#this is actually not true. the cia needed a new weapon of terror and created dragon age as a psychosexual glue trap for leftists

[alterrune]

Pull up some info in TRU, we need some information about that group.

Roger that

Accessing Database

TRU, or better known as the

True Retribution Unit, is a former government private military battalion for hire that has eventually gone rogue. Led by Colonel William Arase,a highly decorated officer of the United States Special Forces, led his military battalion into breaking off from the government after being abandoned by their clients and has chosen to pursue their goal of having a complete Totalitarian Rule over the government and to enforce their own version of martial law. They are wanted for terrorism, illegal arms dealing, and large scale oil thefts so that they can fund their faction. Comprised almost entirely of former commandos from the Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment and the CIA's much feared Special Operations Group, TRU employs some of the most highly trained and lethal mercenary soldiers in the world. Before TRU went rogue, the company was deployed in classified black sites across Western Asia and North Africa, as well as numerous other sensitive locations. A large portion of TRU were sent to New York City to support the government in stopping a bioweapon attack that was being orchestrated by a terrorist/criminal organization, several panicked Wall Street financial firms immediately hired TRU to protect their servers and high-value physical assets stored onsite in their Lower Manhattan vaults. Worn and battle-weary, the rank and file soldiers found themselves recalled from hazardous overseas duty only to be diverted into the viral maelstrom of the deadliest urban catastrophe in modern history. As panic in the Financial District spiraled further out of control, Arase began to clash with local authorities. He considered them pathetically weak and indecisive, hamstrung by ludicrous restrictions that had no place in an actual war zone. When the quarantine was established and the Government pulled back to their main base in Midtown, TRU found itself cut off and abandoned. Several days of savage street fighting convinced Arase that the only course of action left was to retake New York City himself, and establish a new martial order via brute force. After a fierce disagreement with an imperious Government official, Arase not only disobeyed the official's direct orders but executed the man and his armed guards. Compared to other criminal and terrorist factions in the Manhattan war zones, TRU employed far more combat specialists with top-grade military gear and weapons, and their defensive positions were more heavily fortified. Convinced that not just the city but the entire nation would collapse in the atavistic wake of the ongoing war, Arase was determined that TRU would survive the conflict, and seize full control of New York, and then use their newly created city-state as a base to usher in a new world order - one where only those with strength of will and character survive. Due to insubordination and war crimes, the government attacked TRU in their base of operations set up in New York in an attempt to drive TRU out of New York, the mission was successful, but Arase and a large portion of TRU managed to escape, and went into hiding. In an attempt to gain more power over other factions, Arase ordered an 100 man squad to assist him in destroying the Toppat airship, even going as far as to hire Phantom Squad to give him and his team the advantage. However, Arase decided that he and Phantom Squad would forge an alliance with the Toppats, in which he was successful. In turn, The Trinity of Fate was formed. It is said that before The Trinity of Fate was formed, TRU has connections with multiple crime syndicates and terrorist organizations such as the Italian Mafia, Yakuza, and a rebellious insurgency hellbent in toppling their government, TRU was the one who supplied the insurgents with weapons. TRU has been placed on the wanted list of the government and is still said to be at large. Information Ends Here

There's the answer to your previous ask, @bonedbybone. You (and the rest of us) now know who the True Retribution Unit is.

We were kinda wondering about them ourselves, so thanks for the great excuse to learn more about them.

#altering the outcome #ato holiday special #ask the ato cast

[lovelyirony]

It Depends on Your Outlook on Life

Tony Stark didn’t think he would be the type to be an evil overlord who demanded everyone bow to him. It just wasn’t in his plan for life. But then things kind of got screwed up. And He Really Didn’t Think This Thing Through. Because now he has Rhodey as his right-hand man and they’re gonna break into the government and steal government secrets and sell them to Ukraine. Tony likes borscht soup, and that’s what he’s getting paid in. (Rhodey’s gonna cry, but whatevs.) 

He came into power after Afghanistan. He was in the desert for three months, and then government demanded that he bring back weapons. Tony said no. They didn’t exactly like listening. They sold more of his weapons, tore the contracts apart until Tony had a legal obligation to create weapons for twenty more years than the contract stated. But hey, who is going to argue against the government? 

Tony effing Stark. He could do it. He went to college at fifteen and read more than enough Wikipedia articles to know that he could screw over the government anytime he wanted to. (After all, he ran the biggest corporation. People were reliant on him, and he knew it.) 

So Tony kept on working. He released new weapons; most of the time, they worked. But Tony ran it. He made sure they went where they were supposed to go. Tony was so thorough that the government was trying to drop him. Tony let them, and became a reclusive bachelor who only stepped outside to water his plants and sunbathe on the roof. (No way was he going to the beach with all that water.) 

The people viewed him as a man who manipulated the government into releasing him to just live alone, not providing anything for the American people. (If they looked at some of the logos, there would be a remarkable similarity to the SI logo.) 

And then, Tony committed a crime. 

This wasn’t unusual for Tony. He committed a lot of crimes. He littered once because someone handed him a cup of coffee and he told them not to do that because holdingisbad and he also lazily hacked into the government on a slow Sunday. He did not get caught for any of these things. 

SHIELD has computer whizzes. These people live and breathe computers, and they study every aspect of Stark technology. They memorize it, adapt to it, and make it better. Well, as better as they think it is. Tony thinks that it’s cute, that their attempts are just updating it slightly. 

So he gets caught for hacking into their system. Because they’re so obsessed with their computers that they noticed the tech genius of the era hacking. (He was a little impressed and totally going to offer better healthcare plans for them to work for SI.) 

Except they don’t. Because SHIELD unlawfully labels him as a threat. Which is really not true, by the way. Sure, he has a suit made of iron that he uses on occasion, and the suit is so far ahead of other advancements that it would make Einstein cry, but it’s whatevs. SHIELD thinks that he’s a terrorist because he’s looking into files about himself to make sure that they aren’t selling or buying his weaponry. Because SHIELD would probably do that. 

So then, the government thinks that he’s a bad man. And then the public thinks he’s a bad man. And then Pepper calls him and asks if she has to continue working for a villain and Tony cries.

(Not reallyhedidnotcryPepperisalyingliarwholies.) 

Rhodey, at least, sticks with him. They can’t legally discharge Rhodey because there’s nothing on Rhodey or Tony that technically proves that they’re villains, but the military has discharged a man for less. Rhodey doesn’t mind. He starts working on engineering projects at SI and vehemently argues against people who think that Tony Stark murdered Oprah or something. 

Tony actually does become a villain in the process of proving his innocence. Rhodey usually doesn’t do the Stupid Thing. It is Tony who carries out the Stupid Thing and Rhodey makes sure that the Stupid Thing actually works. But not this time. Tony has to make sure that the Stupid Thing actually works. Because Rhodey is planning on breaking into the government a-la-Watergate and steal documents. Only it’s not as bad because he’s not trying to learn where the CIA is hiding top secret people or aliens. He’s just trying to see if they’re close to pinning evidence on Tony. 

(Newsflash: they aren’t.) 

But Rhodey and Tony don’t know that, and SHIELD somehow found out. So they’re after their asses, and it’s basically just a huge crockpot of mutual friendship and shit. 

They send Hawkeye first. So far, Tony has read two things about Agent Barton: 1.) He’s not good at following orders. 2.) That man came into work late because he wanted pizza. Tony kind of wants to be friends. But, a third thing that he learned: Clinton Francis Barton Has Excellent Aim. Better than some of Tony’s aiming mechanisms. 

So he gets an arrow to the right leg, and that hurts like hell. Rhodey is already after Clint, muttering that he’s always hated when birds get on his windshield or whatever. (Tony doesn’t get all of Rhodey’s one-liners, but he’s more focused on making sure the paper about Rhodey’s identity doesn’t get out of his file.) 

They try to send Black Widow, but Tony straight-up Nopes out of that situation and decides to take a vacation to a private island that he flies to by himself and that technically doesn’t exist. Rhodey points out that this could be his supervillain hideout place, and Tony would agree except the energy it takes to get out there is exhausting, and Tony is not about that life. 

So, Natasha Romanoff doesn’t exactly fail. She finds the location of the island, which should be impossible and rallies some agents to get on a huge plane and fly out there. But Tony also considers this and ends up in Bangladesh. He visits an old science teacher that he met about fifteen years ago, and learns more about particle separation than he thought he would. That was nice. 

So SHIELD keeps on trying. They send diplomats, warp minds, and Tony kind of keeps committing crimes like flying without a pilot’s license and stealing their best copier. In his defense, Tony honestly didn’t know it was illegal to fly his own suit without a pilot’s license, but it makes sense. 

Well then they get a little superhero from the ice, and his buddy. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are dug up from the ice, perfectly fine. (Well, Bucky has no left arm, so Tony anonymously sends a schematic for an advanced metal arm. SHIELD uses it.) 

Steve and Bucky are led to believe that Tony is a villain. By the way, only Americans and the Brits think that Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, is a villain. This is because SHIELD, in general, sucks, and Tony is pretty sure there’s a snake infestation in there somewhere. Other countries have had Iron Man lend funding to their countries after storm damages or when they are in desperate need of funding for education. Tony also builds orphanages and visits to hold babies. (BY THE WAY THIS IS AN ACTUAL THING SO SUCK IT.) 

Captain America and newly proclaimed “Winter Soldier” (what a lame-o name) are after Iron Man. Steve has proclaimed that he will get the villain and save the American Way or whatever. Tony wasn’t listening, Rhodey paraphrased. (Rhodey’s the best.) 

Well, Iron Man is in Iran helping a medical clinic get off the ground, and there flies in the standard SHIELD jet. (Tony could’ve made them a new jet if they’d just stop the accusations. Of course, he’d name it something better--probably a helicarrier because he could say “how much does it carry? Hella.” and it would be funny. Clint would laugh. They’d be friends.) 

“Iron Man,” Captain America calls. “We’ve come to stop you.” 

“Stop me from establishing a prominent medical clinic?” Tony asks. He holds his hands up, looking at the crowd. They aren’t like the U.S. They can’t sustain millions of dollars of damage and be okay. “Run.” The villagers flee, screaming in terror. 

“Yeah, a medical clinic,” Bucky--Winter Soldier--snorts. “Sounds like they’re excited to see you, Metal Boy.” 

“I know damn well you know I’m over thirty,” Tony snaps. “And they’re not screaming at me; believe it or not, Captain America and Winter Soldier aren’t as big of idols here. They know me, they don’t know you.” 

“You think you’re innocent?” Winter Soldier asks. 

“Uh, yeah?” Tony says. “I’m wearing red and gold right now, probably not the best nonthreatening colors, but let me tell you, it’s better than wearing all black and painting a red star on the arm like I’m Stalin.” 

His eyebrows raise in confusion. “What?” 

“Oh, I forgot. You didn’t live through the Cold War. Brief yourselves on it, it’ll do you wonders.” Winter Soldier nods, then winces. Tony almost laughs. 

The Freedom Frisbee whizzes out of nowhere, pushing Tony back a couple feet. The throw of the shield must mean that Rogers is crazy strong and Tony wonders just how much he’s held back over the years and--wait, no, he has to fight. 

Tony keeps it minimal. He’s not doing any lasting hits. Just a few beams to move the two into an isolated spot. He waits until they think they’ve cornered him. 

“Do you want to know the best thing about owning your own flight suit?” Tony asks. “The rocket boots.” 

Before Cap has the time to say a Bad Language Word, Tony is jetting off. He’s kind of nervous that he just fought his childhood idols and lived, and that they’re after him because they think he’s an American bad guy, but whatever. 

Steve and Bucky come back confused. Tony Stark--Iron Man--didn’t seem like a villain. After the fight, they both analyzed the scene. The villagers were terrified of them, and there were small decorations of Iron Man in the shops. Iron Man had the full potential to devastate the two of them at least a dozen times; yet, he didn’t take the opportunity. 

SHIELD was even murkier for the two of them. They share their suspicions with a doctor named Bruce Banner, who is on contract at SHIELD for turning into a huge rage monster at convenient times and also helping with scientific breakthroughs. (Bucky thinks that that man is the Bitterest Man He’s Met and believe Bucky, He Has Met Himself.) 

“Nah, Tony isn’t a villain,” Bruce says. “We’ve talked a couple of times.” 

“You’ve talked with the guy?” Steve asks. “And you didn’t think SHIELD should know about this?” 

“They didn’t tell me that they had a containment control center for Hulk in case I got too out of control for them, but that’s another story,” Bruce says. (He Is Very Salty.) “Besides, we haven’t gotten you guys up to date on all the scandals within the government and cover-ups that you guys could only dream of.”

Bucky is convinced the moon landing is faked. 

(Natasha laughs so hard she cries.) 

Steve and Bucky conduct further research. SHIELD isn’t as it should be, and Director Fury knows it. He hasn’t been the one to order the hits on Stark, it’s been a higher-up. Alexander Pierce. 

Tony is happy that no SHIELD personnel have been bothering him. This means that he got to do ALL of his laundry this week. That’s very important, because Tony has been missing his favorite science pun shirt. He should text a picture to Bruce. 

Natasha succeeds fully. She breaks into Stark Tower with no detection, along with Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, and they picked up a god along the way. (Lmao who knows how Thor got there? Jane Foster was trying to get him away from SHIELD and called Bruce. Don’t worry about it.) 

“So we know you’re not a big, bad villain,” Natasha says. “We want in.” 

“What the collective fuck,” Rhodey swears. “What...how...when did you get in?” 

“Ten minutes ago,” Clint says. “It would have been fifteen, but I cried about a dog along the way and Thor had to stop to carry me.” 

“You are a very emotional man!” Thor declares. “I am Thor, crowned prince of Asgard and--” 

“Okay,” Rhodey says quickly. “Well, uh, Tony should be up in about...ten minutes? Let Jarvis call him. J, you know what to do.” 

Tony comes up. He flails and drops his nano ball. It gets on Bucky’s hand. Bucky flails back and nearly falls out a window. (Jarvis gets it on video.) 

The Avengers form, their own organization. They make rules according to the whole team, because screw team leaders. Steve eventually brings in Sam Wilson, who is an absolute gem and has a sick flying jetpack thing. (”It’s not a ‘jetpack thing’ you ass,” Sam tells Bucky. “It’s a highly innovative flight pack.” Bucky snorts. “Looks like a jetpack, I’m callin’ it whatever the hell I want,” he snarks.) 

The team is strong, communicative, and watches Too Cute! religiously. They’re a great team. 

@the-flightoficarus you mentioned you liked any story about villain!Tony so I got inspired. Thanks for the random inspiration. 

#i'm collectively ignoring every marvel movie for this #give me liberty or give me death #essentially a villain-oops-my-bad-not-a-villain story #tony stark #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #clint barton the disaster child #bruce banner #listen bruce is salty as fuck #thor #bucky barnes #SHIELD

[gerasc0ph0bic]

So Here It Is...

This is actually my third draft of the first chapter of my book, “38″. You may see that I have taken current events and exaggerated them, blending them into a fictional future where xenophobia, racism, and sexism has taken control of the United States. I wrote this before Trump was elected or was even running for office. But when I heard what he was saying and saw the effects of it, I edited the book to reflect what was happening. I am still tweaking it, but I would love if people commented and shared. 

Chapter 1 - Memorial Day 2067

Three taps on the door.

Disoriented, I turn to look at the clock, the numbers slowly coming into focus. 6:40. It could only be one person. Tired and sore, I fumble around for the remote and turn on the audio feed. My mouth is dry and my voice cracks as I speak, which only adds to my peeved mood, “It is too early for this 35. Not today.”

“Nice try, 38. You are not getting out of this one. It’ll just be a couple minutes and then you can continue to roll around in bed and wallow in self-pity.” Even though I can’t see him, his face appears easily in my mind complete with his smiling brown eyes and condescending smirk.  

“Fine. Give me a minute to get a robe on.”  

“Tick tock, 38.” I grab my robe from my closet and braced myself for the horror of the day. So many mixed emotions race through my mind. How can a day that should be joyful bring so much sadness?

I unlock the door and 35 walks through the door. Suddenly I am in his arms, his hand rubbing my back. “Happy birthday, Faye.” I pull him inside and slam the door.

“Shut up, Jake, before someone hears you. You are not supposed to know my name, let alone my birthday.”

“It’s 6:45 in the morning. No one is awake, and we have a few moments together before the ceremony. So can we please take advantage of this instead of fighting?” He kisses me gently on the lips.

“Ok, fine.” I give in, and let my body mold with his, as if it is in its natural state, and I finally allow myself to relax.  

That’s when the memories hit me like a landmine, unexpected and unavoidable. No matter how much I try to push them back, they rush to my mind. The lights, the sound of guns firing endlessly, the Canadian soldiers beckoning us to come forward, unable to do anything but wave. The feeling of being helpless, the pain, the loss, force themselves forward in my head.  

Shocked and overwhelmed by my own mind, I push Jake away and collapse onto my bed. No matter how much I try, the tears don’t stop and I start shaking as pictures of my past flood my thoughts. Ten years have passed since I lost my parents, but the pain never numbed. We are taught to use our pain. It gives us strength to fight. I learned to push the pain away, deep into my mind, only letting it release when I needed the adrenaline. However, on days like this, the memories fight back, and if I let my guard down, they win.  

“You can get through this, Faye. I’ve seen you fight this before, and today shouldn’t be any different.” Even when he tries to be strong, I can hear the worry in his voice. We've been together too long for him to hide it. I look up at him, still standing by the door. He didn't even bother getting ready for the day. He is wearing the same white t-shirt and gray sweat pants as the night before. I try to smile, but the feeling of being happy makes me cry even more. How could I be happy when there has been so much loss?

“It’s memorial day, Jake. How could you forget something like that?”  

                                                        ***

 

The Corruption began when President Shepherd was elected in 2032. He had dreams of a new and glorious country where the traditional values of what he called the Golden Age of America could return. He dreamed of a country where education and jobs abounded, where the people could be protected from the evils of the rest of the world. He wanted to build a wall, far more superior than even the Great Wall of China, that would encircle not only the US Mexico border, but the entire country. He wanted a country where education was no longer inferior to its neighbors. He wanted to make America great again.  

His arousing speeches seemed to spark a renewed patriotism in the American people. They rallied together in support of Shepherd. Although charismatic, Shepherd was not as intelligent as other presidential candidates. In some ways, one could even say that he was not suited for the position at all. Now and then he would make remarks that would sound racially insensitive, or cruel towards certain groups of people. Some of his plans even seemed unrealistic. However, these did not turn his followers against him. Instead, they absorbed everything like it was a new gospel and only grew in numbers.  

For his first term, he was true to his word. He began to make the USA more self-sufficient. The United States no longer relied on foreign products. More jobs were created in the forms of increased military security and led to less crime. Reformed education allowed the general population to be more successful in the fields of science and engineering. To some, this was truly a new Golden Age, to others, it was a nightmare they could not wake up from. The fear of terrorists had created its own form of terrorism. Innocent people of different religions and races began to be questioned at every turn.

"Are you here legally?"

"Are you carrying any weapons?"

"Do you have any connection to the extremists in the Middle East?"

The fear only grew deeper, leading some to simply drive questionable people from their communities, and others to even kill. Though the murders were tried and punished, one could claim Shepherd might have approved of the violence.  

Shepherd’s popularity and shocking continued success led him to be reelected in 2036.  

It was during this second term that Shepherd's ideals became as violent as his followers.  

The president initially based his second campaign on making America beautiful and united. This amazing country needs to reflect the success that we have made together. We are one people and we should fight the ugliness that we have regretted for so long. His inauguration speech brought tears to the eyes of the people and cheers could be heard wherever you went.  

Shepherd started with the cities.

President Shepherd believed that the growing turmoil of Camden, New Jersey needed to be taken care of. However, unlike presidents in the past, he believed the problem could be fixed by erasing Camden off the map with a newly developed bomb. The impact of the bomb was specific and could be calculated so that the damage was contained within a certain perimeter. Before the bomb arrived, Shepherd made an announcement. Anyone living in the United States illegally must present themselves to the nearest police station where they will be processed and contained until arrangements can be made to take them back where they came from. It is time for America to be free from these people taking away our jobs, raping our women, and selling our children drugs. We must take a stand. If they will not leave voluntarily, we will take them by force. No one knew about the bomb save the developers and select government officials. No one knows how Shepherd was able to get approval from Congress, or if he consulted them at all.  

The bomb came without warning. Thousands of people were killed and hundreds were forcefully taken from their homes for questioning. Men, women, and children were ruthlessly questioned not only about their citizenship, but the citizenship of their parents and relatives. Staying in the country illegally became impossible.

 After Camden, there was Detroit and any other city with a low income or high immigrant population. Shepherd created a specific military operation whose only job was to weed out anyone living in America illegally. They targeted Hispanics and Arabs initially. As time went on, African Americans and Asians were also questioned. Although there were some who had families in America legally for generations, they were deported by the corrupt organization. Some tried to start an uprising, but Shepherd had eyes everywhere. The uprising fizzled out before the planning was done, and those who were involved in the planning were either deported or taken in for questioning.  

Shortly afterwards, President Shepherd issued Decree 39 for the Wellbeing of America, “Any person not registered as a citizen of the United States of America will be immediately deported. “Birth Right Citizenship will no longer be applicable to those born to illegal immigrants. Their children will be deported, and any citizen found to have illegal immigrants as immediate family will be questioned as to their location."  

It became clear that the president was molding a new government behind closed doors. The democracy that had built the very country he wanted to save, and the traditional values he so desperately fought vanished before the people's eyes. The president surrounded himself with officials who were just as xenophobic as he. No one held him back some out of respect of his supposed greatness, others out of fear.  

The president decided that specific identification was required for citizens and those of different religions, specifically Islam, and those who were being deported. Citizens were given chips in the back of their necks. They resembled the kind put in dogs by a vet. However, they were extremely difficult to change without the proper equipment. The chips also held more information. They kept track not only of personal identification such as a name and birthdate, but also race, religion, social security number, education, family history, and medical records. Those who were Muslim were usually deported, but those that remained in the country were forced to where a brightly colored badge on their clothes. It resembled the badges forced on the Jewish peoples during the Holocaust. Every American citizen's information was held in a database run by specialists in the CIA trained to pick out anyone suspected to be a criminal.  

Then he attacked the homeless. They are not true citizens. They have made no effort to change their ways and are drunkards and addicts. They do not deserve to live in this beautiful country. His goal was to deport the homeless. When they and others tried to protect them or tried to organize protests, shots were fired and they kept firing until the protesting stopped or when the homeless were dead.  

As 2039 neared, the people held their breath. Who would be the one to fix this travesty? Would someone clean this mess, or continue to create more? Few men and women dared to enter the race, unsure of what promises to make, or what Shepherd would do next.  

Then the unthinkable happened.

Shepherd decided to run for a third term. This law keeping me from running is outdated. Why do we need so many old laws. I wanted to make this country great and a great country needs new great laws. With enough support from congress and the senate, the law was redacted, freeing Shepherd to do as he pleased.  

Shepherd was reelected for a third term in 2040. Enough of the citizens approved of what was going on in Washington DC and very few people questioned it. Those who disapproved and were caught speaking out were deported or thrown in jail.  

The founder of The Cell, 01, saw that the USA was losing its freedom and that it was only getting worse. He had dreams of the pre-Shepherd America, where the Constitution was upheld, and the people were safe. He had only himself and his pregnant wife, but he was determined to make a difference. He began to gather a wide range of followers. Lawyers, doctors, scientists, politicians, farmers, construction workers and stay at home mothers all began to follow his new philosophy.  

Underneath the new America, a network of tunnels, shacks and houses appeared, unknown to the President or his followers. It was a new Underground Railroad befitting the new Civil War that was occurring. Each man, woman, and child was given a job. Slowly, they started gaining control of small towns and local government, gaining enough ground but staying quiet. Their firsts missions were small, gaining power in local government and moving towards Washington. They paved the way for some to escape into Canada or Mexico. Those who wanted to stay were put to work. They moved further underground and built tunnels that connected the different Cell posts all around the country. 01 knew it would take years to really make a difference, but his plans were precise. By 2043, 01 had members in the military and federal government. Every move he made was done legally, so it would not be questioned by Shepherd. There were no riots, no murders. Not yet. He needed time to gain enough power.  

My mother joined The Cell in 2043. She was trained as a professional housewife. Her assignment was to marry a lawyer in New York City, who was paid off my federal officials to forge paperwork. That man was my father. Every part of their meeting was planned. She seduced him and married him, just as she was trained to do. She used his connections to gather information about the government in New York City, which helped the Cell gain more ground during the elections. Then she got pregnant. Everything changed. She became obsessed with wanting to leave the country. One night, my father found her packing. Overwhelmed and exhausted, she told him everything. She knew he loved her and part of her loved him as well. He had suspected her involvement with an anti-government group from the way she asked questions at a party, and who she associated herself with. He loved her enough to let her, and he approved of it. He confided in her that he was being threatened by the government who said he and his family would be killed if he did not cooperate. He told her that most people who were deported were killed. The president feared being attacked by his neighbors, and wanted to kill those who could know his secrets. He wanted her to stay, and raise the baby in New York. He would not stop her from running, but he wanted to help her in her mission. So she stayed and raised me in New York. 

When I was 13, their cover was blown. A government spy had found evidence of my parents’ terrorist involvement. Before I even knew what was going on, we were on the run to Canada.  

                                                     ***

Now here I am. Ten years later, a trained professional nurse, ready for assignment. The love of my life tracing pictures on my back with his fingers, as I slowly begin to calm down.  

“I didn’t forget about Memorial Day. I just thought that maybe this year would be different. I thought that maybe we could get through it together instead of you pushing me away again.” I can see the hurt in his eyes. “Today is important for us. Did you forget that?” He was getting assigned too. For years he was being trained as a monitor, but he recently requested a change in assignment. He wanted to be with me. I was to go to the surface permanently, to gain information from a hospital as a nurse away from him, for as long as the Cell ordered me to.

“I’m sorry. Jake, I know how much this means to you, what it means for us. I want this, but if I focus too much on being assigned to you, I will be even more disappointed if it doesn’t work out. We have to be prepared for anything.”  

“I know. I just want to be there for you. No one knows you like I do.” He squeezes my hand. “I have a present for you.” He pulls out a small piece of paper from his pocket.  

It’s a picture of my parents. My mother's strikingly red hair that clashed brilliantly against the blue sky behind her. My father's deep blue eyes turned towards her and his strong arms wrapped around her waist. They smiled at each other, alive and well. I feel my hand begin to trace the outlines of their faces which I never forgot, but have not seen in ten years. I wipe my tears away before they have a chances to fall onto the fragile paper.  

“Where did you get this?”

“I did a computer search when you told me your name. The Cell did a good job in erasing all trace of you but they also trained me in finding information no one else can find. It was on a photographer’s website from over 20 years ago. You look just like them.”

“I don’t know what to say.” I just stare at their smiling faces, careful not to get any tears on the fragile piece of paper. “I love you, Jake.”

“I love you too, Faye.”  I put the photograph on the bedside table, and lay down for a couple more minutes of rest before the day begins. Jake curls up against me, holding me together.  

7:30 am. My alarm is the one to break the perfect peace, and Jake leaves to return to his room quickly and without another word. I don my gray uniform, a button up shirt with my number embroidered on the sleeve and a knee length pencil skirt, and force my frizzy ginger hair into a tight ballet bun. It’s Memorial Day. Assignment day.  

A few minutes later, the intercom buzzer rings.  

“38, time for breakfast.” Jake sounds more official. As a walk for the door, my stomach churns. In a few minutes, we will learn of our futures. I stick my new picture carefully in my shoe and open the door. Faces neutral, Jake and I head to the cafeteria.

Gray.  

After ten years of only seeing gray, the color sickens me. In the tunnels, we are one. No one stands out, and everyone has the same purpose. Take down Shepherd. Dark and dreary, the members of my class fill the hall. Every face is solemn. Today we remember those we lost. Soft conversations can be heard, whispers mixed with tears. I can almost feel mine coming back, but Jake quickly squeezes my hand under the table. He does know me better than anyone else. As hard as I try to keep my emotions to myself, I feel them building. My face is flushed and I squeeze my eyes tightly together.

“38? Are you alright?” A voice from behind startles me and I turn to see 23. His golden hair looks strange in the cafeteria lighting, almost white. I feel Jake tense up next to me.

“She’s fine, 23,” Jake blurted out before I could open my mouth. The tension from years of stupid arguments builds slowly between them and I, once again, must be the bigger person.

“I am fine, 23, thank you for asking. 35 is fine as well. How are you?”

“Well enough, given the circumstances at the present. Are you ready for placement?”

“I think so, but like many, I’m nervous. I don’t know what to expect. Has your father told you of your placement yet?”

“No. He believed that I should be notified with the rest of our class.” He looks down at his feet, his face slightly red as if embarrassed. “I hope you don’t think that I receive special treatment because of my father.”  

"That's what we all believe actually," mumbled Jake, just loud enough to be heard. I dig the heel of my shoe into his foot.

“Of course not. I’m sorry, 23,” I said through my teeth. “I never should have asked.”  

“Well, if you can excuse me, I must go finish breakfast. 38, 35.” He walks briskly away, and I can see Jake’s shoulders relax in the corner of my eye.

“What the hell, 35. Why do you have to be such an idiot.”  

“He just pisses me off. Him and his freaking entitled attitude.” Then in a whisper, “You know why I’m angry. You should be the one defending yourself. The fact that you can just talk to him so casually, frankly, pisses me off.”  

"Not all of us can afford to remain pissed off at another Cell member. I have to keep reminding myself that, after everything we've been through, he's my ally. He's yours too, so get over yourself."  

He begins to mumble incoherently under his breath and ignoring him I get up and head toward the ceremony.  

                                                         ***

I walk into the one room in this underground maze that I have never seen. Only those being assigned and full members are allowed in. The hall has no seating. On the far side of the room is a stage with a single black podium. The walls are covered with murals painted in shades of grey depicting the Corruption. Seeing the paintings forces me back into the reality of the world I live in. Sometimes on days where I fail at certain tasks, when I find myself lost in the tunnels, when the world around me seems like it might fall apart at any moment, I forget my purpose. When I see the devastation in the pictures, the horror that the country has gone through, I remember.  

My peers filter in and remain standing as the high council makes their way to the front of the room. The silence follows them.  

01 stands in the middle.  

Trembling, I stand waiting to hear my fate. No introduction is given, no heartwarming speech. 01 begins to read the names of the assigned couples to enter the surface. When the incident with my parents almost revealed the existence of the Cell, rules were drastically changed. The members of the Cell were no longer allowed to marry outside of the Cell. Instead, each member was assigned a husband or wife based on strict compatibility markers, placement and mission.  

“45 and 78.”  

“84 and 62.”

“83 and 94.”

A hand grasps mine as each couple makes their way to the front to receive the time and place of their assignment. “We’ll be ok, Faye. No matter what. I love you," Jake whispers.

“I love you too.”  

For what seems like hours, we stand there, hand in hand, watching others we barely knew step forward to get their assignments. Every couple receives an envelope containing the date and time of their meeting with 01. There, they will get the details of their missions. Some will go to small towns and live generally normal lives, making subtle but important differences. Others will be sent to large cities, New York, Chicago, even Washington DC, to gather intel to advance our cause.  

The group dwindles down as the couples leave to get to know each other, or head off to their meetings. “38,” My posture straightens when my number is called. Jake’s grip tightens and we prepare for the next number.  

“and 23.”

#38 #dystopia #make america great again #trump #antitrump #fictional future #personal #personal blog #ya fiction #writing #booklr #young adult

[davidrivkin]

Before this pandemic ends, intel agencies should prepare for a world of threats

By David B. Rivkin, Jr., and George Beebe

31 March 2020 in The Hill

Few people regard the novel coronavirus pandemic as an intelligence failure. And, judging by conventional standards, it is not one. The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) was created to collect and analyze secret information about our adversaries’ capabilities and intentions that pose strategic threats to American national security. Despite allegations by some foreign propagandists and domestic conspiracy-mongers, COVID-19 was not dreamed up in some biological weapons laboratory and unleashed diabolically on the world. Its origins in Chinese “wet markets” were far more prosaic. Today’s rapidly emerging global dangers could not have been uncovered by intercepting secret Chinese communications or capturing their plans for biological warfare.  

In such situations, traditional approaches to gathering and analyzing intelligence can only make limited contributions. They can help to determine what secretive governments, such as those in China and Iran, actually know about the spread of COVID-19 and its lethality, and to what degree they may be hiding the truth. And some spinmeisters, evidently intent on both polishing the IC’s image and tarnishing that of President Trump, already have been portraying classified briefings in January and February as an intelligence success because they did just that.

But the notion that Trump is guilty of failing to heed these briefings — or that Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), and other U.S. senators are legally and ethically culpable for allegedly dumping stocks in response to them — overstates how actionable they were. Anyone who doubts this should ask whether the CIA itself took early action to protect its own personnel and facilities from the coming wave of danger that it supposedly forecast.

Rendering the entirely unsurprising judgment that Beijing was failing to level with its people or the world is not the same as sounding urgent alarms about a global health crisis that could lead to world economic depression. And making a marginal contribution to scaling a deadly threat after it has emerged is not why American taxpayers devote tens of billions of dollars annually to our intelligence cadre. The fundamental purpose of intelligence is to warn effectively about incipient dangers before they become urgent realities, not to help measure their dimensions — or advance partisan political agendas — afterward.  

In the context of this larger purpose, the emergence of the novel coronavirus crisis highlights some unacceptable weaknesses in American intelligence. Since its inception in 1947, the IC’s primary mission has been to warn of deliberate, secretly planned attacks by our adversaries, whether they are powerful state actors or non-state terrorists. This challenge endures, as great power competition intensifies, and terrorism persists. While the IC’s record on this is mixed, it is at least a task well-suited to high-technology intelligence collection and to analysis, breaking down a problem and studying its component parts individually.  

Unfortunately, our globalized 21st century-world also produces national security threats of a different kind, those that arise when small, non-secret factors combine to produce a devastating cascade of knock-on effects that no one has planned or anticipated. Novel coronavirus turned into a crisis not because it is deadlier than the SARS virus that emerged in China in 2002 (its fatality rate is lower, though it has claimed more lives), but because it debuted in a more entangled but less trusting world, whose weaker physical and psychological antibodies were not up to the challenge. This is the type of a problem that requires synthetic rather than analytic thinking: examining interconnections and feedback loops that can cause small developments to mutate into big dangers.  

As it stands today, the IC is ill-staffed and poorly organized for warning about such emerging “complex systems” threats, unfolding in a chaotic world, before they become unmanageable crises. The IC’s enormous cadre of narrowly focused analysts and collectors is ideal for handling traditional intelligence tasks, where uncovering hidden technical details can spell the difference between success and failure in dealing with foreign adversaries.

But large organizational size and narrow specializations can be real handicaps when the task is to bring together a wide range of disciplines and understand the interconnections among factors that could produce “perfect storms” of danger. And old cultural and regulatory barriers between foreign intelligence and domestic American affairs impede understanding the feedback effects between factors internal to the United States and those beyond our borders.

To meet this type of challenge, intelligence must operate on a smaller and smarter scale. It must rely less on secret information, and more on interdisciplinary teams of experts tasked with understanding the larger context of events. In cases such as the novel coronavirus crisis, it must assemble diverse groups of doctors, epidemiologists, economists, business leaders, data scientists, psychologists and other experts who are not typically central players in intelligence assessments.

And it needs to be much better informed about what American entities are doing at home and abroad, because these entities are often important parts of complex international systems. Intelligence experts cannot understand how perfect storms of danger develop beyond our borders — nor can American policymakers know how to deal with them effectively — unless they also understand the ways U.S. factors and capabilities affect them.  

Rising to this challenge also requires a much more cooperative and trusting relationship among the IC, White House and Congress. To provide meaningful assessments, intelligence organizations must engage policymakers in their discussion of systemic variables and feedback loops early in the process. They must view their role as helping policymakers to identify variables they can influence, directly and indirectly, and to anticipate the possible impacts on the system of various policy options. They must help U.S. leaders strike an effective balance between punishing Beijing for hiding the true extent of COVID-19’s early spread — a necessary deterrent to future misconduct — and pushing it too far, particularly in an environment where the Communist Party’s reputation and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s own sagacity have taken a beating, and adopting measures that might boomerang against our own national security.

None of that can happen when the IC is an active player in domestic political warfare. In this regard, press leaks about the IC’s supposedly perspicacious warnings about the novel coronavirus threat are actually indications of collective failure. Such internecine strife destroys the trust necessary for frank dialogue among those attempting to understand the dynamics of problems such as the novel coronavirus crisis, and those attempting to manage them.  

Reckoning with these problems should be an urgent matter for the acting Director of National Intelligence, a position created to bring together diverse entities and foster collaboration across the IC. The cascade of developments flowing from the outbreak of COVID-19 is far from over. To one degree or another, the United States, Europe, Russia and China all will be wounded — physically, economically and psychologically. These wounds could very well contribute to a dangerous new phase of great power competition. Understanding the dynamics that could send it spiraling beyond manageable bounds into deadly warfare is a vital task for American intelligence.  

David B. Rivkin, Jr., is a constitutional lawyer who has served in the Justice and Energy departments and the White House Counsel’s Office in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. He also worked for a number of years for the Defense Department as a defense and foreign policy analyst.  

George S. Beebe is vice president and director of studies at the Center for the National Interest, former head of Russia analysis at the CIA, and author of “The Russia Trap: How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe.”

Source: https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/490160-before-this-pandemic-ends-intel-agencies-should-prepare-for-a-world-of-threats

[funface2]

Chris Morris Finds the FBI, Sadly, Very Funny – Vulture

The Brass Eye creator reinvented himself as a movie director with Four Lions. It only took him nine years to give us a second film. Photo: Courtesy of IFC Films

Chris Morris, the 57-year-old English writer, comedian, and director, is both revered and reviled. He came up angering the masses with his breakneck parodies of news media, The Day Today (co-created by Armando Iannucci) and Brass Eye, programs that predated Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. Arguably more radical and surreal than their various spawn, the satirical shows allowed for Morris to, for example, trick members of Parliament into somberly weighing in on a nonexistent Czechoslovakian drug called Cake. On an infamous one-off edition of Brass Eye, 2001’s “Paedogeddon!” special, he tackled moral panic around pedophilia by duping Phil Collins, among other celebrities, into supporting a fake charity, Nonce Sense. (If you’re familiar with British slang, you get it.) Channel 4 reportedly received 2,000 complaints after it aired.

In 2010, Morris reinvented himself as a movie director with Four Lions, a tightrope act of a comedy about a pack of bungling would-be jihadists, starring a young Riz Ahmed. The film prompted critic Andrew Pulven to declare in the Guardian, “Chris Morris is still the most incendiary figure working in the British entertainment industry.” Nearly a decade later, Morris is back with his follow-up, The Day Shall Come, a movie he once again co-wrote with Succession creator Jesse Armstrong. Like Four Lions, it’s a tricky attempt at getting laughs out of impossibly dark subject matter. The topic is ginned-up FBI stings in which hapless nobodies get reinvented as terror masterminds. The stories are manifold and depressingly familiar: an FBI informant finds a susceptible target with extreme leanings and offers money, encouragement, and weapons — and, eventually, the FBI has an alleged massive terror-plot bust to crow about. In The Day Shall Come, newcomer Marchánt Davis plays Moses Al Shabaz, a lovable dummy and would-be revolutionary who gets manipulated by Anna Kendrick’s ambitious, conflicted FBI agent. (Her read on Moses: “He’s got the threat signature of a hot dog.”) As Morris explained in our conversation ahead of the film’s release, “You have the Department of Justice behaving like gods — like rather paranoid gods. They’re playing with people that they don’t understand but that they can manipulate.”

The Day Shall Come is billed as being based on “a hundred true stories.” Was there one, in particular, that inspired you?  Very much so, yes. I was just watching the news on British TV, and the story came up that the FBI had arrested an army launching a full-scale ground war from a warehouse in Miami. I didn’t realize then it was the origin of a film, but three years later I ran into [former CIA operations officer and terror expert] Marc Sageman, who was a witness at the trial. He said, “Remember that full-scale ground war in Miami? It was actually going to be seven guys on horses. But they didn’t even have horses.” It turned out an FBI informant was offering $50,000 for them to come up with a plan against the government. Their first plan was to lead a protest to the governor’s house in Miami against conditions in the projects. And the informant said, “Well, you’re not gonna get much money for that, so you need to think bigger.” And they basically riffed their way into a ludicrous plot to knock over the Sears Tower, which they claimed they could do even though they had no idea how, and which they claimed would cause a tidal wave which would swamp Chicago. Then they said that the waters would subside and they would ride into town on horses because they said people respect a man on a horse.

So this was what was presented through a news bulletin as a bigger threat to the United States than 9/11. By the [former] attorney general, by the way! [Alberto] Gonzales. That’s how he described it. I just thought, “Right, that’s some great lie. And I now want to get to the bottom of this.” I was further drawn in by the fact that this was a pattern by which the FBI comes up with a terrorist plot and then tries to get someone to try and carry it out.

Before making Four Lions, you spent years researching jihadism. Was it a similar research process this time? Only in that you’re following something to find out more. But in all other respects, there were very few similarities. This is a story about law enforcement setting up a fake world and leading someone into it, creating a sort of Truman Show–type environment. The research then took me to a lot of places that were strange to me. I’ve never been in an FBI building before, I’ve never spoken to people in the Department of Justice or been around any American city police stations. I hadn’t been to Detroit, Dearborn, Chicago, where some of these cases had been perpetrated on people. It was a series of very interesting, exciting acquaintances with the unknown.

If you’re trying to write a character like Moses, you’re trying to create a fringe preacher, someone who has come up with their own ideology which represents a transcendent narrative to people who are living in an area which is pretty downtrodden. And in order to do that you have to understand the still-ongoing segregation that happens. We came across a bridge across a canal in Miami which separated two neighborhoods. The kids in the poorer neighborhood went to school in the better-off neighborhood across this bridge on the canal, but there was a dirty, great big steel door in the middle of the bridge and these kids were only allowed to walk to school with a police escort. Then at the end of the school day they were sort of ushered through back to the poorer neighborhood, and the steel door was slammed shut. You see that, and then you can start to write within the confines that the real world has set out for you.

Chris Morris in Brass Eye. Photo: Channel 4 Television Corporation

What was it like seeing things from the FBI’s perspective? There are on-the-record conversations where a glimmer of conscience appears. There’s an agent who [accidentally] left their recording on after when they’d been to visit a target, and once that recording is left on it has to be available to the court in a trial. So there was a brief moment, before the judge overruled [it as evidence], when this recording was around, and you can hear the agent coming back to the office saying, “Great, this guy is such an idiot, and is so poor, we’re not even going to need to offer him $50 to do something! We’re definitely on to something here!” And somebody else, another voice, says, “Yeah, but should we really be targeting this kind of person?” And there’s a bit of a pause and then somebody else says, “Yeah, we should.”

The FBI has been historically known to open files on musicians, writers, and all sorts of private citizens. Do you think they might have a file open on you now? If I say no, it’ll give someone who has got a file open on me a laugh. Who knows.

What kind of sway does being a U.K. comedy legend get you in the U.S. moviemaking system? [Dry British chuckle] Well, it varies. It’s certainly not the first part of the conversation.

I’m curious about your development over the years. Your movies — while impressively lacking any glint of a happy ending — very much are trying to tell empathetic human stories. Brass Eye, though, was almost nihilistic. It was, like, punk.  Oh, you prefer the happy ending of a punk attack?! Well, you know, those things are reactions. They’re glorified spasms, aren’t they? If you’re doing satirical commentary on the fabric of news presentations, or on how politics is mediated through the news, or on how celebrities stand for things they don’t understand, you’re just trying to detonate the same membrane that’s giving you this crap. You’re just trying to ruin the fabric. It’s like a grenade attack. It is a series of spasms which you make as jokes.

When you’re doing it, you’re basically setting yourself impossible tasks. You go, “Right, there’s no way we can get away with this, it’s impossible … so let’s try it.” And then you discover, “Oh my God, we got away with that.” There’s an internal logic. It’s not just the end that’s driving you forward. It’s your personal investment. Your testing of your own presumptions and basic discoveries of human psychology. Once you’ve discovered that, you’d be mad to carry on doing it. God, it would be so dispiriting. You’d be going [clicks into quiet, jaded voice], “Yeah, yeah, I go into this situation, I write this, I get that person to say this, and we’d end up with [long harrumph] another funny thing.” It would be awful!

Moses Al Shabaz in The Day Shall Come. Photo: IFC Films

A common observation about the pretty insane Brass Eye is that it wouldn’t look all that insane held up next to something like current-day Fox News. That, in a way, your fake news predicted the tenor of today’s real news. I’m … I’m pretty skeptical. I think it’s a quite superficial. In the time when I was satirizing the fabric of the media, the media took itself seriously, in that sort of universal voice. And since that time, that universal voice, and indeed the degree that people feel the news has a right to take itself seriously, has diminished. So there’s not an authority to undermine. People, you could say, they go around undermining their own authority now.

And politicians, if you are going to get them to campaign for something that doesn’t exist, you have to get them to talk unbelievable rubbish. I mean, really. I don’t mean just something you can’t believe but mind-blowingly stupid rubbish in order for it to be funny enough to put in a program.

It does feel like politicians lean into the shameless these days. You have to go so much farther for something to feel ridiculous.  The shamelessness is a strongman political tactic now. But I don’t think it’s a very good long-term game, do you? It’s disorientating because someone is offending the social codes. And in those circumstances, whether it’s amongst your own social group or amongst what is perceived to be the right way for politicians to behave, you can steal a certain amount of territory by doing that. You disarm the room, or the country, or the opposition by doing that, by simply not owning it as a problem. And [Trump] does just sort of drop a turd and move on and drop a turd and move on. It’s a disruptive tactic until people realize quite how basic the tactic is.

You and Charlie Brooker together came up with the idea for the the Black Mirror episode “The Waldo Moment,” in which a comedian playing a CGI bear becomes a rising political star. Waldo’s success comes from just being funny and awful, all the time. That’s another bit of content that could be said to foreshadow our current moment.  I’m not suuure. It’s the idea of being in character. As long as you’re in character, you can get away with anything. So as an evasion tactic, it’s pretty good. But I don’t think we thought, “Errhmm, the way things are going, there’s gonna be a populist uprising and an appeal to the lowest common denominator, and an appeal to people’s gut feelings without bothering about arguments or rigor or any of those processes which you expect from politicians” — I don’t think we saw all that. We probably just saw that childishness worked.

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[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/the-rise-and-fall-of-isis/

The Rise and Fall of ISIS

by Ghassan Kadi for Ooduarere via The Saker Blog

A year or two ago, I would have never imagined that I would be writing an article with this title, at least not this soon; but things change.

If anything, my previous articles about ISIS which I wrote back between 2014 and 2017 were very alarming and predicted the worst, but again, things change, and back then there were many reasons to feel alarmed.

I have reiterated in that era of the past that the ISIS ideology had deep roots in fundamentalist Islam, and I still have this view. I have professed many times that this fundamentalist doctrine had been in place long before Christopher Columbus set a foot on American soil and that we cannot blame the CIA, Israel, the UK, or the West in general for the creation of this ideology, and I am not retracting. I have also said that those fundamentalist views do not represent real Islam, and there is no change in heart on this aspect either. So what has changed?

In this context, we are talking about the ideological rise and fall of ISIS. We are not talking about the political aspects and the horde of players who helped create, manipulate and employ ISIS for different reasons and agendas. With all of those players however, ISIS needed the support base, and that support base was the Muslim youth who are disenchanted by world events and the manner the world views Islam. Furthermore, they are disgruntled by the governments of the Muslims World and their links to the West: links they consider as treasonous and shameful. It was this mindset that was the recruitment base for ISIS; not the Pentagon.

So for the benefit of clarification, I must herein emphasize that there has always been a perverted version of Islam that founded itself on violence; in total contradiction to the Quranic teachings that clearly forbid coercion and oppression. This version was finally committed to a written doctrine, written by Ibn Taymiyyah; the founding doctrine of the Wahhabi Saudi sect.

When the West “discovered” this doctrine, it tried to employ it to its advantage, and this was how Al-Qaeda and ISIS were created, with Al-Qaeda’s role to hurt the USSR in Afghanistan, and ISIS to topple the legitimate and secular Syrian Government.

The not so funny thing about ISIS was that when the proclamation of creating the Islamist state back in mid-2014, the Caliphate passion became something easy to grow and self-nurture in the hearts and minds of many Sunni Muslims across the globe; including moderate ones.

Harking back at what happened back then; one honestly cannot blame them much. After all, many of the then Iraqi ISIS commanders and fighters were former Saddam-era Iraqi Army personnel. Many of them have even actually walked away from the “dictator” in the hope that the “regime change” was going to be for the better, only to soon realize the state of mess and mayhem that the American invasion created.

Before ISIS “had the chance” to show its ugly face, may moderate Muslims thought that this new force emerging out of Mesopotamia, one that does not recognize the border lines that Western colonialists have drawn between Sham (Syria) and Iraq, one that wants to unite Muslims, is perhaps “the one” to go for and support.

Ironically, most of those Muslims today look back at those days and either forget or wish to forget that at one stage, at some level, deep down in their hearts they supported ISIS, albeit not fully knowing what it stood for.

It was this subtle and covert support for ISIS by some elements of the global Sunni rank-and-file that gave ISIS a fertile ground for luring in recruits and that was the major cause for concern.

If anyone looks for evidence that supports this statement, then he/she need not go further than looking at the recent history of terror attacks in the EU (especially France) and the UK.

After the horrendous Bastille Day attack in Nice in the summer of 2016, a new direction for terror was established, and the perpetrator proved that one does not need a weapon to kill. His weapon was a truck, and he didn’t even need to buy it. He rented it.

After this infamous attack and what followed it, I among many others, predicted more of such events, and they continued for a while, and then suddenly they stopped. Why? This is the question.

For ISIS to be have been able to keep its momentum and growing support base, it needed to gain the hearts and minds of Muslims. But to do so, it needed to score victories and be able to revive Muslim nostalgia. Both are equally important.

In the beginning, it boasted its victories and the biggest of which was the takeover of Mosul; Iraq’s second largest city. This was how the ears of many Muslims worldwide pricked up and poised themselves to hear more. Some jumped on the band wagon straight away, but the majority braced and waited for more evidence that ISIS in general, and Baghdadi in specific, are the right ones to trust and follow.

What followed the capture of Mosul by ISIS however was nothing short of disgrace for ISIS; one that exposed its true inner ugliness. And instead of being able to capitalize on its initial momentum and promising to achieve more of it by adopting at least some of the virtues of Islam, ISIS turned its inability to achieve further military victories into a blood bath, looting and a sex slave market.

Before too long, even some of the most ardent Muslim supporters of ISIS turned away from it, and then against it, to the degree that they now even forget or deny that they once supported its baby steps.

What is interesting to note is that the move from secularism to Islam has not changed in the Muslim world. An increasing number of Muslim girls are wearing the Hijab with or without ISIS, but ISIS itself has lost its sway with the general Sunni Muslim populace.

What is interesting to see is that the definition of what is a “real Muslim” is changing, and changing quickly. And whilst the move towards Hijab and all what comes with it is still going full steam ahead, there seems to be a growing trend in the Muslim World towards moderation.

The ISIS fundamentals of black and white doctrine seem to be becoming increasingly tolerant of certain shades of grey. Even some personal Facebook friends and friends of friends who have brandished their photos performing Pilgrimage at Mecca don’t seem to be at dis-ease posting other photos brandishing a Heineken. To someone outside the Muslim Faith this may not sound like a big deal, but in reality, it is.

This all sounds good, but what has happened here really?

ISIS has definitely lost the plot. Fortunately for the world, irrespective of who are/were the people “behind” ISIS, its recruitment base had to come from Muslims; especially the youth. Having lost the ability to draw more recruits and enthusiasts who pledge their actions and lives to Baghdadi without even having to be formal ISIS members, ISIS as an organization and a name is now a spent force, and dare I say a figment of the past.

This however does not mean that the Muslim community has “immunized” itself against potential new ISIS-like organizations and agendas.

The initial rise of ISIS could have well been the result of a nostalgic remnant of a certain belief system that many Muslims did not even want to investigate and study properly to see if it really and truly conforms with the Teachings of Islam and all other religions. The fall of ISIS however heralds a new unprecedented era in the Muslim mind, and this calls for great optimism.

Perhaps for the first time in the history of Islam ever since its inception, Muslims are now beginning to examine some teachings they inherited. Even Saudi Arabia and its infamous Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) seem to be sick and tired of the old rules and dogmas that allow this and prohibit that; based on no foundation at all. I have never been a fan of MBS, but having lived in Saudi Arabia for a while, I had always thought that this country would never allow women to drive, never ever. The fact that he changed this is a great step in the right direction. This does not take away from MBS’s genocidal activities in Yemen of course, but on the dogmatic side of things, this is a huge step towards reform. In Saudi Arabia there is also a call to have a second take on the Hadith (the spoken word of Prophet Mohamed) in an attempt to identify certain teachings that promote violence and that are incompatible with Islam. The rationale behind this is that they were never the words of the Prophet to begin with and that they might have been injected into the huge discourse by others with political agendas. Such an initiative was totally unfathomable only up till a few years ago.

Does this mean that we are seeing the end of Muslim fundamentalist-based violence? Hopefully we are, but the real answer to this question is for the whole Muslim community to answer.

The truth is that ISIS may be done and dusted, but the ideology behind lives on.

It is hoped for that the actions of ISIS will be remembered for eternity. It is hoped that Muslims realize that if they truly want to pursue the fundamentalist dreams of conquest and world dominion, then they cannot distance themselves from the legacy of ISIS. It is hoped that they look forward to a new world that is open to all religions and doctrines.

I am a firm believer that God created man in His own image, and part of this image is goodness and love of goodness; and Muslims are part of this creation. After all, Muslims, all Muslims believe in the Hadith that says: “The best people are those who most benefit to other people”. Russia and Syria might have won the military war on ISIS, but it is Muslims who have won the spiritual fight. Muslims: 1, ISIS: 0.

#ISIS

[we-arnold-lockshin-blog]

Dictatorship USA – A Personal History – Part 31

A pseudo-peace movement and then Harvard...

After a year-and-a-half or so in Boston, my CP “comrades” insisted that I leave the anti-HUAC organization and work full-time for peace. That part was all right.  By then, HUAC, while still ugly, was largely a concern of the past and the Vietnam War was issue Number One.  I was ready to move on.

The “Party” decision was that I should become an organizer for Mass PAX#, a dead end proposal.  Like virtually all “movement” organizations## in the US, the FBI was in control.  Nonetheless, PAX at times played a role in demonstrating anti-war sentiment in the state.  However, any chance that I could become an organizer was derailed by red-baiting, pro-imperialist propagandist Marty Peretz###, who was on the PAX board.

After I was rejected, my “comrades” decided that I should set up what in effect was a rival organization called PACEM (Peace Action Council of Eastern Massachusetts).  This in principle was wrong, as it was in effect “dual unionism” - creating a competing quasi-organization when unity was needed.  I was uncomfortable about the idea but too inexperienced politically to downright refuse.

The PACEM fiasco lasted for about a year, when I realized that I had to go back into science to earn my keep.  Lawrence Bogorad (see post 20 of this series) had moved from the University of Chicago to the Harvard Biological Laboratories, and I was somewhat surprised that he immediately agreed to my request to become a post-doctoral fellow in his laboratory.

“Lawrence Bogorad, a leading researcher in plant biology who was widely known for his work on the synthesis of chlorophyll and on inheritance patterns in a variety of plants...  Dr. Bogorad, who retired from Harvard in 1991, served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Plant Physiologists.” (The New York Times, Jan. 5, 2004)

An unwitting accomplice to chemical warfare...

Research went quite well.  My main collaborator Richard Falk (now a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Plant Biology, University of California Davis) was also assigned by the FBI to keep tabs on me.

One day Bogorad called me into his office specifically to show me a scientific paper from Fort Detrick* (stamped “secret” or even “top secret”).  “Fort Detrick...   was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969...  it has hosted most elements of the United States biological defense program.” (Fort Detrick, Wikipedia)

Strange. Why show me secret US military material?  Bogorad pointed to the reference section of the paper, which had to do with defoliation*. Among the paper's citations was a citation of my Ph.D. thesis  research, which had been published: Solubilization and Properties of  Chloroplast Lamellar Protein Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US) 56, 1564-1570 (1966).

It should be noted that the US war against Vietnam was going on full force at the time, and defoliation was among the arsenal of horrible weapons the “Land of the Free” was employing against the people of that country.

At about the same time, Peter Hepler (see post 17), then an assistant professor at the same Harvard Biological Laboratories where I was working, informed me unofficially that I had been selected to assume his position as he was preparing to move to Stanford University in California.  An assistant professorship at Harvard was considered a plum for young scientists.  And I had not even applied!

Was it true?  Probably so.  I had just been promoted to Lecturer in Biology (see photograph No. 5 in my book “Silent Terror”), and in case I accepted the new presumed post, my time for political struggle would have been severely limited.

Both unexpected occurences should be seen as two parts of a treacherous whole.  Bogorad's (actually the FBI's, of course) ploy was intended to demonstrate to still fairly naive Arnold Lockshin that there can be no escaping the talons of United States imperialism via “pure” research or by any other means.  I had earlier thought that my scientific research was entirely humanistic and dispassionate, while in fact it was being used for the most foul of all human endeavors: mass murderous imperialist war. Hepler's “insider information” on my prospective appointment (whether true or not) indicated that abandoning one's ideal had its rewards.

////////////////////////////

At that time, I understood considerably less about the United States of Dictatorship America (USA) than I do now.  But even so, I was quite shaken about the juxtaposition of the two events.  I saw no conscionable future for myself in science.

When Gus Hall, General Secretary of the “Communist Party USA” next came into the Boston area, I told him I wanted to become a full-time organizer for the “Party.”

….................................

# “Academia has influenced the Massachusetts voter not only directly, but through the state's peace movement, perhaps the strongest, most effective such force anywhere in the United States. The membership of the state's peace groups has never been large: the most important, Massachusetts Political Action for Peace (known as “Mass Pax”), now has only 1,220.” (As Massachusetts went— The New York Times, Jan. 14, 1973)

## The one most notable exception was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) when it was led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even when King led the SCLC, the organization was heavily infiltrated and partially obstructed by FBI stooges such as Jesse Jackson.

### “Martin H. "Marty" Peretz (born December 6, 1938) is an American publisher. Formerly an assistant professor at Harvard University, he purchased The New Republic in 1974 and took editorial control soon afterwards. Peretz is known for his strong support of Israel and support for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.” (Marty Peretz, Wikipedia)

* Defoliate: “to destroy or cause widespread loss of leaves in (an area of jungle, forest, etc.), as by using chemical sprays or incendiary bombs, in order to deprive enemy troops or guerrilla forces of concealment.”  (www.dictionary.com)

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Перед нами сейчас -  коварный и опасный мошенник, расист, лжец и фашист Дональд Трамп, порочный Конгресс, нацистские ФБР - ЦРУ,  кровавые милитаристы США и НАТО >>> а также и лживые, вредоносные американские СМ»И».

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Правительство США жестоко нарушало мои права человека при проведении кампании террора, которая заставила меня покинуть свою родину и получить политическое убежище в СССР. См. книгу «Безмолвный террор — История политических гонений на семью в США» - "Silent Terror: One family's history of political persecution in the United States» - http://arnoldlockshin.wordpress.com

Правительство США еще нарушает мои права, в течении 14 лет отказывается от выплаты причитающейся мне пенсии по старости.  Властители США воруют пенсию!!  

ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России - вслед за позорным, предавшим страну предшественником КГБ, мерзко выполняет приказы секретного, кровавого хозяина (boss) - американского ЦРУ (CIA). Среди таких «задач» -  мне запретить выступать в СМИ и не пропускать большинства отправленных мне комментариев.   А это далеко не всё...

Арнольд Локшин, политэмигрант из США

BANNED – ЗАПРЕЩЕН!!

ЦРУ - ФСБ забанили все мои посты и комментарии в Вконтакте!

… и в Макспарке!

[politicalfilth-blog]

10 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True

We Are Change

Article via The Anti-Media by Jake Anderson

In recent years, the mere notion of conspiracy theories has increasingly been stigmatized and ridiculed by mainstream news outlets, internet trolls, and “rational” thinkers. Yet, with powerful revelations by Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks, and generations of intrepid journalists, we now know that many outlandish geopolitical and domestic “conspiracy theories” were and are cold-blooded truths of the modern world.

Here are 10 that are well-documented and profoundly disturbing…

1) The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

The Gulf of Tonkin incident, a major escalator of US involvement in the Vietnam War, never actually occurred.

It’s true. The original incident – also sometimes referred to as the USS Maddox Incident(s) –involved the destroyer USS Maddox supposedly engaging three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats as part of an intelligence patrol. The Maddox fired almost 300 shells.

President Lyndon B. Johnson promptly drafted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which became his administration’s legal justification for military involvement in Vietnam. The problem is the event never happened.

In 2005, a declassified internal National Security Agency study revealed that there were NO North Vietnamese naval vessels present during the incident. So, what was the Maddox firing at? In 1965, President Johnson commented: “For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there.”

Worth pointing out: The NSA’s own historian, Robert J. Hanyok, wrote a report stating that the agency had deliberately distorted intelligence reports in 1964. He concluded: “The parallels between the faulty intelligence on Tonkin Gulf and the manipulated intelligence used to justify the Iraq War make it all the more worthwhile to re-examine the events of August 1964.”

2) Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

Between 1932 and 1972, the US Public Health Service conducted a clinical study on rural African American men who had contracted syphilis. The Public Health Service never informed these men they had a sexually transmitted disease, nor did they offer treatment, even after penicillin became available as a cure in the 1940s.

Tragically, it’s true. Rather than receiving treatment, the subjects of these studies were told they had “bad blood.”

When World War II began, 250 of the men registered for the draft and were only then, for the first time, informed they had syphilis. Even then, the PHS denied them treatment.

By the early 1970s, 128 of the original 399 men had died of syphilis and syphilis-related complications, 40 of their wives had the disease and 19 of their children were born with congenital syphilis.

Worth pointing out: A similar experiment conducted on prisoners, soldiers, and patients of a mental hospital in Guatemala actually involved the PHS deliberately infecting the patients and then treating them with antibiotics.

3) Project MKUltra

The CIA ran secret mind control experiments on US citizens from the 1950s until 1973.

It’s so true that in 1995 President Clinton actually issued a formal apology on behalf of the US government.

Essentially, the CIA used drugs, electronics, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, verbal and sexual abuse, and torture to conduct experimental behavioral engineering experiments on subjects. The program subcontracted hundreds of these projects to over 80 different institutions, including universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.

Most of this was uncovered in 1977 when a Freedom of Information Act exposed 20,000 previously classified documents and triggered a series of Senate hearings. Because CIA Director Richard Helms had most of the more damning MKULTRA files destroyed in 1973, much of what actually occurred during these experiments is still unknown and, of course, not a single person was brought to justice.

Worth pointing out: There is growing evidence that Theodore Kaczynski, otherwise known as the Unabomber, was a subject of the Project MKULTRA while he was at Harvard in the late 1950s.

4) Operation Northwoods

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military drew up and approved plans to create acts of terrorism on US soil in order to sway the American public into supporting a war against Cuba.

It’s true and the documents are out there.

Fortunately, President Kennedy rejected the plan, which included: innocent Americans being shot dead on the streets; boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere; people being framed for bombings they did not commit; and planes being hijacked.

Additionally, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led by Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer, planned to fabricate evidence that would implicate Fidel Castro and Cuban refugees as the perpetrators of the attacks.

Perhaps most horrifyingly, Lemnitzer planned for an elaborately staged incident whereby a Cuban aircraft would attack and shoot down a plane full of college students.

5) CIA Drug Trafficking

During the 1980s, the CIA facilitated the sale of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army.

It’s convoluted and complex, but it’s true.

Gary Webb’s book Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion outlines how CIA-backed Contras smuggled cocaine into the U.S. and then distributed crack to Los Angeles gangs, pocketing the profits. The CIA directly aided the drug dealers to raise money for the Contras.

“This drug network,” Webb wrote in a 1996 San Jose MercuryNews article, “opened the first pipeline between Colombia’s cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the ‘crack’ capital of the world. The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America . . . and provided the cash and connections needed for L.A.’s gangs to buy automatic weapons.”

Worth pointing out: On December 10, 2004, Webb committed suicide under suspicious circumstances, namely the fact that he used two bullets to shoot himself in the head.

6) Operation Mockingbird

In the late 1940s, as the Cold War was just getting underway, the CIA launched a top secret project called Operation Mockingbird. Their goal was to buy influence and control among the major media outlets. They also planned to put journalists and reporters directly on the CIA payroll, which some claim is ongoing to this day. The architects of this plan were Frank Wisner, Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, and Philip Graham (publisher of The Washington Post), who planned to enlist American news organizations and journalists to basically become spies and propagandists.

Their list of entrenched agents eventually included journalists from ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International (UPI), Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, and Copley News Service. By the 1950s, the CIA had infiltrated the nation’s businesses, media, and universities with tens of thousands of on-call operatives.

Fortunately, our media is no longer lured in by corporations and governments to disseminate propaganda and disinformation….hmmm, never mind–strike that last statement.

7) COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO was a series of clandestine, illegal FBI projects that infiltrated domestic political organizations to discredit and smear them. This included critics of the Vietnam War, civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and a wide variety of activists and journalists.

The acts committed against them included psychological warfare, slander using forged documents and false reports in the media, harassment, wrongful imprisonment and, according to some, intimidation and possibly violence and assassination.

Similar and possibly more sophisticated tactics are still used today, including NSA monitoring (see #10).

8) Operation Snow White

Operation Snow White is the name given to an unprecedented infiltration of the US government by the Church of Scientology during the 1970s. They stole classified government files regarding Scientology from dozens of government agencies.

In 1977, the FBI finally cracked Snow White open which led to the arrest and imprisonment of a senior Church official.

The core mission of the program was to expose and legally expunge “all false and secret files of the nations of operating areas” and to enable Church seniors and L. Ron Hubbard himself to “frequent all Western nations without threat.” By the end, of course, there was nothing legal about their endeavors.

9) Secret Global Economic Policies

For years, activists who feared a sinister globalist corporatocracy were told they were being paranoid. Whether you want to call it the New World Order or not: they were right.

In 2013, WikiLeaks released the secretly negotiated draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. It revealed a closed-door regional free trade agreement being negotiated by countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation says TPP has “extensive negative ramifications for users’ freedom of speech, right to privacy and due process, and [will] hinder peoples’ abilities to innovate.”

Worth pointing out: In June 2014, WikiLeaks revealed the even more far-reaching Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), a 50-country agreement that will promote unprecedented levels of privatization across the world. The agreement will essentially prevent governments from returning public services into public hands. This could dramatically affect our ability to enact environmental regulations and keep workers safe.

10) The US Government Illegally Spies On Its Own Citizens

This used to be laughed at as a dystopian fantasy derived from an overactive imagination, Orwell’s 1984, and a juvenile distrust of the government. When you claimed “they” were spying on you, people labeled you a paranoid conspiracy theorist, a tinfoil hat-wearing loon.

Even after it was revealed that the NSA has been illegally eavesdropping on us and collecting our cell phone metadata for over a decade, people still hedged on the meaning of it. Yes, they are analyzing our transmissions, but it’s under the auspices of national security. “In a post 9/11 world” certain liberties must be sacrificed for the sake of security, right?

It turns out that is patently untrue. Not only is there no evidence that the NSA has protected us from terrorism, there is growing evidence that it makes us more vulnerable. Thanks to revelations about the NSA and their Prism project, we know that the scope of the NSA’s eavesdropping is even beyond what we originally believed.

In early June of 2014, the Washington Post reported that almost 90% of the data being collected by NSA surveillance programs is from Internet users with no connection to terrorist activities. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, this is in clear violation of the constitution.

The ACLU is pursuing a lawsuit against the NSA, claiming that the dragnet-style mass collection of data violates the Fourth Amendment right of privacy as well as the First Amendment rights of free speech and association.

This article (10 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True) originally appeared on The Ghost Diaries and was used with permission. Tune in! The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: [email protected].

The post 10 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True appeared first on We Are Change.

from We Are Change https://wearechange.org/10-conspiracy-theories-turned-true/

#We are Change #We Are Change

[thesoulpatch-blog1]

The Muslim Ban

It was a statement of Trump’s campaign that struck both fear and excitement around the nation in December 2015: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.” The statement was altered and clarified many different ways before Trump was elected, but what seemed clear throughout the process was that we had an eventual president calling to ban an entire region of people based on their religion. It was all on the grounds of making America “safe again.” Even Mike Pence, the Vice fucking President, condemned this idea when it was first proposed. Americans are quick to be fearful of the Muslim people because of the “radical Islamic terrorism” which endangers each and every one of us every day. Right? A lot of people like to talk about this topic without a full understanding of all the variables in the equation. So let’s dig into the justification of this Muslim ban, which has recently been deemed illegal by federal judges and overturned, at least for now. And it is a Muslim ban, because that’s what it was called through the entire campaign, and that’s what Trump asked his advisers how to implement legally. Don’t let recent statements persuade you to believe it is anything else. He called it a Muslim ban up until he couldn’t do so legally anymore. On that note, let’s talk about the Middle-East. 

There are 7 countries affected by Trump’s anti-immigration executive order. Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Libya make up the lucky bunch. This list includes some of the poorest and most oppressed nations in the world. The most heartbreaking member of the list must be Syria. Syria has been continuously demolished by its own civil war for years now. There are a wide range of estimates, but it seems there have been anywhere from 400,000-500,000 civilian deaths in Syria, possibly even more. This is just the body count of the innocent. This does not take into account the soldiers who have fought and died for either side. Here in America, it’s difficult to imagine the real emotional toll of living in your apartment with all your kids one day and then having it collapse on top of you, killing everyone you love the next. We still cry because two buildings fell down fifteen years ago. But issues like this are what the Syrian people are facing every day. It’s easy to toss this out of our minds and go to work every day when we attribute this violence to the bad people who live in caves and praise Allah, but in Syria, that is so far from the case. These killings are not religious, they are political. Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is not the only person terrorizing these civilian areas. They are facing just as much wrath from Russian and American bombings. We are terrorists to these people, and they’re the ones who actually live in danger of ISIS. But ISIS doesn’t come close to being the biggest problem. 

Syria is not alone. All seven nations included in the ban are under their own threat of violent terrorism, and it’s not all radical Islam doing the killing. The U.S. dropped somewhere around 3 bombs a day in 2016, sprawled out all over that part of the world. Under Obama, many of these bombs were being shot from drones, his weapon of choice. The Intercept released ‘The Drone Papers’ in 2015, revealing the process the government must go through to justify and go through with a drone strike. Unfortunately, it’s about as simple as that last sentence. They identify a target, sending a portfolio on the potential target up through the chain of command, eventually to be seen by the president. When speaking publicly about these strikes, the Obama administration has stated that they are only used in the case of an imminent threat. There is no clear legislature that defines what an “imminent threat” or even an “assassination” is, so there is no one checking the executive branch on the grounds of these killings to ensure their legality. Once the president has approved a strike, it is my understanding that the military has 60 days to conduct it. Then onto step two: blow the motherfucker up. Now let’s use some common sense here. Bombs don’t just kill one person. But all the justification we need to drop a bomb is that it will kill one target whom one branch of government has deemed imminently dangerous to our nation. The victims of this drone policy, or rather this assassination policy, were found to be about 90% innocent civilians. A November 2014 study revealed that in targeting 41 “imminent threats”, drone strikes killed 1,147 people, and didn’t even take out all 41 targets. Many dead innocents were children. This policy is encompassing of how the U.S. approaches our issues in the Middle-East. We are able to brush off human lives as “collateral damage,” even if we don’t achieve our primary goal.

Trump’s first military move as president was a raid in Yemen. There is a flood of inconsistency with this story, as the Trump administration refuses to acknowledge that they didn’t kill the guy they went for, and has done everything they can to deny and repress reports of innocent death. At first, it was reported to be wildly successful; killing targets, finding intel, and at the expense of only one Navy SEAL. This was what was included in CNN’s initial report. We came to find that as many as 30 civilians were killed, many of them children. One was an 8 year-old girl that I’m sure you’ve heard about by now, Nawar al-Awlaki. She was shot through the neck and bled out over the course of two hours. Imagine living like that. We put on North Face jackets to leave our precisely 69 degree houses and bitch about the cold to everyone we come in contact with that day. That little girl got shot in the fucking neck and got left there for two hours to die. She wasn’t even the only child to suffer a deadly fate that day. That’s life for millions of people around the globe, and we are perpetuating that way of life in the Middle-East every day. Tell me again about how sad you are, emo kids. Americans know nothing about struggle. I would expect a Muslim from one of these travel-banned nations to be offended and enraged by an American just talking about how to handle the problems in their home country. We don’t know anything about what it’s like to live like these people we look down upon. We’re so entitled and airheaded that we consider computer documents that might tell us something about al-Qaeda to be more important than the lives of those children and our own soldier. Trump denies that this mission was anything but a success. We have no right to tell them they can’t flee here because some Americans might get hurt by a terrorist who slips through the cracks.

So how did we get to be so ignorant and hateful toward an entire people, who think, breathe, and consciously exist just like the rest of us? We sold our souls to the devil (the devil, of course, being Dick Cheney). Let’s get this 9/11 thing out of the way; you can call it conspiracy, an inside job, Bush did it, whatever, but the facts are that the government was uncomfortably selective in what the 9/11 Commission could report to the public, a lot of FBI and CIA data was destroyed, and the official government report does not address dozens and dozens of issues that contradict what the 9/11 Commission says happened. I don’t know what the hell happened, but America absolutely needed it to happen to convince the public that we needed to invade. It wouldn’t be our first staged terrorist attack to advance a political or economic agenda. Check out Part Two of the first Zeitgeist movie if you really need convinced. You should probably just watch the whole thing; it might (and should) change your life. 

Americans were petrified by 9/11. It was the first “foreign attack” on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, and al-Qaeda isn’t a nation that we can just declare war on. But we sure tried. This is a tactic that Bush would not be the first to use. All over the world and all throughout history, leaders have stricken fear into their people in order to reduce their freedoms (see Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, etc.) Bush created or reorganized 263 government organizations geared toward protecting us from terrorism, all with a disturbing amount of power to overstep boundaries of privacy on the grounds that you may be a terrorist. It’s the same tactic as McCarthyism from the 50’s. Terrorism is the new Communism.

We went to war with Iraq because Bush convinced the public that Sadaam had weapons of mass destruction, and because he was sympathizing with terrorists, and neither of these things were entirely true. Dick Cheney once said in reference to Iraq’s imaginary WMDs, “If there is even a 1% chance … we must treat it as an absolute certainty.” This is a crucial ideological difference we should all have with this douchebag. You don’t murder millions of innocent people on a 1% chance that their leaders might kill millions of innocent people. Remember, we are the only country in the world to ever actually use a nuclear weapon. We are hypocrites. The government estimate is that we killed about 1 million Iraqis. Independent organizations have estimates ranging all the way up to 12 million. America is a terrorist nation. A War on Terrorism is a war on ourselves. Even Barrack Obama, the liberals’ knight in shining armor, doubled down and continued Bush’s intrusive national security policies, wreaking havoc on the same innocent groups of people. We are living in dystopia, and it’s time to get pissed off and stand up for these people. They are our brothers and sisters, no matter what they believe. A crucial element of the War on Terrorism is that the American people stay behind it, blind to what they’re actually fighting. 

Trump’s current foreign policies are the most clearly fear-tactical since Bush’s 9/11 aftermath, as he has needed absolutely no concrete evidence to support them. This Muslim Ban has been justified by the current administration as necessary for the safety of Americans. “… THE SAFETY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE,” tweeted the president after judges reversed the executive order. The reason wars between real nations are possible is because they organize armies of thousands of people and put them on a battlefield against each other. Terrorism is not organized in such a way. Terrorism is stealthy and secretive. Terrorism is a tactic, and you cannot declare war on a tactic. If we were truly interested in stopping worldwide terrorism, we wouldn’t be tallying 90% civilian deaths in our drone strikes. These are human beings we’re talking about. Have you ever met a human being that wouldn’t vow to destroy the people who killed their entire family, regardless of how they justify it? These people aren’t thinking, “It’s alright that so many of my friends and neighbors are dead, because they killed a man who posed a real threat to many more people.” Most of the time, we have no way to be sure if these men we’re targeting will ever be successful in killing people at all. These people see their civilization be destroyed by bombs, killing their families, ruining their lives, and when they have nothing left because we took it from them, they have no choice but to turn against us. On the anniversary of Sadaam Hussein’s execution in December, I read some takes from Iraqi citizens reflecting on that day. No one expressed support of Sadaam, all were willing to acknowledge that he was a corrupt, evil, tyrannical dictator. But most of them still preferred life under his rule to life in Iraq now. Even normal, non-radical citizens concede that America destabilized their country, and created more problems than it solved. They expressed feelings like despair and anger from watching him die. Under Sadaam, you were probably poor, but always safe so long as you didn’t speak out against him. Now, there is constant violence and the closest thing to a functioning government in Iraq is ISIS. 

This isn’t to say there aren’t some grave dangers to the world in the Middle-East. In the beheading videos of American journalists, ISIS members relayed the message that these executions were the fault of the American people and our president for continuing our onslaught in their home nations. This holds weight, and those men probably would not have been killed if the bombings had stopped. ISIS had one simple request: stop all military operations in the area. Withdraw all forces. This is too easy a solution though, because we should also have a moral issue with stepping back and allowing a radical religious group (of any denomination, doesn’t matter that they’re Muslim) to take over and force their ideals upon people at the threat of death. Christians will make a point to say that Islam is a violent and unforgiving religion, and the reason these groups are like this is simply because they’re Muslim, but that’s a load of shit. Read the Old Testament; it’s pretty fucking brutal. These people aren’t violent because they want to be. They’re violent because we’ve created an incredibly dangerous environment for them to grow up and live in. They know nothing but brutality and pain. Americans are hateful when their Wendy’s order gets messed up. You bet your ass they’d be violent if they lived in Iraq.

The solution for peace in the Middle-East seems it will have to be mostly political, but there will be fighting from outside forces. Hell, peace isn’t coming until at least a while after we’ve invaded Iran, which two former U.S. security officials have recently deemed “highly likely” to occur in 2017. Unfortunately, I am not the mastermind who can devise such a solution. It’s going to take many great minds working together and acknowledging all the facts, and our current world diplomats aren’t yet willing to make that happen. You may know that the Middle-East is the richest place in the world when it comes to oil. You may also know that U.S. businesses and elected officials have made some good money off of the oil we’ve obtained from these countries in which we’re fighting terrorism. Some of the great oil empires of the world lie in Iraq, Iran, and Syria. We’ve already helped to completely derail and destabilize two of those three nations, and the third is only a matter of time if we stay this ignorant. We’re putting profit above the lives of foreigners. We’re putting it before the freedom of our own citizens. But it stops working if we look over there and see what’s really happening. 

Ultimately, we’re far from finding the answers to solve these problems. All we can do right now is point out the issues to the people around us. These people don’t kill because they’re Islamic. The only difference that matters between Americans and the people of the Middle-East is that we’ve created a violent way of life for them. They have no choice but to take part in violence. We now have a president that advocated killing the families of terrorists while on the campaign trail. We don’t get to be surprised that he’s doing exactly that, especially when it’s been easy for the past two presidents to do the same with little to no public backlash. We can be disgusted. But we should first be disgusted with ourselves for not caring more for others. 

Most of us live in a bubblegum fantasy here in America. We are so self-involved that minor inconveniences trigger emotions that should be reserved for when our families get blown up. For that reason, it’s impossible for us to imagine our families actually being blown up, and thus impossible to empathize with the people our nation terrorizes. Just like the people of the Middle-East, we are a product of our surroundings. From 2003 to 2014, 80 Americans were killed by radical Islamic terrorism, 36 of those on U.S. soil. In that time, it’s nearly impossible to accurately count the millions of Middle-Eastern people killed by our activities and the resulting chains of events. Things like the Syrian Civil War are not entirely our fault, but implementing a policy to ban refugees from Syria and surrounding countries contributes to the hatred of America and the rise of more violent radicals. Not to mention the deaths of innocent people that could’ve been saved. These are people, just like us, and they want to live in a safe place without constant fear of death, just like us. The vetting processes are much more extensive than Trump will allow us to believe, and from 1975 to 2015, with over 300 million entries of refugees and immigrants from these 7 nations, three individuals associated with terrorism have entered. They killed no one. The argument that these people coming in may be dangerous is poorly grounded, but even if it was valid, does that matter? Do 80 American lives hold the same value as millions of others? Are we truly more important simply because we’re American? If you can really believe that, then I think your soul is already dead. 

We must awaken to the tyranny of our leaders. Public opinion does overwhelmingly oppose Trump’s ban, and that is reassuring. But I don’t think many of us are ready to open up to really addressing the problems the Middle-Eastern people face. If you want the suffering to end for these people, you must make changes to stop perpetuating the violence. Political activism is a great first step. Learn everything you can about the issues important to you. Get out and tell others about them. Go vote in every election. Pay attention to congressmen and track their records. Be aware of who it is you’re voting for, no matter the office for which they’re running. Chuck Schumer, a democratic senator from New York, publicly cried during a speech addressing the ban and called on Trump and his fellow Republicans to bring an end to this. Chuck Schumer voted in favor of the Iraq War. Chuck Schumer raised no questions during the Obama administration’s dirty dealings in these countries. Chuck Schumer is crying now without acknowledging that there’s blood on his hands, and that seems very representative of what the American people do every day. Our country is only a terrorist nation because we allow it to be. The government is only empowered because we allow it to be. Our leaders have created a society where mass murder can be justified, and that is precisely the reason The Spirit is dead. The People must now stand up to this, and I hope that something you’ve read here can inspire you to take part.