Proof that big things can, indeed, come in small packages is Nick Turse’s impactful volume The Complex: How The Military Invades Our Everyday Lives.
Clearly written, brief and to the point, yet altogether revelatory, the book details the many ways in which what President Eisenhower termed “the military-complex” has come to dominate everyday life in the U.S. to an extent unrealized by even relatively aware citizens.
Continuing with the introduction to this remarkable tome, we read the concluding proportion of the program, in which the author compares the pervasive influence of the “Complex” to the popular science fiction movie The Matrix.
Further developing Turse’s comparison of the Pentagon to The Matrix, we highlight part of his conclusion to the introduction: “. . . . The high level of military-civilian interpenetration in a heavily consumer-driven society means that almost every American . . . is, at least passively, supporting the Complex every time he or she shops for groceries, sends a package, drives a car, or watches TV—let alone eats a barbecue in Memphis or buys Christian books in Hattiesburg. And what choice do you have? What other computer would you buy? Or cereal? Or boots? . . . .”
The remarkable profligacy of Pentagon spending is exacerbated by the fact that DoD has avoided audits! “. . . . Given such expenditures, it’s hardly surprising to find out that the Department of Defense has never actually undergone a financial audit. Speaking in 2006, Senator Tom Coburn (R‑Oklahoma) made special note of the DoD’s ‘inability to produce auditable financial statements’:
‘In other words, they can’t undergo an audit, much less pass one. If DoD were a privately-owned company, it would have been bankrupt long ago. In 2004, the Department set the goal of undergoing a full audit by 2007. That deadline has not been met, and in fact, has been moved to the year 2016 . . . . Americans are being asked to wait a full 10 years before their dollars are tracked well enough for the Department to fail an audit. And that seems to be the new objective of financial managers at Dod—to get to a place where DoD fan actually fail an audit. Passing the audit is a pipedream for some future date beyond 2016.’ . . .”
Some examples of stunningly exorbitant spending by DoD are chronicled by Turse, topped off by disclosure that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root charged the taxpayers for 10,000 meals a day. allegedly served to troops (ahem) serving overseas: ” . . . . Similarly, in 2007, it came to light that during the previous year the Pentagon paid another defense contractor “$998, 798 in transportation costs for shipping two 19-cent washers.” This was in addition to, according to the Washington Post, a “2004 order for a single $8.75 elbow pipe that was shipped for $445,640 . . . a $10.99 machine thread plug was shipped for $492,096 . . . [and] six machine screws worth a total of $59.94 were shipped at a cost of $403,463,” in 2005. The piece de resistance, [a wonderful pun—D.E.] however, was found in the testimony of the former food production manager at Halliburton’s subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), who told congresspersons that Halliburton charged the Department of Defense for as many as ten thousand meals a day it never served. . . .”
Program Highlights Include: Discussion of the profound links between DoD and academia; the enormous fuel and fossil fuel consumption of the Pentagon; the military’s role as the world’s largest individual landlord, including the acquisition of many inhabited islands, often in contravention of international law.
The program begins with material overlapped from our previous program, delineating U.S. government protection of Jihadist elements, in order that they could be used as proxy warriors in ongoing covert operations.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: The FBI’s limiting of the investigation of the assassination of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane; the fact that the limiting of that investigation permitted Ali Mohamed, Mahmoud Aboulihama and Mohammed Salameh to participate in future terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1998 Nairobi Embassy bombing; the FBI’s blaming of the attenuation of the investigation of the Kahane murder on New York DA Robert Morgenthau; Morgenthau’s previous investigation of the CIA-linked BCCI; the FBI’s shielding of Army Special Forces operative Ali Mohamed in the1993 World Trade Center bombing; the FBI’s shielding of Mohamed in the 1995 “Landmarks Case”—the plot to blow up the United Nations, the George Washington Bridge and both the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels; the probability that Mohamed’s utility as a trainer of mujahadeen for covert operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia and parts of the former Soviet Union was the cause of his inviolability.
The next section of the program presents information about the genesis of Ali Mohamed as a U.S. agent and trainer of mujahadeen.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: Zbigniew Brzezinski’s creation of the mujahadeen training and recruitment organization at the outset of the Afghan war against the Soviet Union; the training of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s elite personal guard (of which Ali Mohamed was a member) by J.J. Capucci and Associates, headed by “ex” CIA-agent Edwin Wilson and Theodore Shackley; the handing over of the training of Sadat’s guard to the CIA following Brzezinski’s visit to Egypt in 1980; Ali Mohamed’s training at Fort Bragg in the U.S. by Special Forces; Mohamed’s networking with and allegiance to both Sheikh Rahman (involved with the Al-Kifah Center mujahadeen effort, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Landmarks case) and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man and eventual successor.
Next, we dolly back and examine the continued domestic and foreign operations of the Al-Kifah Center milieu, including operations involving drug trafficking and other criminal activity, support for the Al-Kifah Center by Saudi Arabia and the Center’s involvement in covert operations in Xinjiang Province in China, Chechnya in Russia, Uzbekistan and other former parts of the Soviet Union and the Balkans.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: The transition of Ali Mohamed’s mujahadeen-training program from sending fighters to Afghanistan to sending fighters to Bosnia; the Saudi government’s partial financing of Sheikh Rahman’s defense fund (Rahman was indicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing); Al-Kifah trainees’ participation in covert operations in Chechnya, Tajikistan and fighting alongside the Uighurs in Xinjiang province; Al-Qaeda’s alliance with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; the Al-Qaeda/IMU use of heroin trafficking to finance combat and terror operations; the 9/11 Commission Report’s dismissal of the verifiable fact that Al-Qaeda helped finance its operations with the Afghan drug trade; the Al-Kifah Center milieu’s involvement in the drug trade, as well as arson-for-hire and counterfeiting; Mujahid Abdulqaadir Menepta, a Muslim suspect in both the 9/11 case and the Oklahoma City bombing; Menepta’s alleged involvement in organized crime and drug trafficking; the Al-Kifah Center’s joint operations with the Saudis; Sphinx Trading’s link to the Al-Kifah operation; the protection of Sphinx Trading even after 9/11.
Fleshing out the jihadist milieu, we note bin Laden relatives and their involvement in Al-Qaeda fronts and the cover-up of their activities by the Deep State milieu.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and its links to mujahadeen and terrorism; Abdullah bin Laden’s leadership of the WAMY; Abdullah bin Laden’s evacuation by jet along with other Saudis and members of the bin Laden family after 9/11; the Golden Chain letter discovered in the IIRO office in Bosnia, containing the names of key Al-Qaeda financiers; the presence in the “Golden Chain’ of Khalid bin Mahfouz, the top banker in Saudi Arabia; the IIRO’s founding by Jamal Kalifa, Osama bin Laden’s nephew.
The last part of our program reviews two elements presented in FTR#1181.
In the trial of Ramzi Yousef, a lay-out of the terror scenario that became the 9/11 attacks was on Yousef’s laptop, yet was never brought to light.
Likewise, the name of Khalid Shaikh Mohamed–dubbed the mastermind of the 9/11 and currently the focal point of ongoing legal proceedings–was all but omitted from Yousef’s trial, despite his participation in the aborted “Operation Bojinka” plot to blow up a number of airliners over the Pacific.
In our series, we note the exclusion of key participants in the murder of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, which permitted co-conspirators to participate in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 and Nairobi U.S. Embassy bombings in 1998.
Among the probable motives for these key, deadly omissions is the use of these Al-Qaeda, Muslim-Brotherhood derived terrorist elements as proxy warriors in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Uzbekistan.
We conclude by reviewing how cynical the Deep State can be, acting with a complete disregard for American combat military personnel.
With President Biden having announced the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan, we contemplate the events that led to that involvement, especially terrorist incidents culminating in the 9/11 attack.
We rely on research done by the brilliant, venerable Peter Dale Scott.
We begin by noting how cynical the Deep State can be, acting with a complete disregard for American combat military personnel: ” . . . . Just how subordinated official policy could become to deep state needs was demonstrated in November 2001, when Cheney, at the request of [Pakistan’s head of state] Musharraf and the ISI [Pakistan’s primary intelligence service], approved secret airlifts to ferry surrounded Pakistani and high-level al-Qaeda fighters out of Afghanistan, to safety in Pakistan. . . .”
In the trial of Ramzi Yousef, a lay-out of the terror scenario that became the 9/11 attacks was on Yousef’s laptop, yet was never brought to light.
Likewise, the name of Khalid Shaikh Mohamed–dubbed the mastermind of the 9/11 and currently the focal point of ongoing legal proceedings–was all but omitted from Yousef’s trial, despite his participation in the aborted “Operation Bojinka” plot to blow up a number of airliners over the Pacific.
In our series, we note the exclusion of key participants in the murder of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, which permitted co-conspirators to participate in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 and Nairobi U.S. Embassy bombings in 1998.
Among the probable motives for these key, deadly omissions is the use of these Al-Qaeda, Muslim-Brotherhood derived terrorist elements as proxy warriors in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Uzbekistan.
“. . . . In Triple Cross, Peter Lance, who does not mention KSM’s escape from Qatar, focuses instead on the way that, later in the same year, U.S. federal prosecutors kept his name out of the trial of Ramzi Yousef in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing: “Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mike Garcia and Dietrich Snell presented a riveting, evidence-driven case . . . and characterized the material retrieved from Ramzi’s Toshiba laptop as ‘the most devastating evidence of all. . . .’ . . . While Yousef’s laptop . . . contained the full details of the plot later executed on 9/11, not a word of that scenario was mentioned during trial . . . . Most surprising, during the entire summer-long trial, the name of the fourth Bojinka conspirator, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed . . . . was mentioned by name only once, in reference to a letter found in [Yousef’s apartment] . . . .”
Illustrating the machinations of what Professor Scott terms “The American Deep State” are the interactions between Big Oil, Sullivan & Cromwell, the Dulles brothers and the Eisenhower administration to destabilize the Mossadeq regime in Iran.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: A letter written by Sullivan & Cromwell attorney John Foster Dulles in the 1930s to a British colleague, celebrating cartels and the triumph of international businessmen in overcoming barriers to geopolitical maneuvering erected by “nationalist” politicians; collaboration by the “Seven Sisters” of Big Oil (Standard Oil of New Jersey [now Exxon], Standard Oil of New York [now Mobil], Standard Oil of California [now Chevron], Gulf Oil, Texaco, Royal Dutch Shell and Anglo-Iranian [now BP] in controlling the international oil business; a cooperative effort by the Seven Sisters to successfully reduce Iranian oil production from 241 million barrels a year in 1950 to 10.6 million barrels a year in 1952 in order to destabilize premier Mossadeq; Professor Scott’s point that the CIA’s overthrow of Mossadeq in 1953 represented a “Deep State” realization of the goal of the oil cartel; the role of ARAMCO in the strangling of Iranian oil production, offsetting the drop in Iranian production by increasing its own; change of a Justice Department suit against Big Oil from a criminal proceeding to a civil suit prosecuted by the Department of State; the predictable resolution of that suit in favor of big oil; the fact that the oil cartel was represented in that suit by Sullivan & Cromwell and John Foster Dulles was in charge of the State Department; the fact that John Foster Dulles’ brother and Sullivan & Cromwell associate Allen was in charge of the CIA at the same time and oversaw the removal of Mossadeq; Allen Dulles’ successful gambit to sidestep President Eisenhower by securing British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan as an executive authority to dispatch U‑2 flights..
The program concludes with delineation of U.S. government protection of Jihadist elements so that they could be used as proxy warriors in ongoing covert operations.
Key Points of Discussion and Analysis Include: U.S. government protection for Ali Mohamed, an al-Qaeda operative who doubled as a Special Forces operative training mujahadeen for combat operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya among other places; FBI agent John Zent’s communication to the RCMP in Vancouver, leading to Mohamed’s release from custody; Mohamed’s training of mujahadeen at the Al-Kifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn; the assassination of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane by trainees of Mohamed’s including El Sayyid Nosair; the FBI and New York Police Department’s cover-up of the participation in the Kahane killing of Nosair/Mohamed associates; the eventual participation of some of those associates in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the FBI’s sabotage of New York County District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s attempts to widen the investigation of the Al-Kifah milieu; the central role of Ali Mohamed’s Al-Kifah trainees in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
In a series of programs we are recording, we highlight the vital research of the brilliant, venerable Berkeley researcher Peter Dale Scott, who has chronicled the shocking behavior of elements of our government, covering up the involvement in terrorist incidents of individuals and institutions that, if properly pursued, could have prevented the 9/11 attacks–the event that precipitated our entry into that conflict. “. . . . In Triple Cross, Peter Lance, who does not mention [9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s] escape from Qatar, focuses instead on the way that, later in the same year, U.S. federal prosecutors kept his name out of the trial of Ramzi Yousef in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing: ‘Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mike Garcia and Dietrich Snell presented a riveting, evidence-driven case . . . and characterized the material retrieved from Ramzi’s Toshiba laptop as ‘the most devastating evidence of all. . . .’ . . . While Yousef’s laptop . . . contained the full details of the plot later executed on 9/11, not a word of that scenario was mentioned during trial . . . . Most surprising, during the entire summer-long trial, the name of the fourth Bojinka conspirator, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed . . . . was mentioned by name only once, in reference to a letter found in [Yousef’s apartment] . . . .”
We have covered the debacle of U.S. policy in Afghanistan in FTR#‘s 678, 680, 683 and 685. High-ranking military officers expressed their dissatisfaction with Afghan policy in a “Washington Post” story. As Biden pivots from “Forever War,” as epitomized by the war in Afghanistan, to what may very well be World War III, in support of the OUN/B‑dominated national security apparatus of contemporary Ukraine, it is worth contemplating the stunning lack of regard the “Deep State” in this country has for its men and women in uniform. ” . . . . . . . . Just how subordinated official policy could become to deep state needs was demonstrated in November 2001, when Cheney, at the request of [Pakistan’s head of state] Musharraf and the ISI [Pakistan’s primary intelligence service], approved secret airlifts to ferry surrounded Pakistani and high-level al-Qaeda fighters out of Afghanistan, to safety in Pakistan. . . .”
Analyzing the role of networks originally set up to perpetuate and sustain government in the event of nuclear war, this program highlights the role of Continuity of Government (COG) elements in a number of domestic and/or illegal covert operations. With its own communications network, the COG has proved an effective vehicle for sidestepping normal operational channels in order to realize nefarious aims. The COG-related networks and individuals have figured prominently in aspects of the JFK assassination, Watergate, the October Surprise, the Iran-Contra scandal and events pursuant to the 9/11 attacks. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are two of the prominent figures in the COG networks and have been present in the Nixon/Ford, Reagan/Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
The activities of Eddie the Friendly Spook make no sense in the context of civil liberties. They make a great deal of sense in terms of the destabilization of the Obama administration, the NSA and the GCHQ. Snowden may have taken up to 1.7 million documents, including information that could permit a malefactor to successfully evade NSA scrutiny. Snowden’s activities may lead to nullification of the NSA plans to defend against cyberterrorism.
Among the reasons why we view the proposed Syrian military adventure with the most jaundiced of eyes concerns the fact that none other than Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia (shown at right) is the single most important coordinator of aid to the rebels. Nicknamed “Bandar Bush,” because he is so close to the Bush family, Bandar Bush was deeply involved in the push for the invasion of Iraq, which is a damned poor recommendation for taking military action in Syria. Bandar Bush been involved in some of the dirtiest operations of the last quarter century, including the Iran-Contra affair and 9/11.
Decades of Bush family intrigue culminates in Dubya’s eight year debacle; disasters overtaking the US are the inevitable outgrowth of Bush’s corporatist philosophy and corrupt administrative practice.
Poppy Bush tabbed by Gerald Ford to head CIA as Kennedy assassination investigations proceed; Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove and Paul Wolfowitz launch their careers courtesy of Poppy and Gerald Ford in same time period.
Recent Comments