Naomi Wolf Quotes
After we were hit on September 11, 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the U.S.A. Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it.
Wolf, Naomi. The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007, p. 38.
In the aftermath of 9-11, there was a call for giving the law enforcement agencies more authority and the Patriot Act was passed in haste and fear. Some law enforcement personnel then went about picking up Arab Americans and in many cases holding them incommunicado without any charges. No terrorists were discovered by this process and yet good American citizens were abused, traumatized and insulted. In our zeal to protect American freedom, we actually began to resemble some of the capricious and abusive practices of our undemocratic enemies. There were other abuses allowed under the Patriot Act, but at the time of this writing the extent had not yet been revealed, but the refusal of the authorities to make public the national security benefits suggests that there was not much national security benefit and much abuse.
Goldsmith headed the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel—the office that makes legal opinions to guide the Federal Government’s conduct. The George W. Bush White House had decided that the War on Terror required spying on American citizens under certain circumstances but the existing laws required that in each case, they obtain a warrant from a special FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court. They were afraid that the court might not grant the warrants in all cases so in some cases ignored the requirements to go through the court. Addington and some other White House staff felt that if there was one more terrorist incident in the United States, they could pressure Congress into getting rid of the FISA court.
36 days later, September 11, he did strike, and at the World Trade Center. The memo was kept secret by the Bush administration until public pressure as a result of the 9-11 Commission hearings forced the declassification and release. At that point it became clear that there was no reason that the memo could not have been released much earlier except that it was embarrassing.
36 days later, September 11, he did strike. See {617467} for some of the specific contents. The memo was kept secret by the Bush administration until public pressure as a result of the 9-11 Commission hearings forced the declassification and release. At that point it became clear that there was no reason that the memo could not have been released much earlier except that it was embarrassing. See {637530} and {637533} for two other Bin Laden Warnings that Bush and his team ignored.
One aspect of the “gloves coming off” was the CIA engaging in illegal activities such as torture, as well as the legal activities which were so effective at the beginning of the Afghanistan War and the use of drones to kill terrorist leaders.
The AUMF was passed 3 days after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Naomi Rebekah Wolf is an American author and journalist. Since around 2014, she has been considered a conspiracy theorist by multiple media sources. Wolf rejects those claims.
