Ron Paul warned that the original War on Terror was destined to be turned inward. I mean, as long as we’re playing the ‘who gets credit for warning us’ game, let’s get real. The Ron Paul people were right about everything: War, Spying, inflation, debt. Republicans went with Mitt. https://t.co/SiYEVNy0y5

— Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith) November 16, 2021

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Rod Dreher writes at The American Conservative, “The president who launched the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan had some words of advice for America yesterday:

Former President George W. Bush called on Americans Saturday to confront domestic violent extremists, comparing them to violent extremists abroad and warning that they are ‘children of the same foul spirit.’

In a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Bush said the US has seen ‘growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within.’

‘There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,’ Bush said. ‘But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit.’

‘And it is our continuing duty to confront them,’ he added.

Bush’s speech at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, came eight months after violent insurrectionists breached the US Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.

President Bush named US “violent extremists” as the new Al Qaeda. We who recall how this man and his administration manufactured consent for the Iraq War have a duty to speak out against this language, which the ruling class will use to demonize dissent. https://t.co/Y6ZjicWqZO

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) September 12, 2021

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FEE’s Dan Sanchez writes, “The US government exploited that ‘mandate’ to the hilt, waging a ‘Global War on Terror’ that destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands abroad and trampled the liberties of millions at home, only to finally begin to wind down twenty years later in disaster and disgrace.

But the damage encompassed even more than that.

“Oh mijo, they attacked us,” she said over the phone.

I didn’t know what she was talking about, but those three words—”they attacked us”—were clear enough to trigger an instinctual response of dread.https://t.co/qX6p6B8waR

— Jon Miltimore (@miltimore79) September 12, 2021

The Global War on Terror set the standard for crisis response for the next twenty years. Every time the public is retraumatized by a new scare (like the financial crisis of 2008 or the COVID crisis we’re living through now), it responds by flocking in terror to the arms of the government.

Indeed, as Robert Higgs showed in his book Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, history demonstrates that it is not just war that feeds the state, but any sufficiently big and scary crisis.

That is why governments are so eager to instigate, exacerbate, and perpetuate wars and crises.”

Read the entire column.

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