Twenty-Four Years of Criminal U.S. War on Terror Give Rise to More U.S. State Terror
We
Are All DC demonstration in Washington, DC, September
6,
2025
With the crimes taking place in the United States, in which police power and military power are being deployed in a terrorist manner in the name of law and order, security and the "national interest," the 24th anniversary of 9/11 is a time to reflect on the consequences of the U.S. government's "War on Terror."
Twenty-four years ago, after the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon, then President George Bush declared the "War on Terror" saying: "You are either with us or with the terrorists." This is the policy that the executive has used since then to decide who is and is not terrorist and brand and punish people and organizations as such. Today the label "narco-terrorist" is increasingly used to justify not only the use of terror at home against immigrants, refugees and all those the Trump administration qualifies as enemies, but also to justify military actions abroad.
At the time of the attacks 24 years ago, Congress was still playing a role in passing significant legislation and had yet to be disposed of as is taking place today. Legislation passed at that time included the Patriot Act 2001, which made "legal" the attacks by the executive and expanded the definition of "terrorism." It permitted government spying and sharing of information among policing agencies. It facilitated arrests of people guilty of no crime. Arabs, Muslims, Yemenis, and people from countries considered "anti-American" were all subject to state-organized attacks and deprived of their rights. Congress established the entire Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was created as part of DHS and the broader criminalization of immigration matters, which come under civilian, not criminal law.
Various other "anti-terrorism" laws have been passed since then. In 2002, Congress also passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), used since then to justify military action by the president. Such measures, at home and abroad, have expanded to unprecedented levels today.
Today,
in the name of this "War on Terror" and now "narco-terrorists,"
the
executive no longer even defers to Congress. Every president
since Bush
has strengthened and expanded executive powers and impunity to
the
point where the presidency now rules through executive orders
and other
police
powers, including use of the military, with even less regard for
U.S.
or international law.
The government is using its branding of individuals and groups as "narco-terrorist" to conduct mass arrests and deportations of people. This branding of "with us or with the terrorists," is being used far more broadly inside the country to attack anyone the president decides, as well as abroad. Increasingly, no distinction is made between inside and outside of the country for the unjust and illegitimate targeting and violence against the peoples, especially those standing up to oppose genocide and protect human rights, including the right to speak and organize.
The U.S. bombing of a speedboat in international waters in the Caribbean on September 2 was part of Trump's recent deployment of warships and a force of 4,000 Navy and Marines to the Caribbean. The unprovoked attack killed 11 people -- with no declaration of war or imminent threat or warning or trial or even evidence, just the U.S. claim that "narco-terrorists" were involved. This is but one example of the unfettered use of violence that even military officials said was illegal. Requirements for use of military force include warnings to halt, non-lethal force to capture, and lethal force only in cases of self-defense or resistance.
Trump has now openly renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War. Pete Hegseth, now called Secretary of War, referring to the U.S. bombing of the vessel in the Caribbean, said, "President Trump has shown whether it's the southwest border, whether it's the Houthis in freedom of navigation, whether it's Midnight Hammer in Iran, that the precise application of American power can have incredible impacts and reshape dynamics around the world and in the region."
This "precise application of American power" can be seen in the months-long bombing of Yemen, including killing top government officials and civilians and the unprovoked attack on Iran carried out with Israel, alongside the use of the military inside the U.S. at the southern border. Hegseth, speaking on Fox & Friends, again in relation to the killing of 11 people on the speedboat blown up in international waters, said, "This is a deadly, serious mission for us, and it won't stop with just this strike. Anyone else trafficking in the waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate."
All of this shows that 24 years of the U.S. "War on Terror" has given rise to unfettered open terrorism, violence, and impunity by the Office of the President.
A further indication of the lawlessness and impunity that now characterizes the presidency has been Trump repeatedly either challenging or ignoring the courts, including condemning various judges. This has included ignoring rulings about deportations, which continue in the dead of night and are only blocked by the working class and people intervening with their immigrant defence and rights organizations playing their role.
At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court is brazenly acting as an arm of the executive, often ruling in favor of Trump's illegal and racist actions. It has refused to rule against Trump's order to revoke birthright citizenship even though lower courts determined it is unconstitutional. Like the edict of being "with us or with the terrorists," the presidency is trying to put in place the dictate of "with us or no longer a citizen with rights." Unable to meet the needs of modern times, the rulers are madly wrecking the country and U.S. society.
The attack on birthright citizenship takes the working class and peoples of the U.S. back to the days when enslaved Africans were considered property, not human beings with rights. For the Civil War, President Lincoln saw enslaved Africans as part of a foreign war by the Confederacy. Laws of war meant human beings could be confiscated as property of the enemy. Citizenship rights did not apply to enslaved Africans in any way, shape, or form.
So too today, all those the Trump presidency declares are "narco-terrorists," "invaders" "insurrectionists," criminals and the like, are ipso facto relegated outside the law. They are subject to civil death -- no domestic laws, like due process, innocent until proven guilty, apply to them. Instead, people living in the U.S. for decades are associated with various foreign countries and are said to come under the foreign policy prerogatives of the president -- who can treat them under laws of war.
The Supreme Court also recently "paused" a lower court ruling in Los Angeles barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal policing agencies from detaining people solely using racial profiling, language spoken, jobs worked or any combination of these. All of it is for purposes of portraying workers as "enemy aliens" who are subject to the laws of war, not domestic law. On this basis, they can be subject to the notoriously racist, brutal, and arbitrary forces commanded by ICE, Border Patrol, and the FBI, who see themselves as free of any accountability. Already hundreds of workers and activists have been arbitrarily detained.
Far from succeeding in enforcing these laws of war, heroic resistance has arisen in Los Angeles and elsewhere, providing rapid-response protection and support for those targeted. Nowhere have attempts to intimidate the U.S. working class and people succeeded. On the contrary, the U.S. working class and people, comprised of peoples from nations worldwide, big, and small, are intervening as one force against injustice, impunity, and the crimes the U.S. administration is committing.
Thousands
rally in Chicago September 6, 2025 to oppose the surge in
federal
agents for raids against their communities and the anticipated
arrival
of National Guard or military forces.
Anarchy Raised to Authority
Underlying these developments over two decades is the crisis of the undemocratic and failed U.S. institutions, whether Congress, the courts or manipulated elections that bring reviled candidates to office. All have proven unable to end the violence and impunity against the peoples, which includes their support for U.S./Zionist genocide in Palestine.
Far
from the "War on Terror" solving problems of insecurity for the
people,
the rulers are facing one failure after another in their foreign
wars
and efforts at "regime change," whether Iraq, Afghanistan,
Libya,
Yemen, Iran, Palestine, Venezuela, Cuba, Ukraine, the Balkans
and more.
All are
failures.
Contention among the rulers is intensifying as to how to escape their crises and impose U.S. hegemony abroad and government of police powers at home. Certain quarters of the ruling class harbored illusions that Trump, with his blatant and broad impunity could provide escape but, instead, contention among the factions of the ruling class itself threatens civil war at home. Meanwhile, the resistance by the peoples affirms that only their united struggle against the ruling class will succeed in bringing about the changes the people require.
It is becoming increasingly evident that conditions require a democracy of the people's own making, where they have the power to decide on matters related to war and peace and all the issues that impact their lives. Instead, the power and authority of the presidency, system and institutions that allow such power, stand in the way.
Since the time of 9/11 and Bush's "War on Terror," a feature of U.S. governance is that anarchy has been raised to authority. The public authority on the basis of which the U.S. was founded has been destroyed in favor of privatization of even the state itself. The dysfunction at all levels has given rise to intense factional fights. The many authorities in the U.S. -- federal, state, and local -- are all highly armed and each has its own self-interests. None of these authorities respect any of the various forces that each contends with. All try to make use of the courts but cannot overcome the increasing anarchy and violence which breeds more violence. The possibility of open violent civil war is growing, as the rulers cannot resolve conflicts among themselves and cannot convince the working class and people that the current arrangements are viable.
No to U.S. State Terrorism!
One Humanity, One Struggle!
Our Security Lies in the Fight for the Rights of All!
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 36 - September 11, 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/TS55362.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca