9/11 revisited -- The National Insecurity Security State--Too Much At Stake: I understand Glenn Greenwald's thoughts in his speech before the Massachusetts ACLU, adore what he says and how he says it (Link below.) BUT as maturity dictates I also realize or at least ask the question WHAT nation or empire in history has NOT acted shamefully, has not plundered its conquest or in the case of democracies abridged its own civil libertarian essence. The nature of man is what I believe some on the left do not get.

I am NOT for one minute excusing the US for its often times heinous hypocritical behavior and have written much about it BUT I also think we are NOT unique to the human condition. It is a Darwinian condition and if you think humanitarian ideologies will remain just that humanitarian, I think you are mistaken. We see it morph everywhere ALL the time. Orwell, in his brilliant work "Animal Farm" which I urge everyone to read who has not read this masterpiece, knew that revolutions while sometimes ideologically pure and idealistic often create the same monsters they chose to overthrow.

The issue that is most egregious about US foreign and domestic policy is its often hypocritical claims that it does things in the name of democracy and freedom but these rationales for US behavior have little truth. Power has utterly hoodwinked those who think they are enlisting for a glorious cause and those in the American public who are not savvy enough to hold government and power accountable for its actions when it does egregious things in our name. Still, I cannot think of a nation on planet earth that has not at one time or another acted severely because they THINK is in its own interests, for power, wealth or for perceived national security.

The issue now too is the media and how much it will expose odious behavior and how much nation states can get away with without being unveiled worldwide by one media or another. Or to the contrary how much is the media of the so called democracies complicit to the dastardly actions of its governments and in the severe curtailment of precious civil libertarian democratic uniqueness?

Other issues, for me, enter the mix. It is NOT just how hypocritical US policy was when in 1899 it invaded the Philippines. We now have within the reality of human contemporary conflict and subversive attempts nuclear scenarios we never had before. ALL are existentially odious and we must not fail at suppressing these things, as some on the right I surprisingly believe correctly state, even once. The fact that American foreign policy sometimes sows its own demise is something we must take into consideration but the reality is there are those who want to destroy us in a nanosecond by the most heinous means known to man. It cannot be denied. All it takes is ONE fanatic to be successful once.

In response to 9/11 has the US overstepped its civil libertarian boundaries by building our now gargantuan invasive national security state? I cannot answer that with 100% accuracy. Sometimes, there is no luxury for analysis. I rather enjoy breathing and seeing yet another sunrise if nature dictates I do. However nasty our nation's international behavior and sometimes national behavior is there is, I believe, another side to this culture worth saving and which is, indeed, unique among nations. No other nation has the size, the numbers, and the technological sophistication that we do. To protect ALL of us and at the same time to get this massive giant's foreign policy correct is NO easy task. The time grows short and there is too much at stake!

If you have not read Glenn Greenwald's address to the ACLU I urge you to do so (link below.) It is important if you care about you, your family and the direction of your country in our world. You can either read it or listen to the audio as well as the questions the audience asked of him below it. I also urge you to also watch PBS's "Frontline" which presents a brief analysis of the post 9/11 National Security State entitled "Top Secret America".


http://www.mediaroots.org/glenn-greenwalds-bill-of-rights-aclu-speech.php
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/topsecretamerica/