Recursive Unfolding

The Pentagon's "Second 911"

"Another [9/11] attack could create both a justification and an opportunity to retaliate against some known targets"

by Michel Chossudovsky

In the month following last year's 7/7 London bombings, Vice President Dick Cheney is reported to have instructed USSTRATCOM to draw up a contingency plan "to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States". Implied in the contingency plan is the certainty that Iran would be behind a Second 9/11.

This "contingency plan" uses the pretext of a "Second 9/11", which has not yet happened, to prepare for a major military operation against Iran, while pressure was also exerted on Tehran in relation to its (non-existent) nuclear weapons program.

What is diabolical in this decision of the US Vice President is that the justification presented by Cheney to wage war on Iran rests on Iran's involvement in a hypothetical terrorist attack on America, which has not yet occurred:

The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections. [em. mine]

⋅ ⋅ ⋅
In April 2006, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld launched a far-reaching military plan to fight terrorism around the World, with a view to retaliating in the case of a second major terrorist attack on America.
⋅ ⋅ ⋅
This plan is predicated on the possibility of a Second 911 and the need to retaliate if and when the US is attacked:

"A third plan sets out how the military can both disrupt and respond to another major terrorist strike on the United States. It includes lengthy annexes that offer a menu of options for the military to retaliate quickly against specific terrorist groups, individuals or state sponsors depending on who is believed to be behind an attack. Another attack could create both a justification and an opportunity that is lacking today to retaliate against some known targets, according to current and former defense officials familiar with the plan.

This plan details "what terrorists or bad guys we would hit if the gloves came off. The gloves are not off," said one official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. (italics added...)

The presumption of this military document, is that a Second 911 attack "which is lacking today" would usefully create both a "justification and an opportunity" to wage war on "some known targets [Iran and Syria]".

The announcement on August 10 by the British Home Office of a foiled large scale terror attack to simultaneously blow up as many as ten airplanes, conveys the impression that it is the Western World rather than the Middle East which is under attack.

Realities are twisted upside down. The disinformation campaign has gone into full gear. The British and US media are increasingly pointing towards "preemptive war" as an act of "self defense" against Al Qaeda and the State sponsors of terrorism, who are allegedly preparing a Second 911. The underlying objective, through fear and intimidation, is ultimately to build public acceptance for the next stage of the Middle East "war on terrorism" which is directed against Syria and Iran.

Does anyone still harbor the delusion that America is a democracy?

Or are people starting to realize that there's been a hostile takeover (in the boardroom sense) of America by corporate insiders of the energy/intelligence/military sector?

Is it even conceivable that anyone can still believe that BushCo gives a fuck what anybody thinks?

It doesn't matter, really, I suppose. Reality is as reality is. Innocents get killed, criminals thrive, injustice triumphs, evil prevails — it's the way history plays out given man's evolutionary psychology. (And it's the way of Nature, too, for that matter — Nature knows nothing of Justice. "The true laws of Nature are crime and death." —Sade [more here]) BushCo will do whatever they do, and they will get away with it. The oblivious majority will continue to work crap jobs, watch crap TV, shop for crap & vote for more crap. Those few who see what's going on will have the privilege of watching the spectacle continue its recursive unfolding with some understanding, providing a bit of "value added" bitter entertainment like some kind of grotesque historical fractal pattern to be discussed while lunching at the pub.

BushCo's recent prank is already being deployed as a great reason to increase surveillance and police powers long planned for.

But though reality is as it is, we must nevertheless continue to see clearly while believing in the future, to have, as Gramsci put it, "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" — our humanity demands it.

But right now, the insanity currently unfolding is a juggernaut out of control. So hug your kids, smile at your neighbors, eat some good food, watch a funny movie. 'Cause the next act of the show may happen sooner than anyone thinks.

Tomorrow?