Repressive Policies

The 9/11 Attack as Rationale for Repression

The 9/11 attack has been used as the justification for an array of hastily-enacted policies which erode and destroy civil liberties, attack human rights, and decrease the accountability of government officials and corporations. This assault on basic freedoms was ushered in with Orwellian claims that the new War on Terror was necessary to protect freedom.

A full accounting of even the worst of these abuses is beyond the scope of 9-11 Research. Instead, we summarize in broad terms represive policies and actions that have been forced on citizens of the United States and the world under the guise of fighting terrorism in the post-9/11 world.

Legislative and Executive Actions

In the section titled attacks on freedom we examine the legislative and executive actions that clothe and attempt to legitimzie the War on Terror. The 9/11-predicated legislation includes, most prominently:

• The USA PATRIOT Act submitted to Congress on September 24th, 2001, attacked a broad array of constitutionally-protected freedoms. Two Senators who attempted to slow the passage of the PATRIOT Act received letters containing Anthax.
• The Homeland Security Act passed on November 25th, 2001, consolated a score of existing federal agencies into the new Homeland Security Department while increasing government secrecty, eroding citizens' privacy, and rewarding special interests.
• The Military Commission Act passed on October 18th, 2006, provided the blueprint for extra-constitutional military tribunal system, and shielded the Bush admistration from lawsuits stemming from human rights abuses.

A series of executive orders dating from Sepember of 2001 has enacted a variety of repressive polices, many of them later rubber-stamped by legislative actions.

The judiciary branch of the U.S. government has been a somewhat reluctant player in the War on Terror, declaring some of the provisions of the various acts unconstitutional.

Military Actions

The implementation of the post-9/11 agenda through military actions has proceeded in parallel with the issuance of legislative and executive decrees endorsing those actions. Those actions have included:

• Attacks and ongoing occupations of Afghanistan, and Iraq.
• The indefinite detentions of individuals deemed "emeny combatants" by the Bush administration.
• The torture and murder of individuals in U.S. custody