Another thinker enters the fray...

Kudos Thoughtful for another well thought out and easily understandable post in the 'Open message to Obama' thread.  Penn,...it's a good feeling isn't it?  Of course I have my own thoughts on many of the topics raised in both of your posts.  They're not on-topic so I've chosen to open this 'Off-Topic' thread so I'll feel less restricted.    

Note:  Both posts point out a unspecified time period of between 50 (Thoughtful) and 60 (Penn) years ago when our country's foriegn policy seemed to take a turn for the worse.  Somewhere between 1951 and 1961,... I would be more specific by guessing 63 years ago and leave it for the curious to try to determine why I picked that year.

Also, I think it's important to keep in mind that about 4$ trillion of taxes were given to the Pentagon to fight the Cold War (easily ten times that amount in todays dollars...the US Dollar has been steadily losing it's actual worth for a long, long time).  With the collapse of the Soviet Union the Pentagon was suddenly without an 'enemy.'  At the time there was talk among some ignorant politicians about finally enjoying a 'peace dividend.'  Since less money was needed by the War Department, US citizens could be taxed less, and our infrastructure needs could finally be addressed.  There was even talk of disbanding NATO... HAHAHAHA!!!!  Less tax monies for the Pentagon?  It's getting five times what it did during the Cold War!  Disband NATO?  More countries than ever are now members!

Just a short time after the Soviet Union broke up, we experienced the first major terrorist attack in our nation's history with the first bombing of the WTC complex.  Wow!  The government and it's lapdog media quickly focused on a blind, radical, mid-Eastern, Muslim Imam in NYC and his cell of Islamofascists, who wanted to 'kill all the infidels.'

Now, before I offer what I believe to be what really happened, I should respond a point made by Thoughtful regarding Korea and Vietnam.  The aggression of the northern Korean troops against the southern part of Korea did not in any way threaten our national security.  Our involvement in defending southern Koreans was a response to a UN call for assistance.  Was this only the beginning of the US deciding to be the policemen of the world?  Or a first step on the road to empire?  Whatever the 'real' motive, this military action went clearly against what the Father of our coutry advised in his Farewell Speech.  Our action in Vietnam was predicated on the basis of reports that two of our naval ships had been fired upon in the Gulf of Tonkin.  We now know that these reports were lies, as were the facts and figures given to the American public regarding our troops 'progress' during that conflict.  Notice the trend?  America's leaders, knowing that American blood will be spilled, will lie in order to put fear in our hearts, knowing that we will freely offer our blood and treasure (and freedoms and rights) if only our government will 'protect' us from harm.  Other wars have been started with lies and the maxim that, 'Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it,' rings as true as ever.  With the 'defeat' of the Red Menace, the Pentagon was desperate for a 'new' enemy.  What better enemy is there than one who isn't 'identifiable' by a uniform, or based in any 'one' country?  One who's idealogy is foreign to the vast majority of American taxpayers?  All they 'know' about this 'new enemy' is what they are told by the controlled media.  They 'know' we were attacked by Muslim terrorists.

Of course for all of the reasons that Penn listed, and many more, as evidence that the 9-11 attacks were an 'inside job,' any 'thinking' person would only need fifteen minutes on the internet to 'know' that we've been lied to again.  And the aftermath of 9-11 brought more American blood spilled, the federal government has doubled in size, the Pentagon reaps an amount of tax dollars that couldn't even been imagined 63 years ago, much less considered.  When a detective investigates a murder, one of his first questions is, 'Who benefits?'  So, who benefitted the most from the '93 and '01 attacks on the WTC?  Think about it...think about it long and hard.  Think about bin Laden's response to the '01 attacks in the first video afterwards (the only video of him not proven to be a manufactured hoax).  He claimed that he had nothing to do with it and that a true Muslim would not harm innocent civilians.

Anyone remember what Bush promised the American people and the world less than a week after 9-11?  That he would provide hard evidence, the 'smoking gun,' that bin Laden was directly responsible for those attacks.  When he demanded that the Taliban arrest bin Laden and turn him over to US authorities, the Taliban said that bin Laden was insisting on his innocence, but if you show us the proof, the 'smoking gun,' we will do as you ask.  There was no proof, no 'smoking gun' to show the Taliban, the American public, or the world...because it was all a lie.  Imagine that.

Even more interesting was a report on '60 Minutes' about a meeting in Houston between Taliban leaders with Cheney and various corporate oil big shots.  The American 'side' had plans to build a gas/oil pipeline across Afghanistan and offered the Taliban a 'deal.'  Evidently the Taliban didn't like the deal and went back home.  Six months later they were on the run.  Coincidence?  Sure...

About a year after the attacks, Bush was recorded on two separate occasions in front of adoring crowds explaining his reaction that fateful morning on 9-11.  He stated that, as he waited in the school hall to make his entrance, he noticed on a TV the video of the first jet hitting the WTC.  He gave a smirk to both crowds and said that he thought to himself, 'Man, that was some bad pilot.'  He laughed, the crowds laughed.  Then he went on to explain that he went into the classroom and listened to the kids read.  Fifteen minutes later his 'Adviser' Andrew Card whispered in his ear that a second plane had hit the WTC, adding that, 'The US is under attack.'  The problem with Bush's tale is that the video of the first plane hitting the WTC wasn't discovered until the next day when a French TV crew that was recording a documentary on the NYFD filmed it by accident and turned it over to US authorities on 9-12-01.  Oops!

Okay, the 'first' bombing of the WTC...(raise your hands if you already knew this).  The FBI was aware of  the blind imam's 'cell,' and had been monitoring it's activities.  They decided to target him by arranging a sting operation that involved paying an Egyptian ex-Army officer to infiltrate the cell, propose and help carry out a plot to bomb the WTC.  Conversations between the Egyptian and the imam were recorded when the imam finally agreed to the plot.  What the FBI didn't know was that the Egyptian kept his own log of phone calls between himself and his FBI handlers.  The FBI provided the plan, the chemicals for the bomb, the triggering device, even a specific parking spot next to a supporting beam that the van should be parked next to for maximum damage.  As the sting proceeded, the Egyptian asked the FBI more than once if this was bomb was bogus or for real.  The FBI told him that a 'harmless powder' would be substituted for the lethal chemical mixture  The only mistake was that the driver of the van did not park next to a supporting beam as instructed, or the damage would have been ten, or more, times worse.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2006/081206_b_Foreknowledge...
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/wtcbomb.html

For research on the neocon agenda, a knowledge of the 'Project for a New American Century' is critical.  I suggest these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sg_NRC8ozk - short video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxz06SwfnlU - another short video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3776750618788792499 - longer (1 1/2 hrs.) and more detailed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#.22New...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#Signat...

And for truthseekers of every stripe, especially veterans, please read the truth, as perceived by Brig. General Smedley Butler (Marines) and offered in 1935 to the American public.  Gen. Butler was the most highly awarded veteran at the time and relates how he is different but the same as Al Capone.  The title of his essay is, 'War is a Racket.'

http://www.archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket#page/n0/mode/2up

or: http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

Finally, I offer this inspiring video of an American ex-Iraqi veteran on what he has learned:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=akm3nYN8aG8#at=180

If the link doesn't work go to YouTube and type in: Amazing speech by war veteran