The Wall Street Journal today 12/1/2012 has an interesting article titled "Pentagon Lawyer Looks Post-Terror" by J. Barnes p. A9
[Excerpted] The Pentagon's top lawyer [Jeh Johnson] said that policy makers must look to a time when the US is no longer at war with al Quada and that taking on the remnants of the terrorist group would be a matter for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, not the military....
...Republicans argue such statements [as Rice's claim that the group has been decimated] underestimate the strength of the affiliated groups in North Africa and the Middle East....
Majia here: I strongly urge readers to watch Adam Curtis' series The Power of Nightmares to understand how the "war on terror" has been constructed and waged here
The "war on terror" essentially replaced the Soviet Union as the boogeyman that justifies US military-industrial-surveillance growth (e.g., see my article on the "unmanned system caucus" a.k.a. "drone caucus" here)
The "war on terror" also legitimizes US resource imperialism in the Middle East and Africa.
Finally, "the war on terror" has justified significant domestic infringements on civil liberties, in the forms of the Patriot Act and the National Defenese Authorization Act, which essentially ends habeas corpus in America.
In 2011 Reuters warned that "Secret panel can put Americans on "kill list'
NDAA Indefinite Detention Provision Back in Effect By Josh Gerstein, Politico 03 October 12
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13779-ndaa-indefinite-detention-provision-back-in-effect
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/13779-ndaa-indefinite-detention-provision-back-in-effect
Majia here: The war on terror is a very convenient pretext. I don't see it ending any time soon. It could have been waged using law enforcement and intelligence agencies from the very beginning. It was not because the war on terror is a convenient fiction that justifies the expansion of the US garrison state.
The war on terror produces the enemies it fights, primarily by killing civilians in drone attacks.
Nov 05, 2012
Op-Ed
Contributor: The Permanent Militarization of America By AARON B.
O'CONNELL Published: November 4, 2012. Aaron B. O'Connell, an assistant
professor of history at the United States Naval Academy and a Marine ...
Jan 21, 2012
Transformation
of American society into a “garrison state” (
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/us-as-garrison-state-educating-for.html)
is ongoing and serves the interests of private corporations over the
general interest of ...
Oct 19, 2012
Transformation
of American society into a “garrison state” (
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/us-as-garrison-state-educating-for.html)
is ongoing and serves the interests of private corporations over the
general interest of ...
Oct 16, 2011
The
ubiquitous presence of the the state's repressive apparatuses
demonstrates our degradation into a "garrison state" The garrison state
is a result of government by and for the military - industrial complex.
While much has ...
Jul 06, 2012
Jul 08, 2012
RELATED
POSTS Drone Makers and their Friends
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/kpbs-drone-makers-and-their-friends-in.html.
Forging the American Garrison State by Privatizing the State's
Repressive Apparatuses ...
Apr 22, 2012
Transformation
of American society into a “garrison state” subject to ceaseless,
ubiquitous, internal policing as well as never ending warfare, serves
the interests of elite individuals and organizations over the general
interest of ...
Oct 25, 2011
China
has played the global game of imperialism using their financial
influence rather than military might. The US is a garrison state that
relies extensively on military might to conquer and control. Japan's
previous PM wasn't a ...
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/drone-warfare-arms-race-escalates.html.
On the US as a Garrison State
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/us-as-garrison-state-educating-for.html.
Forging the American Garrison ...
May 30, 2012
Forging
the American Garrison State by Privatizing the State's Repressive
Apparatuses
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/forging-american-garrison-state-by.html.
Fundamental Right of Habeas Corpus Discarded ...
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