{"id":106144,"date":"2014-01-15T07:46:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T07:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=df433748bd21ed7b111743e50af51480"},"modified":"2014-01-15T07:46:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T07:46:00","slug":"nsas-fake-war-on-terror-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/nsas-fake-war-on-terror-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NSA&#8217;s Fake War on Terror"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><b>NSA&#8217;s Fake War on Terror<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">A New America Foundation report suggests it. More on this below.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NSA spying is longstanding. It&#8217;s ongoing abroad and at home. It has nothing to do with national security. It&#8217;s unrelated to uncovering terrorist plots.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Homegrown ones virtually don&#8217;t exist. Alleged ones are hatched. They&#8217;re fake. Claiming dozens were foiled in time is false.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They&#8217;re Big Lies. Previous articles discussed dozens of innocent victims. They included:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">a fake shoe bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake underwear bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake Times Square bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">an earlier one there;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake shampoo bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake Al Qaeda woman planning fake mass casualty attacks on New York landmarks;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake Oregon bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake armed forces recruiting station bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake synagogue bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake Chicago Sears Tower bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake FBI and other building bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake National Guard, Fort Dix and Quantico marine base attackers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake 9\/11 bombers;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">fake Boston bombers; and&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">numerous others.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">At issue is generating fear. Washington&#8217;s fake war on terror needs public support. FBI operatives are involved.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Orchestrated stings are used. Innocent victims are entrapped. Familiar schemes repeat. 9\/11 is the Big Lie of our time. So is the fake war on terror.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Innocent victims languish in America&#8217;s gulag. NSA spying watches everyone. It&#8217;s unconstitutional. It&#8217;s for police state control. It&#8217;s &nbsp;ending privacy. It&#8217;s destroying freedom.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Global spying is espionage. It&#8217;s for political and economic advantage. It&#8217;s to be one up on foreign competitors. It&#8217;s for information used advantageously in trade, political, and military relations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">The New America Foundation (NAF) is an establishment organization. Bilderberg Group\/CIA-connected Google CEO Eric Schmidt chairs its board of directors.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Right-wing ideologue Anne-Marie Slaughter is president and CEO. NAF study co-author Peter Bergen is CNN&#8217;s national security analyst. His articles appear in establishment publications.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NAF&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newamerica.net\/sites\/newamerica.net\/files\/policydocs\/Bergen_NAF_NSA%20Surveillance_1.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">report is titled<\/span><\/a> &#8220;Do NSA&#8217;s Bulk Surveillance Programs Stop Terrorists?&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Two weeks after Edward Snowden&#8217;s first revelations were published, Obama lied saying:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but,&#8221; abroad as well.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NSA director General Keith Alexander repeated the lie claiming:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;information gathered from these programs provided the US government with critical leads to help prevent over 50 potential terrorist events in more than 20 countries around the world.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Mike Rogers (R. MI) said:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Fifty-four times (NSA spying) stopped and thwarted terrorist attacks both here and in Europe &#8211; saving real lives.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">False! According to NAF&#8217;s analysis, government contentions &#8220;about the role that NSA &#8216;bulk&#8217; surveillance of phone and email communications records has had in keeping the United States safe from terrorism shows that these claims are overblown and even misleading.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Mass NSA surveillance &#8220;had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">So-called evidence NSA claimed to uncover is easily gotten through conventional investigatory methods.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NAF analyzed 225 instances of alleged post-9\/11 terrorism. Only two involved NSA meta-data.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">None were legitimate. Alleged homegrown terrorism is fabricated. So are others abroad. They&#8217;re fake. NAF&#8217;s report didn&#8217;t explain. It said:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The overall problem for US counterterrorism officials is not that they need vaster amounts of information from the bulk surveillance programs, but that they don\u2019t sufficiently understand or widely share the information they already possess that was derived from conventional law enforcement and intelligence techniques.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On Friday, Obama will address so-called NSA reforms. Last month, his hand-picked advisory committee recommended minor changes. They&#8217;re too inconsequential to matter.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They legitimized lawless spying. They ignored what federal Judge Richard Leon called unconstitutional. They&#8217;re &#8220;almost Orwellian,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Expect Obama to rubber-stamp continuity. He&#8217;ll maintain business as usual. He&#8217;ll stress balancing civil liberties with protecting national security. He&#8217;ll lie claiming it.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He&#8217;ll legitimize what Electronic Frontier Foundation&#8217;s Kurt Opsahl called &#8220;heinous.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He&#8217;ll leave NSA&#8217;s worst lawlessness untouched. He&#8217;ll whitewash its crimes. He&#8217;ll lie claiming otherwise.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><span style=\"color: black;\">Last November, <\/span>the General Assembly addressed privacy rights in the digital age. Over 50 member states co-sponsored a resolution. It supports what&#8217;s too precious to lose.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On December 18, the 193-member body unanimously approved a resolution titled: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/ga\/search\/view_doc.asp?symbol=A\/C.3\/68\/L.45\/Rev.1\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">The Right to privacy in the digital age<\/span><\/a>.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It reaffirmed a fundamental human right. No one should be denied the right to privacy. No one should be lawlessly spied on.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the General Assembly&#8217;s resolution &#8220;one small step for privacy, one giant leap against surveillance.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Obama stacked his so-called Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies with longstanding Washington insiders.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">A previous article discussed them. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) head James Clapper supervised. He&#8217;s an acknowledged perjurer. He&#8217;s complicit in NSA crimes.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On December 12, Obama&#8217;s committee released its report. It&#8217;s titled &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/192387819\/NSA-review-board-s-report\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Liberty and Security in a Changing World<\/span><\/a>.&#8221; Its handpicked members included:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">former acting CIA head Michael Morell;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism Richard Clarke;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">former Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein; Francis Boyle calls him a neocon;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">Democrat party connected\/political advocacy group Center for American Progress member Peter Swire; and<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px;\">University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Forty recommendations were made. They stopped well short of what&#8217;s needed. They legitimized mass surveillance.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They ignored what&#8217;s most important. Constitutional issues were unaddressed. Mass surveillance is illegal. It&#8217;s unacceptable everywhere.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It&#8217;s unrelated to alleged terrorism. It&#8217;s police state ruthlessness writ large. It&#8217;s Obama&#8217;s war on freedom.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He promised no warrantless spying. Straightaway he authorized it. His explanation fell short and then some. He said:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;When I came into this office, I made two commitments that are more important than any commitment I made: number one to keep the American people safe, and number two to uphold the Constitution.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Americans are less safe than ever. Freedom is disappearing in plain sight. Obama&#8217;s done more to subvert constitutional law than any previous president.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He made freedom a four-letter word. He claimed:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;You can&#8217;t have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience.&#8221; &nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;We&#8217;re going to have to make some choices as a society. I think that on balance, we have established a process and a procedure that the American people should feel comfortable about.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He lied saying mass surveillance &#8220;help(s) prevent terrorist attacks.&#8221; None whatever exist.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He lied again calling NSA spying &#8220;modest encroachments on privacy.&#8221; It&#8217;s sweeping, pervasive and lawless. It&#8217;s unrelated to alleged terrorism.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Obama wants Americans to trust him. Why anyone would, they&#8217;ll have to explain. He&#8217;s a war criminal multiple times over. He&#8217;s done more to destroy freedom than any of his predecessors.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He wants it eliminated altogether. He&#8217;s a serial liar. Nothing he says has credibility. He lied claiming:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That&#8217;s not what this program is about. As was indicated, what the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers and durations of calls.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;They are not looking at people&#8217;s names and they are not looking at content.&#8221; Permission to do so, he claimed, requires &#8220;go(ing) back to a federal judge just like (for) a criminal investigation.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;With respect to the Internet and emails, this does not apply to US citizens and it does not apply to people living in the United States.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">False! Obama authorized sweeping domestic spying. He did so unconstitutionally. He institutionalized it. It&#8217;s ongoing daily. It&#8217;s warrantless.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">No one escapes NSA&#8217;s spying eye. Everything communicated electronically is vulnerable. It&#8217;s fair game.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NSA&#8217;s mandate is &#8220;Get it all.&#8221; Phone calls, emails, and other electronic communications are secretly collected. They&#8217;re gotten without court authorization.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Probable cause isn&#8217;t needed. Major telecom and Internet companies cooperate. They do so willingly.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">All three branches of government are involved. They&#8217;re complicit in sweeping lawlessness. Police states operate this way. America is by far the worst.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Expect nothing ahead to change. Expect worse with increasingly sophisticated NSA technology.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Cyberwar on freedom is official US policy. NSA is Big Brother writ large. Privacy no longer exists. Obama&#8217;s waging war on freedom. It&#8217;s vanishing in plain sight.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><b>NSA&#8217;s Fake War on Terror<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A New America Foundation report suggests it. More on this below.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NSA spying is longstanding. It&#8217;s ongoing abroad and at home. It has nothing to do with national security. It&#8217;s unrelated to uncovering terrorist plots.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Homegrown ones virtually don&#8217;t exist. Alleged ones are hatched. They&#8217;re fake. Claiming dozens were foiled in time is false.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They&#8217;re Big Lies. Previous articles discussed dozens of innocent victims. They included:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>a fake shoe bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake underwear bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake Times Square bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>an earlier one there;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake shampoo bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake Al Qaeda woman planning fake mass casualty attacks on New York landmarks;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake Oregon bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake armed forces recruiting station bomber;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake synagogue bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake Chicago Sears Tower bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake FBI and other building bombers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake National Guard, Fort Dix and Quantico marine base attackers;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake 9\/11 bombers;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>fake Boston bombers; and&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>numerous others.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>At issue is generating fear. Washington&#8217;s fake war on terror needs public support. FBI operatives are involved.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Orchestrated stings are used. Innocent victims are entrapped. Familiar schemes repeat. 9\/11 is the Big Lie of our time. So is the fake war on terror.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Innocent victims languish in America&#8217;s gulag. NSA spying watches everyone. It&#8217;s unconstitutional. It&#8217;s for police state control. It&#8217;s &nbsp;ending privacy. It&#8217;s destroying freedom.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Global spying is espionage. It&#8217;s for political and economic advantage. It&#8217;s to be one up on foreign competitors. It&#8217;s for information used advantageously in trade, political, and military relations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The New America Foundation (NAF) is an establishment organization. Bilderberg Group\/CIA-connected Google CEO Eric Schmidt chairs its board of directors.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Right-wing ideologue Anne-Marie Slaughter is president and CEO. NAF study co-author Peter Bergen is CNN&#8217;s national security analyst. His articles appear in establishment publications.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NAF&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newamerica.net\/sites\/newamerica.net\/files\/policydocs\/Bergen_NAF_NSA%20Surveillance_1.pdf\"><span>report is titled<\/span><\/a> &#8220;Do NSA&#8217;s Bulk Surveillance Programs Stop Terrorists?&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Two weeks after Edward Snowden&#8217;s first revelations were published, Obama lied saying:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but,&#8221; abroad as well.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NSA director General Keith Alexander repeated the lie claiming:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;information gathered from these programs provided the US government with critical leads to help prevent over 50 potential terrorist events in more than 20 countries around the world.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Mike Rogers (R. MI) said:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Fifty-four times (NSA spying) stopped and thwarted terrorist attacks both here and in Europe &#8211; saving real lives.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>False! According to NAF&#8217;s analysis, government contentions &#8220;about the role that NSA &#8216;bulk&#8217; surveillance of phone and email communications records has had in keeping the United States safe from terrorism shows that these claims are overblown and even misleading.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Mass NSA surveillance &#8220;had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So-called evidence NSA claimed to uncover is easily gotten through conventional investigatory methods.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NAF analyzed 225 instances of alleged post-9\/11 terrorism. Only two involved NSA meta-data.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>None were legitimate. Alleged homegrown terrorism is fabricated. So are others abroad. They&#8217;re fake. NAF&#8217;s report didn&#8217;t explain. It said:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The overall problem for US counterterrorism officials is not that they need vaster amounts of information from the bulk surveillance programs, but that they don&rsquo;t sufficiently understand or widely share the information they already possess that was derived from conventional law enforcement and intelligence techniques.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On Friday, Obama will address so-called NSA reforms. Last month, his hand-picked advisory committee recommended minor changes. They&#8217;re too inconsequential to matter.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They legitimized lawless spying. They ignored what federal Judge Richard Leon called unconstitutional. They&#8217;re &#8220;almost Orwellian,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Expect Obama to rubber-stamp continuity. He&#8217;ll maintain business as usual. He&#8217;ll stress balancing civil liberties with protecting national security. He&#8217;ll lie claiming it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He&#8217;ll legitimize what Electronic Frontier Foundation&#8217;s Kurt Opsahl called &#8220;heinous.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He&#8217;ll leave NSA&#8217;s worst lawlessness untouched. He&#8217;ll whitewash its crimes. He&#8217;ll lie claiming otherwise.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>Last November, <\/span>the General Assembly addressed privacy rights in the digital age. Over 50 member states co-sponsored a resolution. It supports what&#8217;s too precious to lose.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On December 18, the 193-member body unanimously approved a resolution titled: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/ga\/search\/view_doc.asp?symbol=A\/C.3\/68\/L.45\/Rev.1\"><span>The Right to privacy in the digital age<\/span><\/a>.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It reaffirmed a fundamental human right. No one should be denied the right to privacy. No one should be lawlessly spied on.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the General Assembly&#8217;s resolution &#8220;one small step for privacy, one giant leap against surveillance.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Obama stacked his so-called Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies with longstanding Washington insiders.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A previous article discussed them. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) head James Clapper supervised. He&#8217;s an acknowledged perjurer. He&#8217;s complicit in NSA crimes.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On December 12, Obama&#8217;s committee released its report. It&#8217;s titled &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/192387819\/NSA-review-board-s-report\"><span>Liberty and Security in a Changing World<\/span><\/a>.&#8221; Its handpicked members included:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>former acting CIA head Michael Morell;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism Richard Clarke;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>former Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein; Francis Boyle calls him a neocon;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Democrat party connected\/political advocacy group Center for American Progress member Peter Swire; and<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Forty recommendations were made. They stopped well short of what&#8217;s needed. They legitimized mass surveillance.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They ignored what&#8217;s most important. Constitutional issues were unaddressed. Mass surveillance is illegal. It&#8217;s unacceptable everywhere.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It&#8217;s unrelated to alleged terrorism. It&#8217;s police state ruthlessness writ large. It&#8217;s Obama&#8217;s war on freedom.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He promised no warrantless spying. Straightaway he authorized it. His explanation fell short and then some. He said:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;When I came into this office, I made two commitments that are more important than any commitment I made: number one to keep the American people safe, and number two to uphold the Constitution.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Americans are less safe than ever. Freedom is disappearing in plain sight. Obama&#8217;s done more to subvert constitutional law than any previous president.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He made freedom a four-letter word. He claimed:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;You can&#8217;t have 100% security and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience.&#8221; &nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to have to make some choices as a society. I think that on balance, we have established a process and a procedure that the American people should feel comfortable about.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He lied saying mass surveillance &#8220;help(s) prevent terrorist attacks.&#8221; None whatever exist.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He lied again calling NSA spying &#8220;modest encroachments on privacy.&#8221; It&#8217;s sweeping, pervasive and lawless. It&#8217;s unrelated to alleged terrorism.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Obama wants Americans to trust him. Why anyone would, they&#8217;ll have to explain. He&#8217;s a war criminal multiple times over. He&#8217;s done more to destroy freedom than any of his predecessors.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He wants it eliminated altogether. He&#8217;s a serial liar. Nothing he says has credibility. He lied claiming:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That&#8217;s not what this program is about. As was indicated, what the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers and durations of calls.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;They are not looking at people&#8217;s names and they are not looking at content.&#8221; Permission to do so, he claimed, requires &#8220;go(ing) back to a federal judge just like (for) a criminal investigation.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;With respect to the Internet and emails, this does not apply to US citizens and it does not apply to people living in the United States.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>False! Obama authorized sweeping domestic spying. He did so unconstitutionally. He institutionalized it. It&#8217;s ongoing daily. It&#8217;s warrantless.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>No one escapes NSA&#8217;s spying eye. Everything communicated electronically is vulnerable. It&#8217;s fair game.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NSA&#8217;s mandate is &#8220;Get it all.&#8221; Phone calls, emails, and other electronic communications are secretly collected. They&#8217;re gotten without court authorization.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Probable cause isn&#8217;t needed. Major telecom and Internet companies cooperate. They do so willingly.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>All three branches of government are involved. They&#8217;re complicit in sweeping lawlessness. Police states operate this way. America is by far the worst.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Expect nothing ahead to change. Expect worse with increasingly sophisticated NSA technology.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Cyberwar on freedom is official US policy. NSA is Big Brother writ large. Privacy no longer exists. Obama&#8217;s waging war on freedom. It&#8217;s vanishing in plain sight.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-106144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}