Is the US a Terrorist State?

Listen to former US government analyst and celebrated whistleblower Richard Cook discuss the neocons and their orchestration of the war in Ukraine on my radio show.  -Kevin Barrett, VT Editor

By Richard C. Cook

The conclusion has become inescapable: the US IS a terrorist state.

Most commonly, the word “terrorism,” refers to violent organized attacks against civilian populations, in order to influence governments, societies, or individuals to give up fighting or resisting, to punish them for being on the wrong side in a conflict, to seize their lands or property, or to otherwise cause them to acquiesce in their subjugation to an aggressor. Terrorism is usually either state-sponsored or allowed to happen when the state looks the other way due to its own interests.

The US has had terrorist inclinations for a very long time. Its most longstanding terrorist campaign has been the destruction of Native American peoples and cultures, starting with the settlement of America by Europeans and continuing almost to the present day.

This includes the campaigns of extermination against the Indians carried out by the pious New England worthies and the law-abiding citizens of Virginia in the 17^th century, Washington’s scorched-earth assaults on the Iroquois during the Revolutionary War, subsequent seizure of the Old Northwest from the Shawnee and related tribes lasting through the War of 1812, when the Indians fought alongside the British when the Americans invaded Canada, the expulsion of the Indians from the American southeast under policies promulgated by President Andrew Jackson, and, of course, the genocidal campaign against the Plains Indians after the Civil War led by General William Tecumseh Sherman, the officer whose soldiers burned Atlanta in 1864 prior to his infamous March to the Sea.

One of the most egregious acts of terrorism against the Indians was the government’s sponsorship of the deliberate killing of millions of buffalo in the 1870s and 80s in order to take away the Indians’ main source of livelihood. The American South was also well-versed in applying terrorist tactics to the control of its African slaves. Even after the Civil War, the terrorism continued through the South’s culture of intimidation and lynching.

The American Indians and black African slaves were not the only victims of course. Terrorism was the primary choice of Europeans in their conquest of territories throughout the Americas, Africa, India, elsewhere in Asia, and even Australia, for a period lasting more than four centuries. Even the US got into the act in its attacks on native Filipinos after seizing the Philippine islands from Spain in the Spanish-American War.

Within Europe itself, terrorism and scorched-earth tactics were the favored method in medieval wars among competing feudal armies, between religious denominations during the Thirty Years War, where a third of the population of Germany died from war and famine, by the French government against the Huguenots, and by the English under Cromwell in their genocide against the Irish. Among the most efficient terrorists in history have been the horseback raiders of the Eurasian steppes such as the Mongols of Genghis Khan and the Huns of Attila.

Everywhere in the world, criminal gangs have always practiced terrorism against the civilian populations in whose midst they lived and stole. In the US, gang terrorism saw a huge amount of growth during Prohibition, when the Mafia and other groupings rang the bootlegging rackets, along with gambling drugs, human trafficking, and other vices. Such gangs are widespread today, with politicians often being on the take as cover.

But it was with the coming of modern mechanized warfare in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries that terrorism really began to hit its stride. It wasn’t enough for millions of men to kill and maim each other in the trenches along the Western Front during World War I, with tanks and poison gas now coming into play. Rather it was with air power that terrorism really found its future. And by World War II, it was the Americans and British who became the real experts at aerial obliteration of cities, civilian infrastructure, and the lives of noncombatants. Of course by then terrorism against entire nations and peoples was part of the common repertoire of practices by regimes like Hitler’s Nazis and the Communists who took over Russia and later China.

Today, the miracle by which Germany rebuilt its bombed-out cities flattened by American and British bombers in World War II obscures the impact of the horrific damage wrought by the fabled American know-how. This included the fire-bombing of Dresden in 1945 where tens of thousands of people were killed in a single night. In the Pacific, the US bombed the Japanese into submission, including major attacks against Tokyo, and, of course, became the only nation ever to drop atomic bombs on enemy populations with the A-Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the war against Japan had already been won, these actions by the US still stand alone in history as the worst acts of state terrorism ever. After World War II, the US continued to rain bombs on Korea and later on Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during the wars in Indochina of the 1960s and 1970s.

But this wasn’t everything that made up the terrorist arsenal. From the end of World War II to the present, the US has engaged in countless campaigns of terror in its efforts to assure the pro-American stance of countries and governments around the world. Often these campaigns were executed by right-wing juntas in other countries, particularly in Latin America, the Middle East, and Arica. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Central America, Angola, the Congo, Indonesia, these and many other countries, all saw US sponsored or funded terrorism carried out by militaries and police against their own populations. None of these were wars declared by the US Congress as required by the Constitution. But the US engaged in them nevertheless. A particularly egregious campaign of terror was Operation Phoenix carried out against civilians in Vietnam when tens of thousands were wantonly murdered.

The bombs rained down again when the US went to war against Iraq in 1990. In fact, by now, the preferred American mode of waging war was routinely first to obliterate a country by bombing and then to send in the ground forces for mop-up. Unfortunately, the ground-based mop-up could last for decades against a recalcitrant and radicalized population. There were also stand-along bombing campaigns. Perhaps the most glaring example was the NATO (i.e., the US and Britain) assault on Serbia in 1999 that triggered the destruction of Yugoslavia. It was headed by Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark. The US never occupied the region, but instead left it to the fragments of the former nation of Yugoslavia to sort things out, which has yet to happen. The dismemberment of Yugoslavia was made possible by the collapse of the Soviet Union, its ally and protector, in 1991.

Then came the War on Terror, kicked off by the events of 9/11, which were more than likely false flag attacks concocted by the US national security apparatus to create an excuse for a massive takeover of the Middle East. The bombs rained on Afghanistan, Iraq again, Libya, Syria, Somalia, and elsewhere. In the meantime, the US sold countless planes and other armaments to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other friends and allies so they could do the same to their own enemies on an as-needed basis or to keep on stand-by in case they were ever needed. US weapons manufacturers have made fortunes selling weapons around the world, including to the members of NATO.

We should also consider the push to weaponize space which reared its head in spectacular fashion with President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” fantasies, including plans for the X-ray laser, electronic railgun, nuclear battle stations, and powerful laser beams capable of incinerating enemy cities within seconds. As someone who worked as an analyst for NASA’s space shuttle program in 1985-6, I can confirm that an unspoken objective of Reagan’s proposed Star Wars system that had begun to use the space shuttle as a testing platform was to protect the US against retaliation should a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union happen to be launched. Similar considerations are doubtless involved in the expansion of space-based military activities in recent years, including the creation of the Space Force under President Donald Trump.

Which brings us to the present moment and the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. As we have seen, it is not the Russian method of warfare to engage in indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilians. Despite the Western propaganda, the Russians have tried to minimize civilian casualties. The Russians are not waging a war of terror. The Russians rely instead on artillery shelling to soften up enemy positions before moving in with a ground assault. By so doing they are methodically destroying the Ukrainian army.

And this has been incredibly frustrating to the US. The NATO directorate under Jens Stoltenberg has been chomping at the bit to send fighters and bombers into the skies over Ukraine to blast the Russians to bits. NATO bases throughout Europe have plenty of aircraft that could do the job. Ukrainian President Zelensky has repeatedly called for NATO air support, though none has appeared. Even retired General Wesley Clark has recently made it clear that only if NATO immediately embarks on a major air war over Ukraine can Russia be defeated.

Instead of the customary and time-honored air campaign, the US and its European allies have been sending relatively small-scale ground-based weapons and some old artillery junk that has made no difference in the war to date. Right now we are seeing constant laments from the mainstream media that Ukraine is being outgunned. Since it is logistically impossible to move enough long-range weaponry into the battlefield to make a difference, this hand-wringing may be a disguised attempt to get the US to start using its overwhelming air power.

But we all know, of course, that the US has refrained from its usual campaign of airborne terror only because Russia has made it clear that World War III will result. And the US has qualms about fighting World War III. A least at present. So there things stand.

As an aside, I will just mention another alternative for a US terror attack, and that is with bioweapons. Perhaps realizing the futility of engaging Russia in open warfare, the US seems to have been investing heavily in bioweapons research, including in Ukraine. The Pentagon now admits that prior to the current conflict it had set up over forty bioweapons labs in Ukraine, but for “peaceful purposes.” Frankly, I am amazed that US authorities might entertain the idea that such nonsense is to be believed by anyone.

 “Knowing the US government as I do, I believe that the pandemic was created deliberately by them with the intent of taking down China, Russia, Iran, and other unprepared nations. Please take a look at the articles by Ron Unz.”

We have just passed through a coronavirus pandemic. Knowing the US government as I do, I believe that the pandemic was created deliberately by them with the intent of taking down China, Russia, Iran, and other unprepared nations. Please take a look at the articles by Ron Unz. Of course the US government had to realize that the designated pathogen would affect the US also, but hoped perhaps to be ready with vaccines.

Of course Ukraine is not the only place in the world where the US military is developing bioweapons. It’s been happening in Georgia, for instance. I think it’s only a matter of time before the next pandemic is unleashed, an eventuality which has been thoroughly cheered on by Western elites interested in the reduction of population worldwide.

Related to biological warfare is actions to flood a nation with illicit drugs with the aim of reducing its population to degradation through addiction. The British did this to China in the 19^th century. The American CIA has reportedly done this against various central Asian nations, as well as to Russia, through production of heroin from Aghanistan poppy farms, and possibly to its own American population through production and distribution of LSD and cocaine, and now opioids and fentanyl. All this is terrorism.

Another form of terrorism is  that of “sanctions.” We have learned a great deal about sanctions in recent weeks during Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, with the EU now having issued its sixth set of sanctions against Russia, all with the intent of destroying Russia’s economy and creating such an economic disaster that its citizens supposedly will rise up and depose Vladimir Putin. The sanctions have now backfired, with the Europeans well on their way to destroying their own economies and plunging the entire world in a global depression.

Sanctions have a long history. One of the most famous cases was the US sanctions during the 1990s against Iraq, presided over by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. These sanctions were said to have resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 Iraqi children due to starvation, malnutrition, or illness, a result that Albright said on national TV was “worth it.”

Sanctions are invented by bureaucrats acting under political orders but without accountability and in a vacuum of legality or simple humanity. The current sanctions against Russia are acts of war, but when has the US Congress declared war or when has a UN resolution been passed? Consequently, the sanctions are crimes and acts of terror.

The list of terrorist actions goes on. I’ll mention one more form of terrorism but save discussing it in detail for another day. This is to destroy a nation’s currency through inflation. It’s been done at various times in history and can even be done against a nation’s own population. I believe the Biden administration is deliberately destroying the US currency so it can pay off its unsustainable debts with devalued dollars. Western governments with parasitic banking establishments love inflation for this reason.

Terrorism has a long history, and it is not over yet. The US, as the chief sponsor of terrorism in the world today, carries a heavy burden of guilt, and has much to answer for. But the heyday of US-sponsored terrorism may not be over yet.

Given my years of service with the US government, as well as long experience as an observer, I am of the opinion that right now, even as we speak, the US military is making plans for a nuclear first strike against Russia.

Of course, with a nuclear arsenal the size of America’s, it would be impossible for the US not to be running games and scenarios involving their use. And the US has never made a pledge not to strike first.

The possibility of launching a first strike against Russia is nothing new. It was discussed among President John F. Kennedy and his staff and military advisers during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962.

Today, now, at the time of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, we may be witnessing a danger on a level equal to or greater than any time in the past. Just as the US staged 9/11 as an excuse for the War on Terror, a false flag nuclear detonation attributed to Russia but carried out by US personnel or proxies could now become the occasion for a massive escalation of the war or a first strike against Russia with conventional or nuclear weapons.

The US clearly made a major miscalculation in its actions with Ukraine. There can be little doubt that the US deliberately baited Russia into launching its attack in February 2022. The US and its European allies clearly had a huge number of economic sanctions already in place with the aim of destroying Russia’s economy and bringing about regime change in Russia

But US strategy has backfired. Russia is winning the war both militarily and economically. The US, along with the UK, EU, and NATO are in process of suffering a humiliating defeat. Unwilling to launch an overt war against Russia, the US has refrained from supplying air support to Ukraine’s battered army, or sending in troops from the US or other NATO countries.

The US has said it does not want to go war against Russia over Ukraine. The only nation to mention nuclear weapons has been Russia. It was in response to bellicose statements by the UK Minister of Defense Liz Truss that Putin announced Russia was placing its nuclear forces on alert. A Russian TV station raised hackles with an animation of what would happen if Russia bombed the UK with its high-powered weapons.

With Russia’s anticipated victory in the hybrid war, or proxy war, or whatever you want to call it, Russia, along with a China so closely allied with Russia on multiple fronts, the US and the collective West, are facing a major restructuring of the power dynamics of the world today. The West globalist financial model based on the overwhelming dominance of finance capitalism is facing an existential challenge from the collectivist economies of Russia, China, and their partners.

The US, the UK, the EU, and the rest of the West, may already have lost the war. Again, faced with this likelihood, we can be certain that within the forces driving US policy there are some who are gaming a nuclear first strike. This would be terrorism on a scale never seen before. There are certainly also forces within Russia gaming the ways to stop it.

All I am doing is giving a warning. I am not predicting anything. My hope is that the forces in the West who retain a degree of sanity will rise up over the coming weeks and months and realize that a major world conference on peace in the world that meets Russia and China halfway is our only hope.

Richard C. Cook is a retired federal government analyst.  

Kevin Barrett, Senior Editor

Dr. Kevin Barrett, a Ph.D. Arabist-Islamologist is one of America’s best-known critics of the War on Terror.

He is the host of TRUTH JIHAD RADIO; a hard-driving weekly radio show funded by listener subscriptions at Substack and the weekly news roundup FALSE FLAG WEEKLY NEWS (FFWN).

He also has appeared many times on Fox, CNN, PBS, and other broadcast outlets, and has inspired feature stories and op-eds in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Tribune, and other leading publications.

Dr. Barrett has taught at colleges and universities in San Francisco, Paris, and Wisconsin; where he ran for Congress in 2008. He currently works as a nonprofit organizer, author, and talk radio host.

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