\t\t\t\tSo
\nwhat is it about the \u2018war on terror\u2019\u2014a phrase just as idiotic
\nas the \u2018war on drugs\u2019\u2014what is it about our newfound war that
\nhas a funny smell to it? It is this: history proves that when great
\npowers employ the murderous, illegal tactics of the terrorists that
\nthose great powers eventually lose legitimacy and therefore lose
\ntheir power, and fade or crumble.<\/p>\n
In
\nour anger, vehemence and warrior spirit there is always the
\ntemptation to \u2018do as the terrorists do\u2019: engaging in torture;
\ndeliberately killing innocent civilians. These are the dangers of
\nfighting terrorists: that we become terrorists ourselves. History
\nis full of the ashes of great powers who lost their legitimacy
\nthrough exactly these ways.<\/p>\n
And
\nour new enemy\u2014terrorists\u2014is a profitable one. <\/p>\n
The
\nWashington Post did an expose on the mega-industries that have sprung
\nup around the so-called \u2018war-on-terror\u2019. Like shouting \u2018fire\u2019
\nin a crowded theatre, Big Brother has learned that shouting
\n\u2018terrorist\u2019 causes the American people to let go of their
\ncritical faculties and open their wallets no matter how ridiculous
\nthe amount. And the amounts in the so-called \u2018war on terror\u2019 are
\ntruly gargantuan\u2014in the hundreds of billions of dollars with much
\nof it going to over-complicated, unnecessary agencies, companies,
\nfiefdoms, and technology all of which duplicates what the others are
\ndoing without even knowing what the others are doing–all of which
\nhas done little more than confuse and confound any chance at a
\ncoherent, thoughtful approach to dealing with failed states and
\nterrorists. <\/p>\n
a
\nfew essential facts from the articles:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026in a series of three *\u201d Some 1,271 *\u201d An estimated *\u201d In Washington and * \u201cMany security and * \u201cAnalysts who make \u201cBeyond the numbing Posted by: Harrell Graham So what is it about the \u2018war on terror\u2019\u2014a phrase just as idiotic as the \u2018war on drugs\u2019\u2014what is it about our newfound war that has a funny smell to it? It is this: history proves that when great powers employ the murderous, illegal tactics of the terrorists that those great powers eventually lose legitimacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\narticles totalling some thirteen thousand words, the paper explored
\nthe immense national-security industry created since 9\/11\u2014a
\nbureaucratic behemoth, substantially privatized but awash in public
\nmoney, that \u201chas become so large, so unwieldy, and so secretive\u201d
\nthat it \u201camounts to an alternative geography of the United States,
\na Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough
\noversight.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\ngovernment organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs
\nrelated to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in
\nabout 10,000 locations across the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in
\nWashington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nthe surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret
\nintelligence work are under construction or have been built since
\nSeptember 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three
\nPentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings\u2014about 17 million square feet
\nof space.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nintelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and
\nwaste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands,
\noperating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from
\nterrorist networks.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nsense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic
\nspying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports
\neach year\u2014a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nnumbers, the <\/em>Post<\/em>
\ndescribes a vast archipelago of gleaming new office parks,
\nconcentrated in the Washington suburbs but also scattered throughout
\nthe country, protected by high fences and armed security guards,
\nbland-looking but inaccessible, and filled with command centers,
\ninternal television networks, video walls, armored S.U.V.s, and inner
\nsanctums called SCIFs, short for \u201csensitive compartmented
\ninformation facilities.\u201d How much of this\u2014\u201cthe bling of
\nnational security,\u201d the <\/em>Post<\/em>
\ncalls it\u2014is necessary or even useful may be doubted, but it is
\nundeniably expensive. Much of it is there because the taxpayer cash
\nto buy it is there\u2014an unending, ever-growing, BP-worthy fiscal
\nblowout that, beginning just after 9\/11 and continuing to this day,
\nflooded the agencies with \u201cmore money than they were capable of
\nresponsibly spending,\u201d the <\/em>Post<\/em>
\nwrites. \u201cThey\u2019ve got the penis envy thing going,\u201d a contractor
\nwhose business specializes in building SCIFs says. \u201cYou can\u2019t be
\na big boy unless you\u2019re a three-letter agency and you have a big
\nSCIF.\u201d<\/em>
\nhttp:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/talk\/comment\/2010\/08\/02\/100802taco_talk_hertzberg<\/a><\/p>\n
\nViews: 4375
\nTopic:14\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"