June 17, 2018
The Wisdom Fund

'War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence' by Ronan Farrow -- Review

Looking at problems beyond the bounds of establishment discourse is likely to lead the reader to a different conclusion

by Enver Masud

Ronan Farrow's "War on Peace" reveals the struggle, largely hidden from the public, between seasoned diplomats and the military-industrial complex in determining the direction of U.S. policy - primarily in the war on Afghanistan following the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Farrow concludes that drastic cuts at the State Department have created "a nation that shoots first and asks question later." The book is a page-turner.

Sadly, Farrow, like other establishment figures, stays within the bounds of acceptable establishment discourse. He uncritically accepts the official explanation of 9/11 - "The 9/11 Commission Report." Looking at problems beyond the bounds of establishment discourse is likely to lead the reader to a different conclusion.

Today, more than 3000 military and intelligence personnel, engineers, architects, professors, and high level personnel in other countries, find that the evidence does not support the official explanation of 9/11. Mainstream news media dismisses them as "conspiracy theorists."

The term "conspiracy theory" was developed by the CIA as a means of undercutting critics of the Warren Commission's report that President John F. Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. The use of the term "conspiracy theory" was heavily promoted in the media by the CIA.

Farrow fails to disclose key facts leading up to the war on Afghanistan.

The attacks on 9/11 came after negotiations with the Taliban for a pipeline had broken down. The Taliban, after initially negotiating with Unocal, had begun showing a preference for Bridas Corporation of Argentina. During the negotiations - which occurred prior to 9/11, "U.S. representatives told the Taliban ("Bin Laden, The Forbidden Truth") 'either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs'."

Afghanistan's interim president, Hamid Karzai, and the U.S. special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, were formerly employed as consultants to Unocal, the U.S. oil company which spent much of the 1990s seeking to build a pipeline through Afghanistan.

Zalmay Khalilzad drew up Unocal's risk analysis on its proposed trans-Afghan gas pipeline. In 2003, Zalmay Khalizad became the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, and on June 22, 2005 was sworn in as ambassador to Iraq.

Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October (BBC News, September 18, 2001).

On September 23, 2001 BBC News reported that four of the hijack "suspects" were alive. Director Mueller acknowledged "that the identity of several of the suicide hijackers is in doubt."

On September 17, 2001, the Associated Press published passenger lists for AA Flight 11, UA Flight 175, AA Flight 77, and UA Flight 93, based on information supplied by "family members, friends, co-workers and law enforcement" [sic]. There were no Arab names on these lists.

On March 2, 2007, during an interview televised on Democracy Now!, General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, stated: "About 10 days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon, . . . and one of the generals called me in. . . . He says, "We've made the decision we're going to war with Iraq." . . . "So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?" And he said, "Oh, it's worse than that." . . . "This is a memo that describes how we're going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran."

Farrow also fails to disclose:

On September 11, 2001, Mr. Trump, on Fox5NY, said, "they had bombs".

The 9/11 Commission Chair Thomas H. Kean and Vice Chair Lee H. Hamilton wrote in their book - "Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission" - that they were "setup to fail".

Sen. Max Cleland (R-GA) resigned from the 9/11 Commission saying "it's a scam".

Philip D. Zelikow, Executive Director of The 9/11 Commission, principal author of "The 9/11 Commission Report," is an expert in how to misuse public trust and create public myths. In 1998, Zelikow wrote "Catastrophic Terrorism" about imagining "the transformative event" three years before 9/11.

In September 2000, The Project for the New American Century wrote (p51), "Preserving the desirable strategic situation in which the United States now finds itself requires a globally preeminent military capability . . . the process of transformation . . . is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor."

Was 9/11 the "new Pearl Harbor"?

In research conducted across 165 countries by The Economist Intelligence Unit ("The Best And Worst Countries For Democracy," Forbes, February 2018), Norway was ranked the world's best democracy, recording the highest score 9.87. In last year's study, the United States was downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy" and in the 2017 edition, it only came 21st overall with a score of 7.98. A handful of corporations control most of what we watch, hear, and read. Unjust wars of aggression have cost the American taxpayer dearly. This has more to do with the decline of American influence around the world than cutbacks at the State Department.

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Enver Masud is the founder of The Wisdom Fund (est. 1995). An engineering management consultant, he worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank in Pakistan, Russia, Indonesia. He also managed the National Power Grid Study and the National Electric Reliability Study for the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2006, he was retained by the Department for International Development (UK) to advise Iraq's Minister for Electricity. He is the author of "9/11 Unveiled" -- FREE at "9/11 Unveiled" (Arabic and Chinese drafts available).

"What Really Happened on 9/11"