Originally posted by Smell The Roses
reply to post by Rising Against
I just got the U2U notification. After I watch the video I will try and make some sense of it, and outline the "unanswered questions" to those
outside US/Canada, unless someone beats me to it
I had the same idea but if your take is different than mine go ahead and post yours
too.
The thing that I've always been outraged about is the patriot act not expiring when it was supposed to expire, they keep extending the damn thing, so
my notes are a little bit biased with more detail about that. The rest is interesting but not really that convincing to me.
My notes taken while viewing:
1 To what extent should airlines have been prepared?
9/11 was sort of a repeat of a 1970 hijacking. So they should have known planes can be hijacked.
2. What did the Bush administration know?
The previous year, drills were done for crashing a plane into the Pentagon, so they can't say they never thought something like that might happen.
3. Why wasn't the US military able to intercept the hijacked planes?
It took 30 minutes to scramble planes, should have only taken 10 minutes
4. How did the administration respond to the failures of the military and intelligence agencies?
Instead of being demoted, General Myers was promoted to chief of staff after the failure.
5. What ties, if any, did the US Govt and intelligence agencies have with the terrorists or their supporters?
They claim that al-qaeda is being used as an intelligence resource even though it's not pro-American.
The FBI confirmed that Pakistan's General Ahmad had authorized a $100,000 wire transfer to Mohammed Atta, the terrorist ringleader. Ahmad was meeting
with Colin Powell and others in Washington so it looks suspicious.
6. Were there plans for a war in central Asia prior to 9/11?
The previous military adviser to former presidents wrote a book saying getting control of central Asia would be a good strategy.
7. Is there an underlying motive, besides the war on terror, for the US military presence in central Asia?
The video claims the US may be after the oil reserves.
8. Is there any historical evidence to suggest that the government may have used the 9/11 attacks to justify its war in central Asia?
Alex Jones says the US blew up its own ship to have an excuse for the Spanish American war. Refers to the Northwoods document, which calls for
shooting civilians, terrorizing cities, and blowing up ships.
9. How has the government's reaction to the terrorist attacks impacted the rule of law in the US?
John Judge researched civil liberties, says DOD FEMA and NSA have been running the country since 9/11.
10. How has recent legislation like the patriot act and homeland security bill affected the lives of American people?
It's patriotic to defend the constitution, and what the patriot act does is dismantle the constitution so it's named the opposite of what it really
is. It created a new crime called "domestic terrorism" with a definition of "activities that involve acts dangerous to human life, that violate the
laws of the US or any state and appear to be intended to influence the policy of the government by intimidation or coercion"
Intimidation and coercion are very mild words, for example, what about workers going on strike, is this a form of coercion?
Martin Luther King would have been a domestic terrorist under these broad definitions, it claims.
Sneak and peek provision- police can search your house without a warrant while you're not home.
Enemy combatants can be held indefinitely, no due process.
Homeland security act gives access to "...internet, library cards, bookstore records, medical records, school records, phone calls" which expanded
on that the patriot act did, no area of our lives is free from intrusion now.
11. What can we do?
People need to organize at the local level, to request repeal of the patriot act, etc.
[edit on 19-3-2010 by Arbitrageur]