Amazing. It is almost like Zelikow knew what was going to happen on 9-11

[seemslikeadream]

As we have been reminded many times: Reality no longer matters; only the perception of reality. The power of myth reigns supreme.


http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1352.shtml

In researching the Bush administration’s manipulation of public perceptions, I came across an interesting summary of the State Department’s Philip Zelikow, who was executive director of the 9-11 Commission, that greatest of all charades.

According to Wikipedia: “Prof. Zelikow’s area of academic expertise is the creation and maintenance of, in his words, ‘public myths’ or ‘public presumptions’ which he defines as ‘beliefs (1) thought to be true (although not necessarily known with certainty) and (2) shared in common within the relevant political community.’ In his academic work and elsewhere he has taken a special interest in what he has called ‘searing’ or ‘molding’ events (that) take on 'transcendent’ importance and therefore retain their power even as the experiencing generation passes from the scene. . . . He has noted that ‘a history’s narrative power is typically linked to how readers relate to the actions of individuals in the history; if readers cannot make the connection to their own lives, then a history may fail to engage them at all.” (“Thinking about Political History” Miller center Report, winter 1999, p 5-7)

Isn’t that the same as saying there is neither history nor truth; that what is really important is the manipulation of epochal events so they serve the interests of society’s managers? Thus, it follows that if the government can create their own “galvanizing events,” then they can write history any way they choose.

If that’s the case, then perhaps the entire war on terror is cut from whole cloth; a garish public relations maneuver devoid of meaning.

Wikipedia helps to clarify this point by adding: “In the Nov-Dec 1998 issue of Foreign Affairs he (Zelikow) co-authored (with the former head of the CIA) an article entitled 'Catastrophic Terrorism' in which he speculated that if the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center had succeeded, ‘the resulting horror and chaos would have exceeded our ability to describe it. Such an act of catastrophic terrorism would be a watershed event in American history. It could involve loss of life and property unprecedented in peacetime and undermine America’s fundamental sense of security, as did the Soviet atomic bomb test in 1949. Like Pearl Harbor, the event would divide our past and future into a before and after. The United States might respond with draconian measures scaling back civil liberties, allowing wider surveillance of citizens, detention of suspects and use of deadly force.” (Philip Zelikow, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

That was written in 1998!

Amazing. It is almost like Zelikow knew what was going to happen on 9-11 and was drawing attention to the “draconian measures” (scaling back civil liberties) which may seem attractive to ruling elites in the policy establishment.




“The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.” --Gustave Le Bon, ”The Crowd”

[The Lone Groover]

1. It's classic.

Those who control the past control the future.

Orwell was a prophet.

Interesting what happened at Google this week... wasn't it?

[talksabout]

20. I must've missed something.

What happened at Google this week?

[The Lone Groover]

22. The past kept getting deleted. nt

[CJCRANE]

2. Motive, means and opportunity.

This and the PNAC document clearly set out the motive for 9/11.

[The Lone Groover]

3. Did the recent BBC documentary...

...mention PNAC ?

It "covered everything" I'm led to believe.

[CJCRANE]

5. Nope.

It covered everything...they wanted to cover.

(I.e. whatever they could find to make people who question the OCT look silly).

[Grateful for Hope]

4. Mentioned in another thread

Article by Paul Craig Roberts:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/paul-craig-roberts/americans-have-lost-their-country.html


This extraordinary aggressiveness toward the U.S. Constitution, international law and the Islamic world is the work not of a vast movement, but of a handful of ideologues — principally Vice President Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Lewis Libby, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, Zalmay Khalilzad, John Bolton, Philip Zelikow and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.


<snip>


The Bush-Cheney regime came to power with the plans drawn to attack the remaining independent countries in the Middle East and with neoconservatives in office to implement the plans. However, an excuse was required. Neoconservatives had called for "a new Pearl Harbor," and 9-11 provided the propaganda event needed in order to stampede the public and Congress into war. Neoconservative Philip Zelikow was put in charge of the 9-11 commission report to make certain no uncomfortable facts emerged.

[CJCRANE]

6. Yes, I came to this conclusion too

that there are really only a few of them in top positions and they basically browbeat everyone into compliance. At the end of the day dictatorship simply relies on force of personality.

For instance, to illustrate how few of them are, just look at how they trot out family members to stick up for them (Laura, Babs, Poppy etc).

[Grateful for Hope]

8. Good observation n/t

[JackRiddler]

7. The Rice/Zelikow Connection (link)

First few paragraphs of article focusing on Zelikow and

"A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KEAN COMMISSION"

NEW YORK CITY, MAY 16, 2004 --

Condoleeza Rice is a household name. But most Americans still have never heard of the man who wrote a book with her, Philip Zelikow. As the executive director of the Kean Commission, Zelikow is responsible for framing the agenda. He leads the research staff. He decides what evidence the commission sees.

In April, the world media focused on Rice's appearance before the commission. She claimed, not for the first time, that no one could have imagined terrorists would use hijacked planes as weapons against buildings. This is a demonstrable falsehood, which Bush himself inadvertantly exposed a week later. During a prime-time, live-broadcast press conference in mid-April, Bush said he had ordered briefings on the terrorist threat to the domestic United States in the summer of 2001, after rumors spread throughout the media starting in June 2001 about a possible attempt on his life at the July 2001 G-8 Summit in Genoa, Italy.

He neglected to add that these rumors specified that Osama Bin Ladin and al-Qaeda were planning to attack by crashing an airplane into his hotel or the summit building. As a protective measure, Bush and his entourage, presumably including Rice, spent one night during the Genoa Summit on a U.S. aircraft carrier anchored off the Adriatic coast. Despite this surely memorable experience, after September 11, Rice insisted repeatedly that "no one could have imagined" an aerial kamikaze threat to high-value targets.

By the time of Rice's appearance before the Commission, observers were well-versed in the long history, in the decades preceding September 11, of warnings about the potential for aerial attacks and actual attempts to use hijacked airplanes as weapons. Her testimony accordingly received mostly bad reviews from the press. At the same time, the Kean Commission was credited for its investigative fervor.

Few reports bothered to note that in the late 1980s, Rice and Zelikow had worked closely together on George H.W. Bush's national security staff.

http://www.justicefor911.org/Appendix6_KeanCommission_111904.php

Above article missed out on the significance of Zelikow's membership in the Presidential Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) between 9/11 and his appointment to the Commission. Interesting little outfit - well worth looking up. Equivalent to a White House civilian review board or steering committee for covert policy.

Zelikow... Khalilzad... Negroponte are three examples of the Bush regime's all-purpose can-do men for the hot-spot jobs. They are highly competent, at the particular tasks they do.

[wildbilln864]

9. and this definitely deserves...

a kick! :hi:

[seemslikeadream]

19. What holes?

:hi:

[CJCRANE]

10. Here's Zelikow's original article -

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yomljh

The reality, though, is that al-Qaeda didn't have the ability to pull off a "catastrophic attack" as described in his article, that's why they needed a helping hand in order to provide an attack of the magnitude the neocons needed.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. Kicked and bookmarked.

[JackRiddler]

12. Now why do you kick again?

[JackRiddler]

13. kick...

[Grateful for Hope]

14. kick n/t

[mhatrw]

15. Don't forget that the CFR charged Zelikow with preserving the myth

of the original Pearl Harbor as well:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20000301fabook630/robert-b-stinnett/day-of-deceit-the-truth-about-f-d-r-and-pearl-harbor.html

[Grateful for Hope]

16. Saw that

curiouser and curiouser...

[seemslikeadream]

17. Thanks everyone

It's wo wonderful to see real discussion again in the "dungeon"

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[Grateful for Hope]

18. I wish we could have some "real discussion"

this thread is important, IMO.

[talksabout]

21. why can't we discuss this in the GD area?

why do we even HAVE this stupid dungeon!?? btw, I should add..I am a longtime lurker, recent poster.

[The Lone Groover]

23. Are you Killtown?

(it's an in-joke).

[wildbilln864]

30. Yes indeed it is!

:hi:

[JackRiddler]

24. k

[BeFree]

25. It's the damn blueprint!

.... he (Zelikow) co-authored (with the former head of the CIA) an article entitled 'Catastrophic Terrorism' in which he speculated that if the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center had succeeded, ‘the resulting horror and chaos would have exceeded our ability to describe it. Such an act ........

And then they hired the architect to whitewash the whole thing. Brilliant!

No wonder some people still don't have a clue, but there's more and more of us getting wiser all the time.

Like I was telling a bud the other day: The tower owners made a bunch of money from the destruction of the buildings. Now he's got at least two clues, eh?

[greyl]

26. Unfortunately, you didn't tell your friend the truth. nt

[mhatrw]

27. Really?

Care to clue us in on how much money Silverstein lost on his 9/11 settlement?

[Andre II]

28. Thanks for bringing this up

Here th original:
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19981101faessay1434/ashton-b-carter-john-deutch-philip-zelikow/catastrophic-terrorism-tackling-the-new-danger.html

[Make7]

29. kick ( n/t )

[Recursion]

31. Not really

The whole thing is WMD-focused

[CJCRANE]

32. The article focused

on what would happen if the twin towers *specifically* were destroyed.

As terrorists couldn't actually get hold of WMD without someone like (formerly) Valerie Plame finding out it seems like the whole "airplanes as missiles" tactic was the nearest they could get (and in reality acted almost like a WMD - although they may have a little help according to the MIHOPers).

[Recursion]

33. And the Lone Gunmen's pilot episode was about an attack on WTC

And there were 4 or 5 hip hop albums with an exploding WTC on the cover. And Tom Clancy wrote a book about airliners being crashed into the Pentagon.

The towers were obvious and exposed targets, and symbols of American economic power and prestige, and had been targeted a decade before.

[Dirk39]

34. The entire article

Hello from Germany,
I hope, I didn't miss a link quoted here, but I couldn't find the entire article at foreign affairs, only the first 500 words. Here is a link to the entire article by Ashton Carter, John Deutch (!) and Philip Zelikow:

http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/BCSIA_content/documents/CatastrophicTerrorism-ForeignAffairs-1198.pdf

Sounds a lot like a first version of PNAC.

In case, other readers couldn't find the entire article, too...
Dirk