The American Catastrophe

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

In the United States, indeed, in the Western world generally, those parts of the rule of law that protected liberty have collapsed. I have told the story many times, as has John Whitehead (see, for example, http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/06/07/think-free-american-constitutional-protections-read/ ).

As Larry Stratton and I documented in our book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, the transformation of law from a shield of the people into a weapon in the hands of the government began with chasing after devils, such as gangsters, drug dealers, child abusers, and terrorists. The protective features of the law were cut down in order to more easily convict those targeted. The pursuit of devils was expanded by the leftwing’s Identity Politics and its creation of hate speech, hate crimes, and now thought crimes. As Gilad Atzmon wrote in his just published book, Being In Time, ”The freedom to think openly and speak clearly are but nostalgic concepts.”

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Many Americans, perhaps most of them, still confuse patriotism with support for the government, at least in the realm of “national security,” and not with defense of the US Constitution. The liberals and the leftwing are mainly concerned with inventing new rights in the Constitution for “victim groups” as defined by Identity Politics. These new rights, of course, cancel out rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights that was incorporated into the Constitution as Amendments. For example, the right of a preferred minority not to be offended cancels out the freedom of speech. While the government has destroyed habeas corpus and due process, the leftwing has destroyed freedom of expression. Together they have given us a police state.

The accountability of the US government has also been lost to powerful private interests. Here is what former CIA official John Stockwell has to say: “It is the function of the CIA to keep the world unstable, and to propagandize and teach the American people to hate, so we will let the Establishment spend any amount of money on arms.”

After managing Washington’s deceptive participation in the Angolan War and serving as a CIA paramilitary officer in the Congo and Vietnam, and being awarded the CIA’s Intelligence Medal of Merit, Stockwell resigned because of his concern about the methods and results of the CIA’s secret wars. He wrote In Search of Enemies and appeared on the TV program, 60 Minutes where he revealed that CIA director William Colby and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger had systematically misled Congress about the CIA’s secret operations. The CIA retaliated with a lawsuit that drove Stockwell into bankruptcy and then dropped the lawsuit.

Stockwell got off easy compared to latter day whistleblowers, such as John Kiriakou who was sent to prison for telling the truth despite the whistleblower protection laws, another indication that America is ruled by power and not by law.

The indifference of law schools, bar associations, federal courts, Congress, and the American population to the police state practices that now characterize the US government is evidence that liberty no longer exists in the United States.

Despite the massive evidence, many, probably most, Americans still cannot believe that their government would intentionally do anything wrong. Yes, mistakes happen, but we must not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

This insouciant attitude, which defines the American population, explains why Americans prefer to dismiss scientists, experts, and truth-tellers as “conspiracy theorists” than to accept that their government is guilty of false flag attacks. The gullible and naive population holds on to this absurd belief despite the complete documentation of Operation Gladio, Operation Northwoods, the Gulf of Tonkin fake incident, and so on. One of the most frustrating experiences is the American who says, “If there was a conspiracy, someone would have talked.” Yes, of course, they do talk, and it has no effect whatsoever.

For example, Israel’s attack 50 years ago today on the USS Liberty, which killed 35 American sailors and wounded 174, is still an official coverup despite the complete and total exposure of the attack by Admiral Tom Moorer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, judge advocate general of the US Navy, James Akins, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Genaral Ray Davis, assistant commandant of the US Marines, Captain Ward Boston, one of the US naval officers ordered to produce the cover up, by every surviving member of the USS Liberty’s crew, and by testimony of Israeli pilots involved in the attack on the USS Liberty. All of this talk had no effect on the official coverup, which remains the official word.

The same is true for the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. The evidence is conclusive from eye witnesses, films, autopsies, and expert testimony that the assassinations of JFK and RFK were conspiracies.

As for 9/11, more than one hundred first responders (fireman and police) and WTC maintenance personnel who were in the twin towers have testified that they heard and experienced multiple explosions inside the towers before barely escaping with their lives. Maintenance personnel have testified that the first explosions were in the sub-basement before the plane hit the tower. Demolition experts have testified that the buildings were without any doubt brought down by controlled demolition. Three thousand architects and engineers have said that the official story is impossible. Independent scientists have published their findings that the residue of the towers contains reacted and unreacted nano-thermite. But all of this talk has had no effect on the official coverup. The experts are dismissed as “conspiracy theorists,” a term that the CIA introduced into political discourse to discredit those who exposed the coverup of President Kennedy’s assassination.

Everytime I hear someone say “someone would have talked” when in fact legions did talk, my hope for my country ratchets downward. If you want me to keep confronting the insouciance and ignorance that are leading to disaster, you must support this site.

The remaining beleaguered forces for good have, it seems, arranged a hearing on June 14 in the House of Representatives for the re-enactment of Glass-Steagall, the repeal of which caused the 2007-08 financial crisis that had to be bailed out by US taxpayers and the Federal Reserve and that has left America with an economy essentially dead in the water, although covered up with false jobs and unemployment reports. Possibly I will be providing written testimony to the congressional hearing, which would be my 31st testimony before Congress, quite an achievement for a person who, according to the mysterious PropOrNot website, is a “Russian agent.”

In the event that I don’t post much between now and then, you will know that I am working on my testimony. In the meantime support this site. In America today, telling the truth is the surest way to having your character assassinated. I am using up my life in constant conflict with power that in my estimation may in fact be mightier than the pen.