It is important to remember that 9/11 was an excuse for an attack on civil liberties and the free flow of information, more than the cause for this.
Don't blame the hijackers alone.
Also blame the politicians, bureaucrats and big business who used "terrorism" as an excuse to come down those who would investigate their activities; journalists, whistle blowers and other concerned members of a community.
The Meltdown was largely a fraud perpetrated on the public and "terrorism" is the other great hoax perpetrated by those running things this century.

Yes, and there is now no place to hide. We now live in a 24/7 surveillance state.
The moment you turn on your mobile phone the various state authorities can find you.
Every time you use a credit card your activity and where-abouts can be traced/recorded.
In one way or another everyones computer activities and emails can be traced.

"It's only when we sit and contemplate what life was like before, that we realise the damage done by those planes. It wasn't just about terrorism, it was about governments deciding that they had been given a perfect opportunity to manage us somewhat differently - the planes meant we could automatically be ruled by fear, and rather than paying attention to what we want, our "elected" representatives then took it upon themselves to do exactly what they want, howsoever they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want. And we, like sheep, accepted that change without so much as a whimper."

This is exactly what the government, particularly in the US planned and got.

In the US, the Constitution is polluted with corrupt legal interpretations from the Bush and Obama regimes that have turned constitutional prohibitions into executive branch rights, transforming law from a shield of the people into a weapon in the hands of government.

9/11 was the “new Pearl Harbour” that the neoconservatives declared to be necessary for their planned wars against Muslim countries. For the neoconservatives to go forward with their agenda, it was necessary for Americans to be connected to the agenda.

President George W. Bush’s first Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neil, said that prior to 9/11 the first cabinet meeting was about the need to invade Iraq.

9/11 was initially blamed on Afghanistan, and the blame was later shifted to Iraq. Washington’s mobilization against Afghanistan was in place prior to 9/11. The George W. Bush regime’s invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) occurred on October 7, 2001, less than a month after 9/11. Every military person knows that it is not possible to have mobilization for invading a country half way around the world ready in three weeks.

The American left is the enabler of the police state, and the American right is its progenitor.

In the first decade of the 21st century Americans lost their constitutional protections and had their wallets opened to indefinite wars. The latest report is that Washington is sending US troops into 35 African countries. http://rt.com/usa/news/us-deploying-troops-order-749/print

And now for our next performer - a big hand for -

ARJAY !

This is an important article in that it highlights many of the inroads made on our civil liberties for which the events of 9/11 have provided the pretext. It is also useful zoo be reminded that as far as Labor and the Coalition are concerned on issues of "national security" they essentially sing from the same unprincipled song sheet.

Where I take issue with the article is in some of its assumptions about 9/11. It was not the planes that brought down wtc 1 and 2, much less wtc7 which was not even hit by a plane. One only needs the most basic grasp of physics to realise that the official conspiracy theory is absolute codswallop. There is now a wealth of evidence to suggest that 9/11 was engineered from within the US, not by a disparate bunch of alleged Muslim fanatics.

One of the problems is that it is almost impossible to have an intelligent discussion on this topic as the mainstream media refuse to confront the evidence, and even fora such as OLO attract a rabid, unintelligent and generally ignorant response from a number of regular commenters who seem to think that labelling someone a conspiracy theorist is an answer worthy of consideration.

As Geoff of Perth points out, the "response" to 9/11 was planned well in advance, including but not limited to the Patriot Act, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the systematic assault on our civil liberties.

As always with these matters, the stock law enforcement question, cui bono needs to be asked and answered.

This is one of the best posts I have read on OLO. The elephants in the room have become glaringly obvious to anyone paying even a modicum of attention.
After the fall of communism, an enemy was needed. Was it to keep us all distracted while the corporations took over our world? For one blatantly obvious reason, Islam got the nod: It sits on the world's energy sands. An easy target if ever there was one.
And the international arms bazaar - fear is so easy to peddle, so profitable, and if sales drop, set off a bomb or assassinate someone in a false flag operation. Use someone else's passport, use a sniper hiding on a rooftop - who's to know?
Habeas corpus - after how many centuries now no longer the primary check on government power over the people.
Unless I am mistaken the only person to do actual jail time in the USA over all the torture is the man who blew the whistle. Bradley Manning can look forward to joining him, and will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars. I only hope they cut him enough slack that he doesn't go utterly stark staring mad. But for those poor bastards in Baghram and Guantanamo, their lives and their families lives have been ruined. And a trial by peers? With evidence presented in a public court? All gone now.
But even more insidious is the mistrust in which we now hold our elected representatives. For those of us who can remember, maybe it's not so bad. At least we can remember when it wasn't so and can hope it will not always remain as it has become. But for the teenagers and early twenty-something's who have never known it otherwise, what irreparable damage have we done to our body politic?
We distrust, we fear and that's no way to live, no way to build a family, a future. The dogs of war have been loosed upon us, and it ain't real pretty at all.