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The Grand Deception (2nd edition) A Second Look at the War on Terrorism © 2002 by G. Edward Griffin The concepts I would like to share with you today were set to paper three days after the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. I printed about a dozen copies and gave them to family and friends. Since then I have added historical data, but the concepts and the message remain unchanged. Many of the predictions I made have already come to pass; but any pride I might have in being right is far offset by the grim substance of those predictions. After completing The Creature from Jekyll Island, I felt that I still had one more book to write and that it would be called The Freedom Manifesto. I also knew that I would need a dramatic issue in the first chapter to capture attention. Well, the terrorist attack on September 11 was certainly that – and more. I told those on my email list that I would send them my expanded report, but then I became bogged down in gathering material for the book. By that time, the report had become huge and had to be divided into chapters. All of that took about four weeks. So, what started out to be a four-page report on terrorism metamorphosed into components of what I call The Grand Deception, which I anticipate will become Part One of the book. The first edition of The Grand Deception was put on the Internet in November of 2001. The second edition, which includes expanded historical information, was released on January 8th, 2002. At first, it was my intent to keep the material up to date with late-breaking events: but then it occurred to me that it might have more value in its original form than if it were continually updated. Writing about news events after they happen is not difficult, but writing about them before they happen is another matter. So, with the exception of expanding historical data and adding epilogues to the thirteen predictions at the end of this report, I decided to let the overview stand exactly as conceptualized on Friday, September 14, 2001. This is that report. ********* KNOW THE ENEMY In the year 500 B.C., a Chinese general and philosopher by the name of Sun Tzu wrote a treatise called The Art of War. It has been translated into just about every language in the world and has become a classic of military and political strategy. In it, Sun Tzu said: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.1 It is now three days after the attack, and I am haunted by the words of Sun Tzu. America has declared war, but her leaders are not even sure who the enemy is. Is it a man called Osama bin Laden? Is it Afghanistan, the nation that shelters him? Is it the Taliban that rules Afghanistan? Is it a terrorist group called al-Qaeda? Is it Muslim Extremism? We commit to war but do not know the enemy. 1
The meaning of the war on terrorism is far more complicated than the surface facts would indicate. On the surface, we have a group of people in the Middle East who hate America and have pledged themselves to inflict severe punishment on her, even at the sacrifice of their own lives. If that is as far as we care to look, then the meaning is simple. It is them against us; we are at war; they are the bad guys; we are the good guys; and we must destroy the enemy. That is the meaning that was given to the American people by their leaders. President Bush summarized it well when he told the nation on 9/11 that the attack was an act of cowardice and that America was the target because it was a beacon of freedom. If that is the correct meaning of the event, the logical consequences are that we must fight back; we must defend freedom; and we must not stop until the