Editorial
On the Elimination of Osama bin Laden
Last week marked an important milestone in the war on terrorism for our country. Osama bin Laden applauded the 9/11 attacks. Such deliberate killing of innocent lives deserved retaliation. It is good that bin Laden is dead and justice is served. The way in which he was finally captured and killed shows that targeted retribution is far superior to wars of aggression and nation-building. In 2001 I supported giving the president the authority to pursue those responsible for the vicious 9/11 attacks. However, misusing that authority to pursue nation-building and remaking the Middle East was cynical and dangerous, as the past ten years have proven.
It is tragic that it took ten years, trillions of dollars, tens of thousands of American casualties and many thousands of innocent lives to achieve our mission of killing one evil person. A narrow, targeted mission under these circumstances was far superior to initiating wars against countries not involved in the 9/11 attacks, and that is all we should have done. This was the reason I emphasized at the time the principle of Marque and Reprisal, permitted to us by the US Constitution for difficult missions such as we faced. I am convinced that this approach would have achieved our goal much sooner and much cheaper.
The elimination of Osama bin Laden should now prompt us to declare victory and bring our troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq. Al Qaeda was never in Iraq and we were supposedly in Afghanistan to get Osama bin Laden. With bin Laden gone, there is no reason for our presence in the region – unless indeed it was all about oil, nation-building, and remaking the Middle East and Central Asia.
Hopefully bin Laden does not get the last laugh. He claimed the 9/11 attacks were designed to get the US to spread its military dangerously and excessively throughout the Middle East, bankrupting us through excessive military spending as he did the Soviets, and to cause political dissention within the United States. Some 70 percent of Americans now believe we should leave Afghanistan yet both parties seem determined to stay. The best thing we could do right now is prove bin Laden a false prophet by coming home and ending this madness on a high note.
Tragically, one result may be the acceptance of torture as a legitimate tool for pursuing our foreign policy. A free society, calling itself a republic, grounded in the rule of law, should never succumb to such evil.
At the very least we should all be able to agree that foreign aid to Pakistan needs to end immediately. The idea that bin Laden was safely protected for ten years in Pakistan, either willfully or through incompetence, should make us question the wisdom of robbing American citizens to support any government around the world with foreign aid. All foreign aid and intervention needs to end.
Our failed foreign policy is reflected in our bizarre relationship with Pakistan. We bomb them with drones, causing hundreds of civilian casualties, we give them billions of dollars in foreign aid for the privilege to do so, all while they protect America's enemy number one for a decade.
It is time to consider a sensible non-interventionist foreign policy as advised by our Founders and authorized by our Constitution. We would all be better off for it.
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Posted by Wayne on 05/11/11 10:51 PM
Brilliant commentary. I will only add this;
Symbolism is everything to the Plastic Man and the Drone who obeys.
The Fed is the heart and jugular of the beast, I agree.
And with regard to Zen's insight, those who can't admit a problem or danger often can't admit it even after they've been destroyed by it; their emotional commitment to their illusions becomes multiplied by the shame they would face by admitting the damage caused by their stubborn blindness, by realizing and owning responsibility for the suffering imposed on the innocent as the horrible price paid for their attempt at avoidance of discomfort for a few extra moments.
And to the main point of Ron Paul's article--real or not, this is presented as an execution - a death sentence - by executive fiat. No letter of marque or reprisal (this would have required some debate on the evidence in Congress). No evidence presented anywhere of probable cause, simply assertions presented as already-accepted hard, cold reality. The images of people dancing in the streets and celebrating 9/11 were used to rile emotion to justify retaliation against a demonized puppet (and nation-states not responsible). Guilt is assumed, a death sentence is preordained, and real or not, an assassination is purportedly carried out by a hit team. Then our own rent-a-mob is dancing in the streets at the White House in celebration within ten minutes of the announcement. The smuggled concept in the whole turid sandwich is that the executive branch of our government can put out an assassination order on someone and send a hit team anywhere in the world to carry it out. The noise and heat and smoke all serve to obscure that point. The line has been crossed, the test balloon sails peacefully downwind.
Symbolism is everything.
Well said. And welcome to the Hell of Our Own Creation. Scotty, beam me up Now!
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Posted by Wayne on 05/11/11 10:46 PM
"Those who don't know we only "killed" a ghost don't want to know."
I'm reminded of an old saying I made up once. It's an old saying because I said it many many years ago. I don't know if I was the first, in fact I doubt I was, but I still think of it as mine because I can honestly say I didn't hear it from anyone else.
I used to be something called a "change agent" during the 80's and 90's. In the 60's I would have been called a "hired gun". My job was to fix broken companies using any means necessary. Naturally, this involved a certain amount of pain being inflicted on my clients since, as my friend and mentor once observed "change gives me a hairball". This is a sentiment I've found to be widely shared :)
After many years of plying my trade I realized there was a certain limit to what I was capable of and the limit could be expressed very simply; you can't answer a question that hasn't been asked, and you can't solve a problem for someone who doesn't know they have one. This is almost a physical law. It strictly bounds what is and is not possible with respect to change of any kind in a civilized society. No matter how certain you are that you have a solution, a way to prevent your client from harming themselves, unless they already know they're in danger you *cannot* help them.
People who don't understand this basic principal end up carrying guns in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
People who don't understand this basic principal end up carrying guns in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
Funny how we all have to learn this lesson. It took me forever.
No profit in being a Cassandra!
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Posted by Leviathanfighter on 05/11/11 02:08 PM
Dr. Paul's opposition to the monstrosities of central banking is praisworthy. His serious treatment of a military psycho-drama is not. It is just such fantasies which have bedeviled and bamboozled the human race for centuries. That historic era of state mind control is now fast coming to an end. The curtain is down, and the wizard is exposed; except in Dr. Paul's article.
This calls into question Dr. Paul's commitment to liberty which he has espoused for many years. Does he really mean it? Does he know what a "psy-op" is? One wonders.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Could ANY politician tell the truth about such issues in the US?
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Posted by John Danforth on 05/11/11 08:10 AM
Brilliant commentary. I will only add this;
Symbolism is everything to the Plastic Man and the Drone who obeys.
The Fed is the heart and jugular of the beast, I agree.
And with regard to Zen's insight, those who can't admit a problem or danger often can't admit it even after they've been destroyed by it; their emotional commitment to their illusions becomes multiplied by the shame they would face by admitting the damage caused by their stubborn blindness, by realizing and owning responsibility for the suffering imposed on the innocent as the horrible price paid for their attempt at avoidance of discomfort for a few extra moments.
And to the main point of Ron Paul's article--real or not, this is presented as an execution - a death sentence - by executive fiat. No letter of marque or reprisal (this would have required some debate on the evidence in Congress). No evidence presented anywhere of probable cause, simply assertions presented as already-accepted hard, cold reality. The images of people dancing in the streets and celebrating 9/11 were used to rile emotion to justify retaliation against a demonized puppet (and nation-states not responsible). Guilt is assumed, a death sentence is preordained, and real or not, an assassination is purportedly carried out by a hit team. Then our own rent-a-mob is dancing in the streets at the White House in celebration within ten minutes of the announcement. The smuggled concept in the whole turid sandwich is that the executive branch of our government can put out an assassination order on someone and send a hit team anywhere in the world to carry it out. The noise and heat and smoke all serve to obscure that point. The line has been crossed, the test balloon sails peacefully downwind.
Symbolism is everything.
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Posted by SwifterMan on 05/11/11 06:04 AM
In Germany we say, you must clean before your own door, before you start cleaning the rest of the world !
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Despite the most professional secrecy ever - the truth on the CIA has leaked . . .
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This is the most deadly criminal group today - that continues to secretely start wars, destroy peoples, experiment on humans, brainwash, deal in drugs, asassinate presidents and other key executives around the world, and no one seems to know or to notice . . .
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But the proof is all over the internet, when you look at operation paperclip, mk/ultra, gladio, stay behind armys in all western countries - not even known to the parliaments . . .
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THIS is treason and the reason - America has lost ALL credibility !
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The only way to fix it, ist to do what Gorbatchev did in Russia: Glasnost & Perestroika !
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So come clean - America !
Reply from The Daily Bell
Except some believe "Gorbatchev" was a CIA asset ...
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 05/10/11 08:41 PM
"Those who don't know we only "killed" a ghost don't want to know."
I'm reminded of an old saying I made up once. It's an old saying because I said it many many years ago. I don't know if I was the first, in fact I doubt I was, but I still think of it as mine because I can honestly say I didn't hear it from anyone else.
I used to be something called a "change agent" during the 80's and 90's. In the 60's I would have been called a "hired gun". My job was to fix broken companies using any means necessary. Naturally, this involved a certain amount of pain being inflicted on my clients since, as my friend and mentor once observed "change gives me a hairball". This is a sentiment I've found to be widely shared :)
After many years of plying my trade I realized there was a certain limit to what I was capable of and the limit could be expressed very simply; you can't answer a question that hasn't been asked, and you can't solve a problem for someone who doesn't know they have one. This is almost a physical law. It strictly bounds what is and is not possible with respect to change of any kind in a civilized society. No matter how certain you are that you have a solution, a way to prevent your client from harming themselves, unless they already know they're in danger you *cannot* help them.
People who don't understand this basic principal end up carrying guns in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 05/10/11 06:08 PM
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Posted by rossbcan on 05/10/11 04:21 PM
The FED, central banking and fiat currency is the mothership, the jugular, the enabler of all else. Those who can print currency at will, so long as it is accepted as other than "worthless" have near infinite resources, to defeat any dissenters.
Zen has it right. Dr Paul is not infinite and cannot afford to spread himself thin. He has picked THE crucial battle and, like many have found out, he cannot alienate a public in denial by bringing up issues they would rather not deal with. People CARE about their pocketbook, jobs and survival. Win against the FED and, all else becomes possible.
So, give Dr Paul, an amazing man, in the right place, at the right time, a break.
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Posted by Dael on 05/10/11 03:40 PM
If simply applauding the attack was the crime that bin Laden was guilty of, as Dr. Paul appears to imply, then there were five Israelis who were observed recording the attack and dancing for joy when it took place. They were later interviewed on Israeli television and confessed that they had set up their camera to record the incident in order to use the footage to gain sympathy for their country which portrays itself as a victim of Islamic terrorism.
Dr. Paul is advancing his own position which has been consistent from the beginning. Unfortunately events have moved on to such an extent that his position is clearly seen to be out of step with the known facts of the 9/11 attack which is now recognised as a false flag event created for the very purposes for which it has been used: to advance the agenda of the new world order elites. Is Dr. Paul admitting that he has learned nothing in the intervening years since that date to cause him to change his view of that event?
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Posted by Bluebird on 05/10/11 03:06 PM
I will settle for him declaring we need to stop foreign aid and intervention, as people will agree for various reasons. Some will say we should not have been there. Some will say, "yay, we got him now end the war". And hopefully ALL will say "quit supporting them". And he can go on with the bigger battle of the FR. I will take that. :-)
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Posted by Dael on 05/10/11 02:37 PM
"Allowing truth into your bubble of reality has the consequence that you must eventually DO something about it."
The US is an aging demographic. We will not pick up our pitchforks, our bags of feathers and our buckets of tar unless provoked beyond the point of comfort. We're "short timers". Like it or not, we are willing to go along to get along.
When we turn, it won't be us doing the turning. We'll enlist our children. We have not come to that point and with any luck we never will. Yes, we have been used and we all know it. We don't like talking about it.
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Posted by Dael on 05/10/11 02:29 PM
Whether we agree with Ron Paul's evaluation or not, it can only do good things to fight the issues he raises. Keep your eye on the prize. Enough people are cheering the "end" of bin Laden. These wars HAVE to end! Thank you Daily Bell for carrying this article.
I share Zenbillionaire's misfortune of sharing my thoughts about bin Laden going over like a lead balloon. :-) Those who don't know we only "killed" a ghost don't want to know.
The same rhetoric that Ron Paul validates here also allows, in the US this time, the TSA groping and body scanning that he is fighting against, or more generally any police state feature that is being put forward.
And what can one say about the second, third and fourth sentences of the article:
"Osama bin Laden applauded the 9/11 attacks. Such deliberate killing of innocent lives deserved retaliation. It is good that bin Laden is dead and justice is served."
Where is the logic in that sequence? Where is the truth in that article? The matter is too serious for that kind of rhetoric to be considered benign because it comes from the mouth of somone who also does good things.
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 05/10/11 01:55 PM
"Allowing truth into your bubble of reality has the consequence that you must eventually DO something about it."
The US is an aging demographic. We will not pick up our pitchforks, our bags of feathers and our buckets of tar unless provoked beyond the point of comfort. We're "short timers". Like it or not, we are willing to go along to get along.
When we turn, it won't be us doing the turning. We'll enlist our children. We have not come to that point and with any luck we never will. Yes, we have been used and we all know it. We don't like talking about it.
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Posted by Bluebird on 05/10/11 01:35 PM
Whether we agree with Ron Paul's evaluation or not, it can only do good things to fight the issues he raises. Keep your eye on the prize. Enough people are cheering the "end" of bin Laden. These wars HAVE to end! Thank you Daily Bell for carrying this article.
I share Zenbillionaire's misfortune of sharing my thoughts about bin Laden going over like a lead balloon. :-) Those who don't know we only "killed" a ghost don't want to know.
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Posted by Dael on 05/10/11 01:29 PM
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Posted by Texon on 05/10/11 01:27 PM
Click to view link
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Posted by rossbcan on 05/10/11 01:27 PM
"Even I know better than to push on a rope."
Well, you could have fooled me :)
Point taken. Perhaps I feel the need to test whether the rope has adapted to the fact its coerced nature is a survival threat, to itself?
After all, the only constant is change...
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 05/10/11 01:24 PM
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Posted by Texon on 05/10/11 01:24 PM
Click to view link
I will put this out at different intervals because I want to make sure as many people see this as possible.
I've tried to check Dr. Steve Pieczenik out as much as possible, so if anyone is able to refute the credibility of this content please post some details so I can retract this if necessary.
Here's his resume':
Click to view link
You can see the whole series of interviews at Click to view link or on Alex Jone's youtubechannel.
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Posted by Dael on 05/10/11 01:22 PM
" We - millions of people - know better than that, Mr. Paul."
And if hundreds of millions knew better, we wouldn't have a problem.
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