Monday, March 07, 2005

Sunday Morning Terror Pt2

Mecca Bingo
Mecca Bingo - Islam friendly?
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If I were ever to devote this blog to a single theme it would very probably be the War on Terror, the impact it is having on life in Britain, particularly London, and the bogus evidence and rhetoric upon which it is based.
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However, as well as being a dull thing to do and tricky to present in an amusing way, focusing on that one particular issue would place my blog firmly in the realms of conspiracy theory land and, as we all know, anyone who buys into conspiracy theories is a lunatic.

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We know this because the Dark Forces that control our World tell us so.

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I'm not being strictly fair on the Dark Forces. We are all permitted to buy into ONE conspiracy theory. The one about Al Qaeda, its shadowy evil mastermind, and the global network of highly trained fanatical operatives devoted to slaughtering us by the thousand because 'they hate our freedoms'.
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If only life were that simple.
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Take 9/11 for example. Fundamental questions about what happened on that day have never been fully addressed in the media, let alone answered. They never will be. The official story has been told and the only people questioning it are nut-cases. Case closed.

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But it shouldn’t be.

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The reason why I am deeply troubled by 9/11 is that so much physical evidence, the kind of evidence that should be collected as part of any investigation into an aircraft disaster is simply not available. The concerns are about unanswered questions not fantastical theories. For starters, you could ask …

  • What happened to the aircraft black boxes?
  • Where are the air traffic control tapes?
  • Where are the airport security tapes?
  • Why did WTC1 and WTC2 collapse?
  • Why did a third building, WTC7, collapse?
There are plenty of other important and unanswered questions about that day. The kind of questions that should be asked by vigorous, independent journalists and a free press. Only they aren't.
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What little debate that this is about the events 9/11 is largely restricted to conspiratorial blogs and Internet sites. Some of these sites are reasoned and objective. Most are not. Some are maintained by lunatics, others by anti-Semites and some may even be written by 'shills', deliberately poisoning the debate with bogus information and commentary. With all this unregulated activity taking place, it's easy for those who support the official 9/11 story to focus on the most deranged examples of conspiratorial thinking and tarnish all with the same brush; including people with rational, legitimate concerns.
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These rational, legitimate concerns are of more than mere academic or intellectual interest. Without 9/11 the World, our World, would be very different indeed. There's fascism in the air boys and girls and, in spite of the cool uniforms and tanks, in the long run fascism is never fun.
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And it's not just 9/11 that troubles me. The attack on Iraq and the domestic War on Terror are both deeply flawed undertakings, where the reality of the situation on the ground does not square with what we are being told.
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Right now, our government is pushing for even stricter domestic security measures than those already implemented. We are told that this is necessary because we are facing a 'unique threat, unlike any other that we have faced before'.
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Even if you believe that line, and there are plenty of solid reasons not to, the rhetoric of our politicians doe not match their actions.
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We have been subject to an unprecedented increase in peacetime security. Actually, it would be more accurate to say an increase in the appearance of security. Yet, in spite of all this, the four years since 9/11 have seen a marked rise in the quantity of hard drugs, firearms and illegal immigrants on the streets of London. Heroin has never been so cheap, gun crime is increasing year on year and the government doesn’t even pretend to know how many illegals are living in the UK right now.
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We live on an island. The plain truth is that if the government was genuinely concerned about the threat of international terror, securing entry points onto this island would be a straightforward exercise and a first priority on any a list counter-measures. It clearly isn’t.
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And then you have to ask yourself a question; how is it that our leaders have permitted a drastic weakening of our borders yet, at the same time, push for domestic security measures which serve only to threaten the liberties of law abiding citizens?
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So what's the answer? Is our government stupid or is it lying? As with the whole Iraqi WMD fiasco, most people seem to prefer to think that our leaders are fools rather than liars. However, there's no real reason to believe this, other than the thought that the alternative answer makes us feel uncomfortable.
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The one thing everyone can agree on, conspiracy theorist and non conspiracy theorist alike, is that there will be further horrors in the future. The identity and motivations of the people behind those future horrors will be a lot more contentious.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

here's an idea - write a screenplay / book entitled '9/11: The Real Story', and cast James Woods as the hero who breaks the truth to the world, with an ending like 'Capricorn One'. There are many parallels with Capricorn One with all this business.
Only make sure you encase yourself in a bullet-proof Kevlar case when you do a press conference for the screenplay / book and preferably do the conference remotely and secretely, from somewhere like suspended 200ft under water in the South Pole. You will be safe there, but unable to take pleasure in your $$$ million earnings.

Stef said...

You know what?

That doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I particularly like the thought of casting James Woods. This dovetails nicely with an earlier abortive screenplay I never got round to writing called Carnival of Psychos - a Maginificent Seven or the Dirty Dozen for the contemporary age. The plan was to cast James Wood, Donald Sutherland, John Malkovich, John Turturo, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stomare, Robert Downey Junior, Ray Liotta and anyone else that came to mind and leave them to out-weird each on screen for two hours. I never cracked a plot-line demented enough to be worthy of their talents though ...

Stef said...

PS Quiet Monday morning at work then mate?