Peter Dale Scott, emeritus professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, has written numerous books over the years examining what he calls the “deep state” of American politics. The newest book of him, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and America’s Future, looks at the current crisis in America manifested through the current War on Terror, but with a thorough discussion of the roots of Islamic fundamentalism, the role of the deep state in supporting the growth of extremism, and how these relationships have served to “explode back” in the United States. Even this, however, helps further the plans of the deep state, albeit always at the expense of the public state.
The book provides an overview of how hidden elements in the US government, for the last thirty years at least, have continually supported short-term security or oil interests at the expense of the long-term interests of the public (and their own). own). Scott’s 423-page book is nearly half filled with endnotes, giving the reader many other avenues of study, because the book itself is densely packed with information. An important aspect of the book is that, like other studies he has conducted, Scott does not name specific parties as guilty of one crime or another, he accuses the US government to reach his conclusions. As the book states, “This book makes a more general argument that bureaucratic paranoia within the American deep state, undisciplined by the available wisdom of the public state, helped create al Qaeda years ago and then to create the circumstances in which, almost inevitably, al Qaeda elements would turn against the United States.” Throughout the work, he meticulously connects the dots between the very actors, institutions, and concepts that have so influenced American foreign and domestic policy.
First, however, any reader of this book should quickly come to understand Scott’s distinction between the public state of politics and the deep state. The book examines “the direct or indirect control of the top 1 percent of certain specific domains of government, beginning in the 1940s with the creation of the CIA… Those parts of government that respond to their influence I call the “state deep (if covert)”. ) or “security state” (if military)”. Once the reader understands the fundamental difference between the public and deep state, superficial distinctions (such as Republican or Democrat) disappear as the occult elite work together behind the scenes for their shared interests. more often than not they work against each other for the good of the public.
The erasure of these superficialities is evident when Scott examines the three presidencies of Ford, Carter, and Reagan. Gerald Ford’s brief stint in the Oval Office is considered the pivotal administration in recent American history, bringing the White House team of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to the forefront of American politics and George HW Bush as Director of Intelligence Central. But even more, Scott sees this presidency as the turning point in the battle in the deep state between the old conservatives (influenced by the Rockefellers and the Council on Foreign Relations) and the neoconservatives (influenced by the American Enterprise Institute).
Although Ford was succeeded by Jimmy Carter, the foreign policy ideas of the previous administration were continued by the new National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. It was under Carter that aid was first provided to Islamic militants in Afghanistan, even before the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979. Brzezinski’s goal was to draw the Russians into their own Vietnam war, reverting to the view against the USSR, bankrupting the Soviet Union. nation, and destabilizing the Soviet Union in general. This policy of supporting the Afghan mujahideen continued under the Reagan administration, primarily under the direction of CIA Director William Casey.
Scott also examines many other connections and backgrounds to the War in Afghanistan. He examines the often overlooked role of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, as well as the growing flow of heroin from Afghanistan to the United States during this period (and after). One of the most illuminating parts of the book is a chapter called “The Al-Kifah Center, Al Qaeda, and the US Government, 1988-1998,” which examines various relationships between the government, the support of heavily influenced institutions by Islamic extremism. in the United States, and the growth of al Qaeda throughout the world. Scott also examines the role of the FBI and CIA in informing Ali Mohamed, “a close ally of Osama bin Laden,” and the connections between the Saudi establishment, the American establishment, and al Qaeda.
However, some of the most revealing information in the book concerns the Continuity of Government (COG) plans, which Cheney and Rumsfeld worked on and which were originally revealed during the Iran-Contra affair. According to Scott, the COG plan “called for the ‘suspension of the Constitution, the handing over of government control to FEMA, the emergency appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments, and the declaration of martial law during a crisis’. national’. The plan also gave the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had been involved in drafting it, broad powers, including internment.” Disturbingly, the same team that worked on the COG plans was reconvened in May of by President George W. Bush to constitute a task force on terrorism in 2001. In addition, the attacks of September 11, 2001 resulted in the first implementation of the COG plans.
Another connection the book makes is that the same team, headed by Cheney and Rumsfeld, had been part of the Project for a New American Century, which advocated greater military involvement in the Middle East. In effect, the events of 9/11 allowed this team to implement the two plans they had been working on since the 1980s: wars in two Middle Eastern countries and various parts of COG planning, including warrantless arrests. judicial and illegal eavesdropping without a warrant. As Scott asks, “Were these practices decided upon after 9/11, as the Bush administration maintains? Or were they already being prepared as part of COG planning revived by Cheney and FEMA in May 2001?”
In the final chapters, Scott examines how Cheney implemented the COG on 9/11 and the failures of the 9/11 Commission to analyze this issue in detail, covering up Cheney’s actions on that day. The omissions from the 9/11 Commission Report point to what really could have happened that day, and the chapter is quite revealing. It is also an in-depth discussion that must be read in its entirety for Scott’s arguments to be fully followed.
In the end, however, The road to 9/11 it points out how deep state influences in American politics have served various interests of the country’s establishment and elite, while putting the public in greater danger from the attacks the government is supposed to protect against. Furthermore, the catastrophic attacks of September 11 have led to the implementation of two relevant plans that the top brass of the currently ruling administration have been working on for years, in some cases decades. Whether or not these plans were in the public interest after such an event, the fundamental problem for Scott lies in the fact that this deep state has taken such extensive control of the government, reducing the public state to little influence. Scott summarizes his book by stating that “for the past half century, the open politics and representative institutions of the United States res publica (the public state) have been progressively subordinated to a private thing (a tightly controlled locus of top-down decision-making in the deep state).”
The final pages of the book discuss various ways the public can begin to reclaim their power and provide hope for all work in the public state in the face of the urgency to combat deep state influences. It will be a people-by-people understanding that will bridge the gap between the civilizations of the United States and the Islamic world, without continued military involvement, and it is only through the free exchange of information and ideas, through the Internet and other non-state media. or corporate controlled means that this exchange can take place, and the true role of the public in restraining the private state and creating a multinational civil society can be restored.
