SECOND EDITION MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY AMERICA’S “WAR ON TERRORISM” Global Research America’s “War on Terrorism” Michel Chossudovsky “Material this provocative and well researched must not be ignored.” Scott Loughrey, The Baltimore Chronicle “Chossudovsky’s book presents its readers with a harsh reality: ter- rorism is a tool used to maintain and expand the growth of cor- porate capitalism, led by the U.S. dollar and backed by U.S. military might. His book is one of those ‘connect-the-dots’ works that should be required reading, especially for media-misled, history-starved Americans.” Kellia Ramares, Online Journal “Canadian professor of economics Michel Chossudovsky contains that rare gift of a writer who can compile massive documentary evidence, then propound it in a succinct, lucid manner. His book cuts through the morass of Bush verbiage, daring readers to examine the pure, unvarnished truth of a nation using its military and intel- ligence capabilities to control the global oil market on the pretext of America’s making the world a safer place.” William Hare, Amazon.com “War on Terrorism” “Chossudovsky has written an alarming book that ought to serve as a wakeup call for every citizen of the world. In a very straight- Second Edition forward manner, Chossudovsky uncovers the truth behind America’s covert intelligence operations, international economic interests, and goals of US foreign policy.” Anthony Lafratta, Chapters-Indigo. Global Research To the Memory of André Gunder Frank America’s “War on Terrorism”, by Michel Chossudovsky — Second Edition. © Michel Chossudovsky, 2005. All rights reserved – Global Research, Center for Research on Globalization (CRG). No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher. Global Research is a division of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), 101 Cardinal-Léger Blvd, P.O. Box 51004, Pincourt, Québec, J7V 9T3, Canada. For more information, contact the publisher at the above address or by email at our website at www.globalresearch.ca. SECOND EDITION Cover Photo © Pavel Filatov/Alamy Cover Graphics by Nicolas Calvé, © Global Research 2005 Printed and bound in Canada. Printed on acid free paper. ISBN 0-9737147-1-9 (paperback) Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Chossudovsky, Michel America’s “War on Terrorism” / Michel Chossudovsky. – 2nd ed. Previously published under the title: War and Globalisation: The Truth behind September 11. Includes index. ISBN 0-9737147-1-9 1. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001. 2. War on Terrorism, 2001- . 3. United States—Politics and government—1993- . 4. United States—Military policy. United States—Foreign relations—1989- . I. Title. HV6431.C46 2005 973.931 C2005-904499-3 Also by Michel Chossudovsky The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order Table of Contents Preface to the Second Edition . xi Part I September 11 . 1 Chapter I Background: Behind September 11 . 3 Appendix to Chapter I Where Was Osama Bin Laden on 9/11? . 17 Chapter II Who Is Osama Bin Laden? . 22 Chapter III Washington Supports International Terrorism . 38 Chapter IV Cover Up or Complicity? . 51 Part II War and Globalization . 63 Chapter V War and the Hidden Agenda . 65 Chapter VI The Trans-Afghan Pipeline . 79 Chapter VII America’s War Machine . 92 viii America’s “War on Terrorism” America’s “War on Terrorism” ix Chapter VIII Chapter XVII The American Empire . 114 Foreknowledge of 9/11 . 237 Chapter IX Chapter XVIII Disarming the New World Order . 125 On the Morning of 9/11: What Happened on the Planes? . 249 Chapter X Political Deception: the Missing Link Behind 9/11 . 135 Chapter XIX America’s Preemptive War Doctrine . 262 Appendix to Chapter X Doctoring Official Transcripts . 147 Chapter XX The Post 9/11 Terror Alerts . 283 Part III The Disinformation Campaign . 149 Chapter XXI Big Brother: Towards the Homeland Security State . 299 Chapter XI War Propaganda: Fabricating an Outside Enemy . 151 Chapter XXII The London 7/7 Bomb Attacks . 326 Chapter XII 9/11 and the Iran-Contra Scandal . 167 Appendix A Intelligence Based on Plagiarism: Chapter XIII the British “Intelligence” Iraq Dossier . 345 Providing a Face to the Enemy: By Glen Rangwala Who Is Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi? . 171 Appendix B Chapter XIV The Financial Interests Protecting Al Qaeda Fighters in the War Theater . 198 behind the World Trade Center Lease . 352 Appendix to Chapter XIV Index . 355 The Deportation of Civilians to the Guantanamo Concentration Camp . 205 By Leuren Moret Part IV The New World Order . 209 Chapter XV War Criminals in High Office . 211 Chapter XVI The Spoils of War: Afghanistan’s Multibillion-Dollar Heroin Trade . 224 Preface to the Second Edition At eleven o’clock, on the morning of September 11, the Bush adminstration had already announced that Al Qaeda was respon- sible for the attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon. This assertion was made prior to the conduct of an indepth police investigation. That same evening at 9:30 pm, a “War Cabinet” was formed integrated by a select number of top intelligence and military advi- sors. And at 11:00 pm, at the end of that historic meeting at the White House, the “War on Terrorism” was officially launched. The decision was announced to wage war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in retribution for the 9/11 attacks. The following morning on September 12th, the news headlines indelibly pointed to “state sponsorship” of the 9/11 attacks. In chorus, the US media was calling for a military intervention against Afghanistan. Barely four weeks later, on the 7th of October, Afghanistan was bombed and invaded by US troops. Americans were led to believe that the decison to go to war had been taken on the spur of the moment, on the evening of September 11, in response to the attacks and their tragic consequences. xii America’s “War on Terrorism” Preface xiii Little did the public realize that a large scale theater war is never mention the repeal of civil liberties and constitutional government planned and executed in a matter of weeks. The decision to launch in America. a war and send troops to Afghanistan had been taken well in Without an “outside enemy”, there could be no “war on ter- advance of 9/11. The “terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event” rorism”.The entire national security agenda would collapse “like as it was later described by CentCom Commander General Tommy a deck of cards”. The war criminals in high office would have Franks, served to galvanize public opinion in support of a war no leg to stand on. agenda which was already in its final planning stage. It was consequently crucial for the development of a coherent The tragic events of 9/11 provided the required justification to antiwar and civil rights movement, to reveal the nature of Al Qaeda wage a war on “humanitarian grounds”, with the full support of and its evolving relationship to successive US administrations. World public opinion and the endorsement of the “international Amply documented but rarely mentioned by the mainstream community”. media, Al Qaeda was a creation of the CIA going back to the Soviet- Several prominent “progressive” intellectuals made a case for Afghan war. This was a known fact, corroborated by numerous “retaliation against terrorism”,on moral and ethical grounds. The sources including official documents of the US Congress. The intel- “just cause” military doctrine (jus ad bellum) was accepted and ligence community had time and again acknowledged that they upheld at face value as a legitimate response to 9/11, without exam- had indeed supported Osama bin Laden, but that in the wake of the ining the fact that Washington had not only supported the “Islamic Cold War: “he turned against us”. terror network”,it was also instrumental in the installation of the After 9/11, the campaign of media disinformation served not Taliban government in 1996. only to drown the truth but also to kill much of the historical evi- In the wake of 9/11, the antiwar movement was completely iso- dence on how this illusive “outside enemy” had been fabricated lated. The trade unions and civil society organizations had swal- and transformed into “Enemy Number One”. lowed the media lies and government propaganda. They had accepted a war of retribution against Afghanistan, an impover- The Balkans Connection ished country of 30 million people. My research on the Balkans conducted since the mid-1990s enabled I started writing on the evening of September 11, late into the me to document numerous ties and connections between Al Qaeda night, going through piles of research notes, which I had previ- and the US Administration. The US military, the CIA and NATO ously collected on the history of Al Qaeda. My first text entitled had supported Al Qaeda in the Balkans. Washington’s objective “Who is Osama bin Laden?”,which was completed and first pub- was to trigger ethnic conflict and destablize the Yugoslav federation, lished on September the 12th. (See Chapter II.) first in Bosnia, then in Kosovo. From the very outset, I questioned the official story, which In 1997, the Republican Party Committee (RPC) of the US described nineteen Al Qaeda sponsored hijackers involved in a Senate released a detailed report which accused President Clinton highly sophisticated and organized operation. My first objective of collaborating with the “Islamic Militant Network” in Bosnia and was to reveal the true nature of this illusive “enemy of America”,who working hand in glove with an organization linked to Osama bin was “threatening the Homeland”. Laden. (See Chapter III.) The report, however, was not widely pub- The myth of the “outside enemy” and the threat of “Islamic ter- licized.