man, with whom he was conversing in a foreign language, and had identified himself as a “construction worker” to a tenant (page 61 of declassified FBI report).
In addition, the FBI report noted that a van from Urban Moving Systems, the company that employed the five Israelis at the time of their arrest, was present and was involved in moving a tenant out of the complex on September 10 and that the movers all had foreign accents. Thus, images 5, 7 and 8 may have been taken at the same complex a day before the attacks.
This raises two possibilities. First, that there are two images of Kurzberg with a lit lighter in front of the towers, one taken before the attack and one taken at the time of the attack, and that the FBI released only one of them. Second, that Kurzberg took the picture with the lighter only the day before the attack and his lawyer misrepresented the contents of the photo to the New York Times. Given that the background of the photo — particularly the state of the towers — is indiscernible in the recently released photo, it is difficult to determine which is the case.
However, other analysts have interpreted the photos quite differently. For instance, Ryan Dawson, formerly of Newsbud, cited the police report that details the clothing of some of the Israelis at the time of their arrest and used that to link identities to the redacted faces in the pictures. He believes that the Israeli holding the lighter is not Sivan Kurzberg, but his brother Paul. Meanwhile, the person who filed the FOIA request that resulted in the picture’s release, who wished to remain anonymous, thought that Omer Marmari was more likely to be the man with the lighter.
Both have stated that all pictures were likely to have been taken on the day of the attacks. One reason given for the appearance of the date of September 10, 2001 in only some of the photos is due to the heavy editing, which rendered it invisible in the remaining photos. Dawson asserted that the incorrect date was due to the Israelis’ panicking when they were pulled over and attempting to edit the date and hour on the camera upon the arrest in an effort to hide the evidence. Another explanation put forth is that it was the result of a camera configuration error.
Given the highly redacted and edited nature of the pictures, what is most notable of all is the fact of what is not seen (i.e. edited out) in the photos. Clearly, there was an interest in preventing the public from seeing the state of the towers at the time of the photos were taken and also in preventing the public from seeing the facial expressions of the Israelis, despite it being known from the FBI report that they are “visibly happy” and “jovial.” The state of the towers being edited out is particularly telling.
As to whether any of the Israelis knew of the attacks in advance, the relevant section of the FBI report that asks “1. Did the Israeli nationals have foreknowledge of the events at WTC and were they filming the events prior to and in anticipation of the explosion?” is notably redacted in its entirety, suggesting that the FBI did not determine the answer to that question to be an emphatic “no.”
One of the 9/11 loose-ends cover-ups?
If images 5 and 7 were indeed taken the day prior to the attack, the question then becomes why the FBI officially concluded that the arrested Israelis had no prior knowledge of the attacks? One report from ABC News dated June 2002 suggests that the Bush administration intervened in the investigation. That report states that “Israeli and U.S. government officials worked out a deal — and after 71 days, the five Israelis were taken out of jail, put on a plane, and deported back home [to Israel].” If the Bush administration had cut a deal with Israel’s government to cover up the incident, it certainly would not have been the first time a U.S. presidential administration had done so on Israel’s behalf.
Further evidence that higher-ups in the administration intervened is the fact that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft personally signed off on the detainees’ release. Upon his entering the private sector as a lobbyist and consultant in 2005, the Israeli government became one of Ashcroft’s first clients.
A cover-up certainly seems to have happened to some extent, between the destruction of records of the investigation and the fact that official conclusions of the investigation do not add up. In the latter case, the FBI — in a file dated September 24, 2001– officially stated that they “determined that none of the Israelis were actively engaged in clandestine intelligence activities in the United States.” However, that conclusion was directly contradicted by U.S. officials a year later and by the fact that Israel’s own government subsequently acknowledged that the five Israelis had indeed been involved in “clandestine intelligence activities in the United States.”
In addition, the new FOIA release of the photos suggests that another FBI conclusion — that “none of the pictures developed from the film found inside the 35-mm camera depicted the twin towers prior to the attack” — was inaccurate. This may explain why the images released via the recent FOIA request were heavily edited leaving details in the background greatly obscured, making it impossible to determine whether the photos were taken prior to or during the attacks based solely on the state of the towers.
“Tourists” with cash-stuffed socks, box cutters, and explosives?
Beyond the photos and observed activities of the so-called “Dancing Israelis,” it is worth revisiting several other suspicious circumstances linked to their arrest that clearly show that the men in question were hardly the “tourists” they had claimed to be. One often cited example is the fact that one of the men, Oded Ellner, had a “white sock-like sack filled with $4,700 in cash,” as well as maps of the city with certain places highlighted, and box cutters. In addition, the van in which the Israelis were arrested was “oddly” lacking “equipment typically used in a moving company’s daily duties,” according to the FBI, and residue of explosives was found in the van.
Of the explosive residue, the declassified FBI report states:
A search of the van and individuals was conducted at the time of the vehicle stop. The vehicle was also searched by a trained bomb-sniffing dog which yielded a positive result for the presence of explosive traces. Swabs of the vehicle’s interior were taken, and those samples were sent to the FBI laboratory for further analysis. Final results are still pending.”
In total, the FBI reported that four items related to explosives were found in the ban and are labeled in the report as “Fabric Sample (Explosive Residue),” “Control Swabs – SA [ – ] Gloves,” “Control Swabs – (Bomb Suits),” and “Blanket Samples For Explosive Residue.” In addition, a VHS tape and some still photographs found in the van “were sent to Laboratory Examiner [ redacted ] (Explosives Unit).”
In addition to the strange nature of some of the Israelis’ possessions in the van and on their person, the company that employed them — Urban Moving Systems — was of special interest to the FBI, which concluded that the company was likely a “fraudulent operation.” Upon a search of the company’s premises, the FBI noted that “little evidence of a legitimate business operation was found.” The FBI report also noted that there were an “unusually large number of computers relative to the number of employees for such a fairly small business” and that “further investigation identified several pseudo-names or aliases associated with Urban Moving Systems and its operations.”
The FBI presence at the Urban Moving Systems search site drew the attention of the local media and was later reported on both television and in the local press. A former Urban Moving Systems employee later contacted the Newark Division with information indicating that he had quit his employment with Urban Moving Systems as a result of the high amount of anti-American sentiment present among Urban’s employees. The former employee stated that an Israeli employee of Urban had even once remarked, “Give us twenty years and we’ll take over your media and destroy your country” (page 37 of the FBI report).
The FBI returned to search the premises of Urban Moving Systems a month later, but by that time found:
The building and all of its contents had been abandoned by…the owner of Urban Moving Systems. This [was] apparently being done to avoid criminal prosecution after the 09/11/2001 arrest of five of his employees and subsequent seizure of his office computer systems by members of the FBI-NK on or around 09/13/2001.”
The company’s owner — Dominik Otto Suter, an Israeli citizen — had fled to Israel on September 14, 2001, two days after he had been questioned by the FBI. The FBI told ABC News that “Urban Moving may have been providing cover for an Israeli intelligence operation.” Surprisingly, since at least 2016, Suter has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he works for a contractor for major tech companies like Google and Microsoft. According to the public records database Intelius, in 2006 and 2007 Suter also worked for a telecommunications company — Granite Telecommunications — that works for the U.S. military and several other U.S. government agencies.
In addition to Urban Moving Systems, another moving company, Classic International Movers, became of interest in connection with the investigation into the “Dancing Israelis,” which led to the arrest and detention of four Israeli nationals who worked for this separate moving company. The FBI’s Miami Division had alerted the Newark Division that Classic International Movers was believed to have been used by one of the 19 alleged 9/11 hijackers before the attack, and one of the “Dancing Israelis” had the number for Classic International Movers written in a notebook that was seized at the time of his arrest. The report further states that one of the Israelis of Classic International Movers who was arrested “was visibly disturbed by the Agents’ questioning regarding his personal email account.”
A crowded dance floor
While the case of the “Dancing Israelis” has long been treated as an outlier in the aftermath of September 11, what is often overlooked is the fact that hundreds of Israeli nationals were arrested in the aftermath of the attacks.
According to a FOX News report from December 2001, 60 Israelis were apprehended or detained after September 11, with most deported, and a total of 140 Israelis were arrested and detained in all of 2001 by federal authorities. That report claimed that the arrests, ostensibly including the “Dancing Israelis,” were in relation to an investigation of “an organized [Israeli] intelligence gathering operation designed to ‘penetrate government facilities.’”
The report also added that most of those arrested, in addition to having served in the IDF, had “intelligence expertise” and worked for Israeli companies that specialized in wiretapping. Some of those detained were also active members of the Israeli military; and several detainees, including the “Dancing Israelis,” had failed polygraph tests when asked if they had been surveilling the U.S. government.
A key aspect of that report, compiled by journalist Carl Cameron, also states that federal investigators widely suspected that Israeli intelligence had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks. In the report, Cameron stated:
The Israelis may have gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance and not shared it. A highly placed investigator said there are ‘tie-ins’ but when asked for details he flatly refused to describe them saying: ‘Evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I cannot tell you about the evidence that has been gathered. It is classified information.’”
One exchange between Cameron and host Brit Hume included in the report is particularly telling:
HUME: “Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge of what was going to happen on 9/11? How clear are investigators that some Israeli agents may have known something?”
CAMERON: “Well it’s very explosive information obviously and there is a great deal of evidence that they say they have collected. None of it necessarily conclusive. It’s more when they put it all together a big question they say is, ‘How could they have not known?’ — almost a direct quote, Brit.”
However, it is essential to note that Israeli intelligence did attempt to warn the U.S. government at least twice beginning in August 2001 as did the intelligence agencies of many other countries, including France, the UK, Egypt, Russia and Jordan. Yet, no people connected to any other intelligence agency other than Israel were caught celebrating the attacks as they took place in the area nor were accused by mainstream media of operating a large spy ring within the U.S. at the time. One theory to explain this discrepancy is that the Mossad elements of which the “Dancing Israelis” and other alleged Israeli spies could have been part of a specific section of Israeli intelligence that were acting independently as a rogue agency. Such a possibility is not unusual given that divisions of or groups within the CIA have been known to “go rogue” on several occasions.
9/11 as a big — and acknowledged — Israeli win
If the “Dancing Israelis”, and more broadly the Mossad and the Israeli government, had foreknowledge of September 11, why would they remain silent and not attempt to warn the American government or public of the coming attacks? In the case of the “Dancing Israelis,” why would Israelis celebrate such an attack?
One of the detained “Dancing Israelis,” Omer Marmari, told police the following about why he viewed the September 11 attacks in a positive light:
Israel now has hope that the world will now understand us. Americans are naïve and America is easy to get inside. There are not a lot of checks in America. And now America will be tougher about who gets into their country.”
While Marmari’s statement may suggest one reason some of the “Dancing Israelis” were so “visibly happy” in their photographs, there are also other statements made by top Israeli politicians that suggest why the Israeli government and its intelligence agency declined to act on apparent foreknowledge of the attack.
When asked, on the day of the 9/11 attacks, how the attacks would affect American-Israeli relations, Benjamin Netanyahu — the current Israeli prime minister — told the New York Times that “It’s very good,” before quickly adding “Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.” He then predicted, much as Marmari had, that the attacks would “strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we’ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.”
Netanyahu, in a candid conversation recorded in 2001, also echoed Marmari’s claim that Americans are naïve. In that recording, Netanyahu said:
I know what America is. America is something that can easily be moved. Moved to the right direction. … They won’t get in our way. They won’t get in our way… 80 percent of the Americans support us. It’s absurd.”
In addition, also on the day of the September 11 attacks, Netanyahu — who at the time was not in political office — held a press conference in which he claimed that he had predicted the attacks on the World Trade Center by “militant Islam” in his 1995 book, Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorism. In that book, Netanyahu had posited that Iranian-linked “militants” would set off a nuclear bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center.
During his press conference on the day of the attacks, Netanyahu also asserted that the 9/11 attacks would be a turning point for America and compared them to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Netanyahu’s statement echoes the infamous line from the “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” document authored by the neoconservative think tank, the Project for a New Ameican Century (PNAC). That line reads. “Further, the process of transformation [towards a neo-Reaganite foreign policy and hyper-militarism], even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor.”
Then again, years later In 2008, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Netanyahu had stated that the September 11 attacks had greatly benefited Israel. He was quoted as saying: “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq.”
Indeed, it goes without saying that the aftermath of 9/11 — which involved the U.S. leading a destructive effort throughout the Middle East — has indeed benefited Israel. Many of the U.S.’ post-9/11 “nation-building” efforts have notably mirrored the policy paper “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” which was authored by American neoconservatives — PNAC members among them — for Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister.
That document calls for the creation of a “New Middle East” by, among other things, “weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria” and “removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq — an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right.” As is known now, both of those main objectives have since come to pass, each with strong Israeli involvement.
Republished from MintPressNews.com under Creative Commons