{"id":16469,"date":"2021-09-10T08:09:59","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T12:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=16469"},"modified":"2021-09-10T10:14:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T14:14:53","slug":"9-11-and-the-mirage-of-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/10\/9-11-and-the-mirage-of-american-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/11 and the Mirage of American Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>American Conservative, September 10, 2021<\/h3>\n<h1 class=\"c-single-blog__title c-title wow animated\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/articles\/9-11-and-the-mirage-of-american-democracy\/\"><span class=\"c-title-inner\">9\/11 and the Mirage of American Democracy<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<div class=\"c-single-blog__subtitle c-subtitle \">\n<p class=\"c-subtitle__inner\">Continued secrecy around the role of Saudi Arabia in the events of two decades ago undermines representative government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-single-blog__post-meta c-post-meta \">\n<div class=\"c-post-meta__inner\"><a class=\"c-post-meta__author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/author\/james-bovard\/\"> James Bovard <\/a><\/div>\n<section class=\"c-post-meta__social-share c-social-share c-social-share--default\">\n<div class=\"c-social-share__group\" data-module=\"socialShare\" data-initialized=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-single-blog__content c-content \">\n<p><strong>Twenty years after the 9\/11 attacks, the federal government continues blindfolding the American people. Four presidents have either actively engaged in a cover-up or have kowtowed to the FBI and other federal agencies to shroud damning information regarding an atrocity that left almost 3,000 innocent citizens<\/strong> dead. Will President Biden shock Washington and the world by finally revealing the truth?<\/p>\n<p>Politicians have exploited 9\/11 since before the smoke cleared at Ground Zero. President George W. Bush used images of 9\/11 wreckage in his 2004 reelection campaign. On the campaign trail in 2016, Donald Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/starkrealities.substack.com\/p\/fbi-told-former-agent-not-to-help\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">promised voters<\/a>: \u201cYou will find out who really knocked down the World Trade Center, because they have papers in there that are very secret. You may find it\u2019s the Saudis, okay? But you will find out.\u201d When Trump met representatives of families of 9\/11 victims at the White House on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/attorney-general-barr-refuses-to-release-9-11-documents-to-families-of-the-victims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">September 11, 2019<\/a>, \u201cHe looked us in the eye on 9\/11, he shook our hands in the White House and said, \u2018I\u2019m going to help you \u2014 it\u2019s done,\u2019\u201d said Brett Eagleson, whose father perished in the terrorist attack.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Attorney General William Barr invoked the \u201cstate secrets\u201d doctrine to justify continuing to perpetuate the 9\/11 cover-up. The state secrets doctrine presumes government knows best, and no one else is entitled to know. Barr <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/editorial-whole-truth-9-11-093000141.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">notified a federal magistrate<\/a> that any public disclosure of the issues involved \u201cwould reveal information that could cause the very harms my assertion of the state secrets privilege is intended to prevent.\u201d By hiding behind \u201cstate secrets,\u201d the feds did not have to explain why they refused to disclose information in a lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly before the 2020 election, then Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/biden-tells-justice-department-to-declassify-9-11-probe-documents-11630703767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sent a letter<\/a> to 9\/11 activists: \u201cThe 9\/11 Families are right to seek full truth and accountability\u2026I will direct my Attorney General to personally examine the merits of all cases where the invocation of privilege is recommended, and to err on the side of disclosure in cases\u201d from two or more decades ago. But Biden\u2019s Justice Department continued the stonewall.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, a group of families who lost kin in the 9\/11 attacks issued a public statement declaring that \u201cthere is simply no reason\u201d for continued secrecy. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/9-11-families-president-biden-don-t-come-our-memorial-n1276138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">group warned<\/a>: \u201cIf President Biden reneges on his commitment and sides with the Saudi government, we would be compelled to publicly stand in objection to any participation by his administration in any memorial ceremony of 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden responded last week by promising new disclosures on the 9\/11 attack. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/09\/03\/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-executive-order-directing-declassification-review-of-documents-related-to-the-september-11-2001-terrorist-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order declared<\/a>: \u201cWhen I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents [on the 9\/11 attacks]\u2026As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment.\u201d Biden proclaimed that it was \u201ccritical to ensure that the United States Government maximizes transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Done deal? Fat chance. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2021\/09\/03\/biden-signs-executive-order-requiring-review-release-some-classified-911-documents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Washington Post\u00a0<\/em>noted<\/a> that Biden \u201cseemed to direct the [FBI] to favor disclosure in questionable calls.\u201d Material should be disclosed \u201cif there was \u2018significant doubt\u2019 about the need for it to remain classified, and the attorney general and others should determine \u2018whether the public interest in disclosure of the information outweighs the damage to the national security that might reasonably be expected from disclosure,\u2019\u201d the\u00a0<em>Post <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Previous \u201cdeclassification reviews\u201d have been worth less than wooden nickels<\/strong>.\u00a0The system remains rigged to defer to baseless claims by federal officials. The FBI is its own bureaucratic empire, and it played a role in crippling the Trump administration and perhaps also in helping elect Biden (the FBI took possession of Hunter Biden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/04\/02\/politics\/hunter-biden-laptop\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">laptop in late 2019<\/a> but never publicly disclosed any of the alleged criminal activity it documents). The FBI has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/articles\/a-stasi-for-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stonewalled almost every<\/a> president since Calvin Coolidge.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who wonders why the vast majority of Americans distrust Washington should consider the government\u2019s systematic deceit ever since the 9\/11 attacks. As the Bush administration rushed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokesman.com\/stories\/2004\/oct\/26\/carter-says-bush-exploiting-911-terrorist-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exploit 9\/11<\/a> to justify <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/2003\/0314\/p02s01-woiq.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">invading Iraq<\/a>, a joint House-Senate congressional investigation found extensive evidence that Saudi government officials had directly aided some of the 9\/11 hijackers (15 of 19 were Saudis). The Bush administration succeeded in suppressing the key 28 pages of that congressional report on the Saudi role on 9\/11.<\/p>\n<p>In lieu of disclosure, Bush and congressional leaders appointed the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The 9\/11 Commission\u00a0 became the Bush administration\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/02\/17\/9-11-commission-for-capitol-riot-bovard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most successful faith-based<\/a> initiative. The commissioners were far more concerned with restoring trust in government than in embarrassing its White House patrons.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest boon the Commission conferred on Bush was to shroud the role of the Saudi government in financing the 9\/11 attacks. Commission executive director Philip Zelikow, who <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/39600\/corruption-the-911-commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was in contact with Bush<\/a> chief political advisor Karl Rove while directing the commission, <a href=\"https:\/\/28pages.org\/tag\/philip-zelikow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fired a staffer<\/a> who pursued the Saudi connection too vigorously. Shortly before the report was finished, Zelikow and another staffer <a href=\"https:\/\/28pages.org\/tag\/tom-kean\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rewrote<\/a> key passages of the report to remove \u201cvirtually all of the most serious allegations against the Saudis.\u201d Commission member <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=sOUFNF3tQGAC&amp;pg=PT198&amp;lpg=PT198&amp;dq=%22struck+by+the+determination+of+the+Bush+White+House+to+try+to+hide+any+evidence+of+the+relationship%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=_--hPQMD-1&amp;sig=ACfU3U0EcNw4NiUOOO_yG8sBPTJjhaBhig&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjn-f-Ui_HuAhWzMVkFHWeABoMQ6AEwAHoECAgQAg#v=onepage&amp;q=%22struck%20by%20the%20determination%20of%20the%20Bush%20White%20House%20to%20try%20to%20hide%20any%20evidence%20of%20the%20relationship%22&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John Lehman<\/a> \u201cwas struck by the determination of the Bush White House to try to hide any evidence of the relationship between the Saudis and al-Qaeda,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/02\/17\/9-11-commission-for-capitol-riot-bovard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted Philip Shenon<\/a>, author of <em>The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9\/11 Investigation<\/em>. If the 9\/11 Commission had <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2016\/07\/18\/what-we-know-about-saudi-arabias-role-in-911\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">quoted the 2002 FBI memo<\/a> stating that there was \u201cincontrovertible evidence that there is support for these [9\/11 hijacker] terrorists within the Saudi Government,\u201d Bush might have been seriously damaged. But the commissioners didn\u2019t go looking under any rocks they were told to ignore.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure from kin of 9\/11 victims and members of Congress eventually swayed the Obama administration in 2016 to declassify those 28 pages of the 2003 congressional report. Those pages revealed that the \u201cBlame Iraq for 9\/11\u201d Bush storyline had been one of the greatest and most costly shams in American history. That disclosure helped sway Congress to open the door to legal redress. As columnist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/09\/03\/its-time-end-excessive-secrecy-about-saudis-911\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">George Will noted<\/a>, \u201cAfter 9\/11, lawyers for the families filed suits against Saudi charities and individuals but could not sue Saudi Arabia until Congress in 2016 amended (over President Barack Obama\u2019s veto) the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evidence of a Saudi role in 9\/11 has continued to seep out. Former FBI Special Agent Stephen Moore, who led one of the key FBI teams investigating 9\/11, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/9-11-families-president-biden-don-t-come-our-memorial-n1276138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stated in a 2017 affidavit<\/a>: \u201cBased on evidence we gathered during the course of our investigation, I concluded that diplomatic and intelligence personnel of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia knowingly provided material support to the two 9\/11 hijackers and facilitated the 9\/11 plot. My colleagues in our investigation shared that conclusion.\u201d Former Senate intelligence committee chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/starkrealities.substack.com\/p\/fbi-told-former-agent-not-to-help\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bob Graham said in 2018<\/a> that the FBI has \u201cjust thrown the biggest blanket they can find over everything that has to do with the Saudi role in 9\/11,\u201d as Brian McGlinchey reported. Former FBI agent Danny Gonzalez told CBS News last week that disclosing FBI documents on the case would reveal more links between Saudi government officials and the hijackers.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately<strong>, federal secrecy exploded after 9\/11.<\/strong> Since the 1990s, the number of documents classified annually by federal agencies has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/files\/isoo\/reports\/2011-annual-report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">increased more than 15 times<\/a>.\u00a0The federal government is\u00a0now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2013\/jun\/28\/nsa-surveillance-too-many-documents-classified\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">creating trillions of pages of new secrets<\/a> every year. The total number of new secrets each year is equivalent to \u201c20 million four-drawer filingcabinets filled with double-spaced text on paper,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/the-governments-unsustainable-avalanche-of-secrets\/2019\/08\/26\/c1757fda-c824-11e9-a4f3-c081a126de70_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Washington Post\u00a0<\/em>reported<\/a><strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Each classified document is tacitly backed by a federal fist ready to squash anyone who discloses it without permission<\/strong>. \u201cWe don\u2019t think there is a First Amendment right to classified documents,\u201d Justice Department lawyer <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2015\/05\/08\/governments-bid-keep-gitmo-force-feeding-videos-secret-runs-skeptical-judges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Catherine Dorsey told a federal judge<\/a> in 2015. Catch-all definitions of secrecy provide a pretext to harass anyone who dissents from the official line. Americans have little hope of learning the truth about U.S. government policies or foreign interventions until long after new debacles have occurred.<\/p>\n<p>On August 31, President Biden declared, \u201cIt is time to be honest with the American people again.\u201d But it would be na\u00efve to expect nearly all-powerful federal agencies to change their stripes. Federal Judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2019\/12\/17\/politics\/amy-berman-jackson-gates-barr\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amy Berman Jackson declared<\/a> in 2019, \u201cIf people don\u2019t have the facts, democracy doesn\u2019t work.\u201d <strong>Regarding the biggest terrorist attack in U.S. history, American democracy continues to dismally fail. If Biden fails to deliver the facts on 9\/11, maybe Lincoln\u2019s famous adage should be updated to \u201cgovernment of the people, by the people, and for the Saudis.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>James Bovard<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0is the author of\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2LsDHUb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lost Rights<\/a><em>,\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2uSsrq2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Attention Deficit Democracy<\/a><em>, and\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2mN0dbO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Policy Hooligan<\/a><em>. He is also a\u00a0<\/em>USA Today<em>\u00a0columnist. Follow him on Twitter\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JimBovard?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>@JimBovard<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Conservative, September 10, 2021 9\/11 and the Mirage of American Democracy Continued secrecy around the role of Saudi Arabia in the events of two decades ago undermines representative government. James Bovard Twenty years after the 9\/11 attacks, the federal government continues blindfolding the American people. Four presidents have either actively engaged in a cover-up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[709,2124,10,349,47,27,38,728,1118,708],"class_list":["post-16469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-709","tag-biden","tag-bush","tag-coverup","tag-fbi","tag-lying","tag-obama","tag-saudis","tag-september-11","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>9\/11 and the Mirage of American Democracy - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"20 years after 9\/11, the federal government continues covering up key information about the Saudi govt. financing the hijackers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/10\/9-11-and-the-mirage-of-american-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"9\/11 and the Mirage of American Democracy - 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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