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countries of Iran and Iraq. "By seeking weapons of mass destruc- The Guardian has also commented on these developments and tion, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. States like their military-strategic context: these and their terrorist allies constitute an Axis of Evil, arming to "Every twist in the war on terrorism seems to leave a new threaten the peace of the world," Bush added: "The United States Pentagon outpost in the Asia-Pacific region, from the former of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to USSR to the Philippines. One of the lasting consequences of the threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." war could be what amounts to a military encirclement of China." The horrid irony of these statements is clear in light of the doc- In explanation, the London daily cited the Pentagon's umentation presented here concerning the Bush administration's Quadrennial Defense Review, warning of the danger that "a role in the events of September 11, its conscious use of massive military competitor with a formidable resource base will emerge in terror against the Afghan population, and the accompanying poli- the region". The journal recommended a US policy that "places a cies of imperialism at home and abroad. premium on securing additional access and infrastructure The Middle East and Central Asia together hold over two-thirds agreements". of the world's reserves of oil and natural The expansion of the misnamed "war gas. After Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq on terror" is thus specifically tailored to are respectively the second and third target regions of strategic and economic largest oil-producers in the region. Both interest to the United States, and thus to Iran and Iraq, in accordance with their consolidate unrivalled US hegemony in local interests, are fundamentally . these regions. opposed to the US drive to secure It isa fact that no top unimpeded access to regional resources. i Blatant Anomalies Iran, for instance, has been attempting to wTc executives were It is worth emphasising here that even secure its own interests in Afghanistan killed In the attacks. the lowest possible level of involvement and Central Asia, thus coming into direct on the part of the Bush administration conflict with regional US interests. Iraq fails to absolve this administration of has been tolerated for a decade now, only scandalous responsibility for the events because the US has been unable to of September 11. replace Saddam Hussein's regime with a At the very least, the facts on record viable alternative.* In light of the results 0: demonstrate with certainty that the US the apparently successful "test case" provided by the war on government is fully aware that its regional allies Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the US seems intent on attempting a replay in Iraq Pakistan and some others have funded and supported Al-Qa'ida by eliminating Saddam and enlisting the opposition to establish a for years. Yet despite this, the US government has permitted this compliant new regime. Similar plans may be in the pipeline for support to continue, actively obstructing intelligence investiga- Tran. tions into the matter and funnelling US aid to the same allies. As for North Korea, this country borders China and is thus This policy has continued with the objective of maintaining these strategically located in terms of longstanding US policy planning. lucrative alliances, through which regional US economic and China has long been viewed by US policy planners as its principal strategic interests are secured. rival in North and East Asia. The military network being installed At the same time, the US government has long been aware of y the United States in the wake of September 11 systematically the threat posed by Al-Qa'ida to US national security, and in par- encircles China—taking in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, ticular was certainly aware that some sort of devastating attack by Pakistan, India, the Philippines and now Korea. Al-Qa'ida on US soil was imminent in the latter half of 2001. Endnotes hat the buildings had been designed to level Pentagon staff who can be, and have 1. A typical objection to these conclusions, withstand nightmare scenarios such as being _ been, easily replaced. which attempts to imply that from the outset _ hit by a plane (although hindsight proves It is a fact that even the total destruction there is no point in even considering evi- they had not accounted for certain develop- of the White House as a building (unlikely dence of US complicity in 9-11, posits that ments related to such scenarios). Prior to as a consequence of a plane crash, due to its the government's allowing—or deliberately he WTC attacks, the architects’ assurances broad and more sturdy structure) would not provoking—the destruction of the World would probably have been taken for granted. _ in reality damage the control and economic Trade Center, the Pentagon and potentially It is a fact that no top WTC executives wealth of the Bush administration, the oil industry, the defence industry and so on. It the White House is a priori an impossible were killed in the attacks. It is a fact that . : scenario due to the potentially uncontrol- the thousands of victims who were killed in ik fact trata key high leve! US political lable ramifications for the world economy the attacks constitute a fraction of the total ‘a oars a err in ety a ks. I and the US as such. This, however, is a number of employees who worked at the t roughougihe [AES SETS © rts GUEIES, t disi aA is a fact that the bombing of civilian build- lisingenuous position based on unwarranted © WTC. F a : . ; ings does not in itself damage the economy. assumptions that the side effect of 9-11 It is a fact that none of the Pentagon Ttis a fact that the increasingly recessive might be uncontrollable. Assuming that the | employees who died was a member of the world economy, while badly damaged and conclusions of this study are correct, it is top military establishment. It is a fact that freefalling was alrea dy in recession long perfectly conceivable that the government, the main hub of the Pentagon can survive before September 11 and was set to recede while anticipating an attack on the WTC, even a nuclear attack; the maximum damage uch further regardless of the latter. It is a did not at all anticipate that the towers caused, and that could have been caused, by _fact that the economic freefall has come to would actually collapse as a consequence. the impacting plane was the destruction of 4 an end, largely thanks to the indirect impact For instance, the architects and engineers few walls and segments of the building's who designed the Twin Towers have stated _ outer structure, along with the loss of lower- Continued on page 16 The Guardian has also commented on these developments and their military-strategic context: "Every twist in the war on terrorism seems to leave a new Pentagon outpost in the Asia-Pacific region, from the former USSR to the Philippines. One of the lasting consequences of the war could be what amounts to a military encirclement of China." In explanation, the London daily cited the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, warning of the danger that "a military competitor with a formidable resource base will emerge in the region". The journal recommended a US policy that "places a premium on securing additional access and infrastructure agreements".° Tha « nf the A NEXUS #15 It is a fact that no top WTC executives were killed in the attacks. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com