Did 9/11 really "change everything"?

[caption] “…the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.” (page 51)

source: Rebuilding America's Defenses (a report by "The Project for the New American Century", September 2000)

 http://visibility911.com/media/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/rebuildingamericasdefenses.pdf
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Did 9/11 really "change everything"?


We've been told that 9/11 changed everything.

Is it true?

Let's look:


• The Afghanistan war was planned before 9/11 (see this and this)

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4587368/


• The decision to launch the Iraq war was made before 9/11. Indeed, former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted "crap" in its justifications for invading Iraq. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill - who sat on the National Security Council - also says that Bush planned the Iraq war before9/11. And top British officials say that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change one month after Bush took office

 http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/new-documents-show-bush-administration-plan

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04
/27/AR2007042700550.html?nav=most_emailed

 http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/oneill.bush/

 http://rawstory.com/2009/11/discussed-iraq-regime-change-month-bush-office-british/


• Cheney apparently even made Iraqi's oil fields a national security priority before 9/11

 http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2008/07/cheney-and-oil-bigs-planned-us-war.html


• The Patriot Act was planned before 9/11

 http://web.archive.org/web/20030423013539/http:/www.truthout.com/docs_02/05.21B.jvb.usapa.911.p.htm


• Cheney dreamed of giving the White House the powers of a monarch long before 9/11

 http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060210.html


• Cheney and Rumsfeld actively generated fake intelligence which exaggerated the threat from an enemy in order to justify huge amounts of military spending long before 9/11. And see this

 http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0213-28.htm

 http://www.counterpunch.org/golub03212003.html


• Cheney and the rest of the neocons lamented - before 9/11 - that America could not truly project its power globally without the justification of a "new Pearl Harbor"

 http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf


• The government's spying on Americans began before 9/11 (confirmed here and here. And see this)

 http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/nsa-asked-for-p.html

 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abIV0cO64zJE

 http://rawstory.com/news/2007/ATT_engineer_says_Bush_Administration_sought_1216.html

 http://web.archive.org/web/20060213222729/http:/news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060204/ap_on_go_pr_wh/ford_era_spying_1


• The decision to threaten to bomb Iran was made before 9/11

 http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Iran_The_Road_to_Confrontation_0123.html


• The government knew that terrorists could use planes as weapons -- and had even run its own drills of planes being used as weapons against the World Trade Center and other U.S. high-profile buildings, using REAL airplanes -- all before 9/11

 http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2008/04/was-911-unforeseeable.html


• The government heard the 9/11 plans from the hijackers' own mouths before 9/11

 http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/09/5-facts-you-dont-know-about-spying-in.html


• Cheney was in charge of all counter-terrorism programs for the United States before (and on) 9/11. See this Department of State announcement, this CNN article and this essay

 http://web.archive.org/web/20040819103241/http:/usinfo.state.gov/regional/af/security/a1050878.htm

 http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/11/ar911.king.cheney/

 http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/011805_simplify_case.shtml#bullmeans


• It was known long before 9/11 that torture doesn't work to produce accurate intelligence, but is an effective way to terrorize people

 http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/04/top-interrogation-experts-say-torture.html

 http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/torture-is-form-of-terrorism.html



So did 9/11 really "change everything"? Or was it simply an excuse to implement existing plans?