The War on Terror. You might have thought that it started in 2001, with the shocking tragedy of 9/11, and also – the shockwaves that reverberated throughout societies (in terms of how the way of life irrevocably changed from airport travel, to what can and can’t be expressed online.)
And that it’s over.
Well, US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas doesn’t seem to be on board with such “ideations” of a return to the normal.
There’s apparently ever more “enemies” to be dealt with, hinted the head of the agency – the same agency that had its figurative “ass” handed to it earlier in the year with the failed attempt to impose a censorship overlord agency in the shape of a “disinformation board.”
Post 9/11, Mayorkas said on the anniversary of the attacks, the enemy was the individual.
But now – “We are seeing an emerging threat over the last several years of the domestic violent extremist,” he said, and adding:
“The individual here in the United States radicalized to violence by a foreign terrorist ideology, but also an ideology of hate, anti-government sentiment, false narratives propagated on online platforms, even personal grievances.”
But the statement was no gaffe on the part of Mayorkas. It shows that such links and parallels are meant to be drawn in an evolving narrative.
It might be a big ask for the average American to go along with the idea that those striking at the very heart of their nation’s financial, cultural, and even military identity back in 2001 – are somehow comparable with dissenting domestic political voices, even if they turn – like some protests tend to – violent in short bursts.
Mayorkas is not speaking out of turn here – at least not the way he understands his own authority and job. Previously, the Democrat was not shy to call “domestic extremism” – as seen during the January 6 Capitol Hill riot – as his country’s “greatest terror-related threat.”
