Stephen Lendman

Activist Post

Fear-mongering is sinister. It’s reprehensible. It’s longstanding US policy. So are false flags.

Merriam-Webster calls them “deliberate gross distortion(s) of the truth used especially as a propaganda tactic.”

Wikipedia says they’re “covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities.”

Official reports hype Big Lies. MSM scoundrels regurgitate them. Truth is systematically buried. Deception substitutes for reality.

False flags are pretexts for militarism, wars, occupations, colonization, resource theft, and exploiting populations for profit. They facilitate ruthlessness. They foster police state repression against freedom.

Post-9/11, global war on terror lawlessness followed. It rages out-of-control. One country after another is ravaged, destroyed and pillaged.

No end of conflicts loom. Permanent war is official US policy.

Big Lies hype nonexistent threats. Regurgitated ad nauseam gets most people to believe them.

Obama, John Kerry and other top US officials lie. They do so repeatedly. They say ISIS/ISIL/IS intends attacking America. It poses a unique threat, they claim.

Homeland Security officials lied claiming “credible intelligence to suggest that there is an active plot by ISIL to attempt to cross the southern border” through Mexico.

John Kerry claims an “urgency to move on ISIL.” Chuck Hagel said it’s “beyond just a terrorist group.”

It’s “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group we have seen,” he says.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey calls IS a “trans-regional and global threat.”

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly compares IS to Hitler’s Nazis.

“The situation is almost identical to what happened in the 1930s, when Hitler and his Nazi thugs were gaining power,” he claims.

“There is no difference in the mentality of the Nazis and ISIS. They are identical in their hate and tactics.”

Hyperbole substitutes for reality. It’s US daily television fare. It’s fear-mongering writ large. It’s deadly deception. It ignores what everyone most needs to know.

IS a US creation. It’s used strategically as both ally and enemy.

US special forces and CIA operatives train, arm and direct its fighters in Jordan. Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are involved.

They’re sent cross border to Syria. They’re used to wage proxy war for regime change.

Big Lies conceal US policy. Its belligerence. Its objectives. Its lawless agenda.

Its longstanding war on humanity. Its quest for global dominance. Its willingness to risk world peace to achieve it.

How many previous times were so-called unique threats hyped? How often did US state terrorism follow?

How many premeditated wars? How much death, destruction and unspeakable human misery?

In late August 2013, John Kerry repeated Colin Powell’s infamous February 5, 2003 Security Council moment. It was shameless deception.

Plans were set. The die was cast. Weeks later, America bombed, invaded and occupied Iraq. The cradle of civilization was destroyed.

No WMDs existed. It was well-known. Powell knew. He lied claiming otherwise.

“(F)acts and Iraq’s behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

“(E)very statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are the facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”

“The gravity of this moment is matched by the gravity of the threat that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction pose to the world.”

None existed. Powell knew it. He lied. He suppressed vital truths. Doing so is longstanding US policy.

In September 2002, Bush national security advisor Condoleezza Rice claimed “no doubt that Saddam Hussein’s regime (posed) a danger to the United States and to its allies, to our interests.”

“(W)e have evidence, increasing evidence, that he continues his march toward weapons of mass destruction,” she said.

“(G)iven what we experienced on September 11, I don’t think anyone wants to wait for the 100% surety that (he’ll use them against America) because (we’ll only know for certain) when something lands on our territory.”

“We can’t afford to wait” for mushroom-shaped cloud certainty, Rice added.

No WMDs existed. No nuclear weapons program. No imminent mushroom-shaped cloud. No truth and full disclosure.

Big Lies substituted. Longstanding US policy features them. Willful deception facilitates planned imperial adventurism.

How much of a threat do Islamic militants pose? Does IS threaten America’s homeland?

It gets worse. On September 20, The New York Times hyped the latest Big Lie. It headlined “US Suspects More Direct Threats Beyond ISIS,” saying:

“(I)ntelligence and law enforcement officials said another Syrian group, led by a shadowy figure who was once among Osama bin Laden’s inner circle, posed a more direct threat to America and Europe.”

It’s called “Khorasan.” It “emerged in the past year” in Syria. It may plan striking “the United States or its installations overseas with a terror attack,” said The Times.

Unnamed officials say Muhsin al-Fadhli heads it. They called him “a senior Qaeda operative.”

“(H)e was among a small group of people who knew about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks before they were launched.”

Fact check:

A previous article called 9/11 the mother of all Big Lies. Myths drowned out reality.

Bin Laden had nothing to do with it. Or so-called “crazed Arabs.” It was well-planned state-sponsored terrorism.

It was used to wage premeditated imperial wars. They’re ongoing. More are planned.

All wars are based on lies. Truth would out reasons for waging them. It would prevent them.

It would further peace. It would sabotage America’s imperial ambitions.

Little is known about Khorasan, said The Times. Unnamed “intelligence, law enforcement and military officials (claim It’s) made up of Qaeda operatives from across the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.”

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper said “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.”

Other US officials warn it’s more sinister. It intends striking overseas, they claim. They do so with no verifiable evidence.

An anonymous senior US law enforcement official said:

What you have is a growing body of extremists from around the world who are coming in and taking advantage of the ungoverned areas and creating informal ad hoc groups that are not directly aligned with ISIS or Nusra.

In 2012, State Department officials said al-Fadhi heads Al Qaeda’s Iranian branch. He controls regional “movement of funds and operatives.”

He does so from his native Kuwait. He works with wealthy “jihadist donors.” He supports Syrian opposition fighters.

James Phillips is a right-wing Heritage Foundation senior research fellow. He writes extensively on Middle East issues and international terrorism.

He hypes threats ad nauseam. He’s a Committee on the Present Danger member. CPD members include a rogue’s gallery of right-wing extremists.

Former CIA head James Woolsey, former Secretary of State George Shultz, and former senators Joe Lieberman and Jon Kyle are co-chairmen.

CPD’s mission is winning “the war on terror.” It supports America’s permanent war policy.

Phillips claims Khorasan recruits “European and American Muslim militants that form part of the rebel coalition fighting Syria’s Assad regime.”

“It hopes to train and deploy these groups, who hold American and European passports, for attacks against Western targets.”

He calls Khorasan Al Qaeda’s new arm against America. It’s allied with Al Nusra in Syria, says Phillips.

It conducts terrorist attacks abroad, he claims. It works with prominent Al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, he says.

It intends supplying bombs to US and other foreign jihadists returning home, he maintains.

He provides no verifiable evidence backing his claims. It’s hard separating facts from fiction.

CPD has “one goal,” it says: “to stiffen American resolve to confront the challenge presented by terrorism and the ideologies that drive it.”

It hypes what it calls “the new ‘present danger’ – militant Islamism and the terrorism (it) spawn(s).”

“(M)ilitant Islamists seek to bend the world to their vision.”

“They are eager to attack – indeed, to kill – anyone who stands in their way.”

“In the face of this global threat, which transcends state borders and recognizes no law, complacency and ignorance are as dangerous as military weakness.”

CPD partners with like-minded groups. It promotes war. It deplores peace. It hypes threats.

It wants US interests defended at all costs. At the expense of all others.

Its ideologically over-the-top. It promotes conflicts and instability. It threatens world peace.

Its members include over 100 former right-wing White House officials, congressional members, cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and others.

Their mission is hyping threats. It’s fear-mongering. It’s creating enemies where none exist.

It’s promoting permanent wars on humanity. It’s going all-out to prevent peace and stability.

It’s up to ordinary people to challenge them. It’s exposing their dark side ideology.

Another world is possible with commitment. With unity. With solidarity. With participatory democracy. With social, economic and political justice.

With resisting capital’s divine right. With respecting fundamental freedoms. With popular struggles to protect them.

With supporting right over wrong. With government of, by and for everyone equitably and fairly. With ending imperial wars before they end us.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected] His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/