Trevor Aaronson interviewed on RT, February 14, 2013

9/11 changed everything. Or so Washington DC would have you believe.

Certainly, it was the biggest act of terrorism to date on American soil, even if it was not the first. But rather than the uncomfortable evaluation that would be necessitated by fighting domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, 9/11 gave us an identifiable foe: Muslim extremists. Granted, it took some time for us to finesse the message down to Muslim extremism, causing its own form of discomfort as we went through the permutations of a "crusade", Islamofascism, etc, etc.

But there was no question people were frightened by 9/11 and demanded proof that our country would not be caught flat-footed again. And therein lies the danger that author Trevor Aaronson documents in The Terror Factory. Not content with just throwing Homeland Security money at low-probability targets as Lucas Stadium in Indianapolis, the American people wanted to see that terrorists were getting snapped up before they had the chance to wreak havoc.

But how many of the over 500 terrorism cases prosecuted since 9/11 were legitimately thwarted bad actors? The answer is, not many. For every Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, there are dozens of terrorists like the Fort Dix Five, who appear to have neither the wherewithal nor the capacity to commit an act of terrorism without the express enabling of FBI informants. And that is what The Terror Factory examines: how many of these terrorism prosecutions were the result of enablinga and entrapment? From the publisher:

An outgrowth of Trevor Aaronson's work as an investigative reporting fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, which culminated in an award-winning cover story in Mother Jones magazine, The Terror Factory reveals shocking information about the criminals, con men, and liars the FBI uses as paid informants--including the story of an accused murderer who has become one of the Bureau's most prolific terrorism snitches--as well as documenting the extreme methods the FBI uses to ensnare Muslims in terrorist plots, which are in reality conceived and financed by the FBI.

The book also offers unprecedented detail into how the FBI has transformed from a reactive law enforcement agency to a proactive counterterrorism organization that traps hapless individuals in manufactured terrorist plots in order to justify the $3 billion it spends every year fighting terrorism.

Trevor Aaronson is here with us today to discuss the way the domestic prosecution of the "War on Terror"™ has become warped and twisted into a mockery of investigations, entrapment and the persecution of hapless Muslims in the name of keeping the country safe.

Please join me in welcoming Trevor to C&L and let's discuss The Terror Factory.