Human Rights Watch - the myth of terrorism

[Je suis Omar]

Since before 9-11, the USA has been developing the terrorism myth to aid it in its continuing predations upon the poor countries and the poor people of the world.

As any thinking person can see, if they care enough to look, and it doesn't even require that close of a look, just what a huge myth it is.

Just ask yourself, considering the wide availability of guns in the USA, why aren't there numerous, daily even, "terrorist" attacks upon the citizenry at large?

If these large numbers of American mass murderers can so easily pull off the Sandy Hooks, the Columbines, the Colorado movie house shootings, ..., often with just one person, why are the "terrorist" plots "uncovered", and prevented by "diligent police work" always such complicated operations?

Because the whole narrative is a government sop, yet another invented, phoney boogeyman charade.

Indeed, this whole bit of nonsense about terrorism is nothing more than reinvented McCarthyism, with a new boogeyman.

Illusion of Justice

Human Rights Abuses in US Terrorism Prosecutions

Columbia Law School - Human Rights Institute

SUMMARY

Muslims are a fundamental part of the American family. In fact, the success of American Muslims and our determination to guard against any encroachments on their civil liberties is the ultimate rebuke to those who say that were at war with Islam.

US President Barack Obama, May 23, 2013

This community is under siege. And even if theyre not under siege, they think they are.

Tom Nelson, attorney, Portland, Oregon, August 13, 2012

Terrorism entails horrifying acts, often resulting in terrible losses of human life. Governments have a duty under international human rights law to take reasonable measures to protect people within their jurisdictions from acts of violence. When crimes are committed, governments also have a duty to carry out impartial investigations, to identify those responsible, and to prosecute suspects before independent courts. These obligations require ensuring fairness and due process in investigations and prosecutions, as well as humane treatment of those in custody.

However, since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, DC, the United States government has failed to meet its international legal obligations with respect to its investigations and prosecutions of terrorism suspects, as well as its treatment of terrorism suspects in custory..

This has been true with regard to foreign terrorism suspects detained at the US military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, most of whom are being held indefinitely without charge. And, as this report documents, it is also too often true with regard to American Muslim defendants investigated, tried, and convicted of terrorism or terrorism-related offenses in the US criminal justice system.

This report examines 27 such casesfrom initiation of the investigations to sentencing and post-conviction conditions of confinementand documents the significant human cost of certain counterterrorism practices, such as aggressive sting operations and unnecessarily restrictive conditions of confinement.

Since the September 11 attacks, more than 500 individuals have been prosecuted in US federal courts for terrorism or related offenses40 cases per year on average. Many prosecutions have properly targeted individuals engaged in planning or financing terror attacks. But many others have targeted individuals who do not appear to have been involved in terrorist plotting or financing at the time the government began to investigate them.

Indeed, in some cases the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by conducting sting operations that facilitated or invented the targets willingness to act. According to multiple studies, nearly 50 percent of the more than 500 federal counterterrorism convictions resulted from informant-based cases; almost 30 percent of those cases were sting operations in which the informant played an active role in the underlying plot. In the case of the Newburgh Four, for example, a judge said the government came up with the crime, provided the means, and removed all relevant obstacles, and had, in the process, made a terrorist out of a man whose buffoonery is positively Shakespearean in scope.

In such instances, the governments purpose appears to have been preventive: to root out and prosecute individuals it believes might eventually plan and carry out terrorism. To this end, it has substantially changed its approach, loosening regulations and standards governing the conduct of terrorism investigations.

While some of these cases involved foreign nationals and conduct overseas, or individuals who are not Muslim, many of the most high-profile terrorism prosecutions have focused on homegrown terrorist threats allegedly posed by American Muslims.

Human Rights Watch and Columbia Law Schools Human Rights Institute found that at times, in aggressively pursuing terrorism threats before they even materialize, US law enforcement overstepped its role by effectively participating in developing terrorism plotsin at least two cases even offering the defendants money to entice them to participate in the plot.

http://m.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usterrorism0714_ForUpload_0_0_0.pdf

Edited May 25, 2015 by Je suis Omar

[jacee]

Since before 9-11, the USA has been developing the terrorism myth to aid it in its continuing predations upon the poor countries and the poor people of the world.

Well said.

Frame that.

And just to clarify ... the "predations" involve raping and pillaging the resources of poor countries, dispossessing and displacing people and causing civil strife in those countries, then bribing and arming those who will suppress dissent and give the multinationals get safe access to the resources.

It's a win-win for the multinational resource corporations and the arms 'war industry'.

.

[Civis Romanus sum]

Since before 9-11, the USA has been developing the terrorism myth to aid it in its continuing predations upon the poor countries and the poor people of the world.

As any thinking person can see, if they care enough to look, and it doesn't even require that close of a look, just what a huge myth it is.

Your cite not only does not support your statement it has absolutely nothing to do with your statement.

Your cite has to do with specific cases of Guantanamo detainees. There's nothing in there about how this could or would or might aid the US in preying on poor countries.

This gives us cause to wonder about your "any thinking person" claim, as in What in the hell is he thinking anyway?

Just ask yourself, considering the wide availability of guns in the USA, why aren't there numerous, daily even, "terrorist" attacks upon the citizenry at large?

Because most American Muslims have it pretty good and don't think shooting someone in a mall is going to get them to heaven.

Because the whole narrative is a government sop, yet another invented, phoney boogeyman charade.

I've noticed that those who believe in one conspiracy theory tend to believe in lots of conspiracy theories. The world is a seething mass of dark forces conspiring and plotting and doing all kinds of weird and awful things, none of which anyone normal knows about.

Indeed, this whole bit of nonsense about terrorism is nothing more than reinvented McCarthyism, with a new boogeyman.

The people who died in terrorist acts in New York and Boston and Florida might disagree with you.

[Civis Romanus sum]

Well said.

Frame that.

And just to clarify ... the "predations" involve raping and pillaging the resources of poor countries, dispossessing and displacing people and causing civil strife in those countries, then bribing and arming those who will suppress dissent and give the multinationals get safe access to the resources.

It's a win-win for the multinational resource corporations and the arms 'war industry'.

.

What a huge, heaping load of crap. Nothing either of you say is supported by any evidence, just your feverish, conspiracy minded imaginations.

[bush_cheney2004]

Well said.

Frame that.

OK...so what did Canada use to get all that mining and oil services plundering around the world ? Free donuts from Timmy's ?

[Civis Romanus sum]

OK...so what did Canada use to get all that mining and oil services plundering around the world ? Free donuts from Timmy's ?

Just because crazy people make stupid statements about the United States that doesn't mean a logical comeback is saying stupid things about Canada, unless you're twelve.

[bush_cheney2004]

Just because crazy people make stupid statements about the United States that doesn't mean a logical comeback is saying stupid things about Canada, unless you're twelve.

It's only stupid if you don't know how this game is played....welcome aboard.

[cybercoma]

It's only stupid if you don't know how this game is played....welcome aboard.

You're playing solitaire, buddy.

[Je suis Omar]

"Civis Romanus sum":

The people who died in terrorist acts in New York and Boston and Florida might disagree with you.

How many would that be?

[poochy]

"Since before 9-11" "terrorism myth"

yep, nothing to see here...except of course the recurring theme of the op.

[Big Guy]

While I disagree on the "myth" theory I do have to congratulate the West for an interesting solution to a major problem. When someone opposed the USA they used to be referred to by nationality or religion. The Russians are bad. Or Muslims are bad. But the new way to define an opponent is by the methodology that they use. Those who use terror tactics are terrorists. Terrorists are bad. Therefore those who do not like us are "terrorists". That way there is no reason to seek the reason why they do not like us.

Terrorists do not like us. People who do not like us are terrorists. It does not matter why they do not like us the mere fact that they are terrorists is enough.

In fact, If any other group decides to disagree with us then they are obviously terrorists and that is enough to take up, arms against them. In fact, even if somebody else calls them, designates them, as terrorists then that too is enough for us to take up arms.

Now the term "insurgents", ...

Edited May 26, 2015 by Big Guy

[bush_cheney2004]

Well, we used to call the enemy "loyalists", but then they lost the war.

[Je suis Omar]

What a huge, heaping load of crap. Nothing either of you say is supported by any evidence, just your feverish, conspiracy minded imaginations.

"[American leaders] are perhaps not so much immoral as they are amoral. It's not that they take pleasure in causing so much death and suffering. It's that they just don't care ... the same that could be said about a sociopath. As long as the death and suffering advance the agenda of the empire, as long as the right people and the right corporations gain wealth and power and privilege and prestige, as long as the death and suffering aren't happening to them or people close to them ... then they just don't care about it happening to other people, including the American soldiers whom they throw into wars and who come home-the ones who make it back alive-with Agent Orange or Gulf War Syndrome eating away at their bodies. American leaders would not be in the positions they hold if they were bothered by such things."

William Blum. Killing Hope

Edited versions

Killing Hope - excerpts from introduction to Original Edition

Angola 1975-1980s

Brazil 1961-1964

Cambodia 1955-1973

Chile 1964-1973

Congo 1960-1964

Cuba 1959-1980s

Dominican Republic 1960-1966

East Timor 1975

El Salvador 1980-1994

Greece 1964-1974

Grenada 1979-1984

Guatemala 1953-1954

Guatemala 1962-1980s

Haiti 1986-1994

Indonesia 1957-1958

Indonesia 1965

Iran 1953

Laos 1957-1973

Nicaragua 1981-1990

Uruguay 1964-1970

Zaire 1975-1978

US government assassination plots since World War II

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/KillingHope_page.html

All the countries described above, (with dates) can be found at the website as hot links.

[jacee]

Who are the terrorists?

when-250-anti-muslim-protesters-turned-up-with-guns-

this-phoenix-mosque-invited-them-in-for-evening-prayers-video/

A lot of them, theyve never met a Muslim, or they havent had interactions with Muslims, he said. A lot of them are filled with hate and rage. Maybe they went to websites that charged them with this hatred. So when you sit down and talk like rational people, without all these slogans, without being bigots, without bringing guns, they will find out that theyre talking to another human.

Edited June 2, 2015 by jacee

[Je suis Omar]

While I disagree on the "myth" theory ...

...

Please do expand on why you disagree, BG.

[On Guard for Thee]

Just because crazy people make stupid statements about the United States that doesn't mean a logical comeback is saying stupid things about Canada, unless you're twelve.

Even most twelve year olds know better.

[Argus]

Who are the terrorists?

when-250-anti-muslim-protesters-turned-up-with-guns-

this-phoenix-mosque-invited-them-in-for-evening-prayers-video/

A lot of them, theyve never met a Muslim, or they havent had interactions with Muslims, he said. A lot of them are filled with hate and rage. Maybe they went to websites that charged them with this hatred. So when you sit down and talk like rational people, without all these slogans, without being bigots, without bringing guns, they will find out that theyre talking to another human.

How many Muslims did they kill?

[Big Guy]

To JsO - I do not believe that terrorism is a myth in itself. I read terrorism as a policy of instilling terror into a targeted group to attain a particular goal. There are many instances of terrorism working as an effective tool. Attila the Hun used to adorn the sides of roads with the heads of his enemies on spikes. The Romans fed Christians to wild animals as a message to other Christians. The USA BBQ'd about 250,000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These were very effective procedures that instilled terror in their enemies and caused the perpetrators to attain victory.

Even ISIS has decided that cutting people's heads off or burning them in cages would scare those who were targeted and outrage the West into walking deeper and deeper into their traps.

I believe that terrorism works, it is not a myth.

What I do have a problem with is the criteria for labelling a person or a group as "terrorists". If they are using the instilling of terror into a civilian population then they should be rightly labelled as "terrorists" - but that is a description of their methodology, not their cause.

Is not the waterboarding of an individual the process of instilling enough terror into the individual that the person will tell the interrogator what he wants so the waterboarding stops?

I disagree with labelling someone or a group as "terrorists" just because they do not agree with us and what we are doing.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Big Guy

[Je suis Omar]

Now I understand what you are getting at. The myth that I am referring to is the myth that the USA has been developing for the last 30 to 40 years. The Red scare was starting to lose some of its terror value so the USA developed this new myth.

The myth in this latest USA scheme is the same old nonsense that the USA is in grave danger because of TERRORISTS!!! It's worse than B grade movie stuff but admittedly, it still sucks in an incredibly large number of the usual suspect sheeple.

As has been acknowledged by many USA sources, there are myriad potential sources for attacks upon the USA, ones that would of course receive a USA stamp of TERRORISM, because, as you and pretty much every sentient human being knows, the USA has been committing acts of terrorism on myriad countries for 150 plus years.

You are aware, aren't you, that the USA tried to develop a legal definition for terrorism in the 1970s or 80s, but they stopped trying because all definitions of terrorism described the USA?

[Hudson Jones]

From "Nazis" and "Japs" to "Communists" to "Terrorists" (aka Muslims).

Those do exist, but the level of danger they pose to us in North America is not significant. Especially the latest bogeymen.

There is always something out there to scare the Arguses and the Shadys to get their consent to do whatever they want. Unfortunately there are a lot of Arguses and Shadys, so it's difficult to battle these myths and make belief world. The only chance we have is to continue to use the power of information and technology to spread the truth and battle the misinformation.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Hudson Jones

[bush_cheney2004]

.....Those do exist, but the level of danger they pose to us in North America is not significant. Especially the latest bogeymen.

Easy for some Canadians to say...so why worry about the rest of "North America". They can still visit the "safe" parts of Mexico or the U.S. on holiday and scurry back to 99.999% safe Canada.

[Hudson Jones]

Easy for some Canadians to say...so why worry about the rest of "North America". They can still visit the "safe" parts of Mexico or the U.S. on holiday and scurry back to 99.999% safe Canada.

So what? You're still more likely to die from a car crash.

Of course, the number of these terrorist attacks will rise slowly, as our adventures around the world continue. There are many lone wolves in North America, who have the potential to do attacks in North America. No amount of wars across the seas or the giving away of our rights and freedoms in North America will reduce the potential of attacks. They will only increase it.

[Je suis Omar]

Easy for some Canadians to say...so why worry about the rest of "North America".

Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s really an easy way: Stop participating in it.

-- Noam Chomsky