Why do we continue, more so now than ever before, to exaggerate the military threats that we face? For it is undeniable that our massive national security complex has spawned its very own enemy-industrial complex. And the reason for this is simple: threat inflation makes good business sense. Just like sex, it sells.
Today marks 11 years since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. It was the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, and it changed completely the way the U.S. government responds to terrorist threats. In some ways, that's a good thing. After all, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies were so disjointed and poorly managed that they missed clear warnings that could have prevented the deaths of more than 3,000 people. It was important to fix that. But fixing the real problem isn't how things happen in politics. Much of that response to the 9/11 attacks wasn't only unnecessary, it was downright destructive. Spending trillions on secret wars, secret trials, offshore prisons and forever prisoners? There's no future in that.