On the fifth anniversary of the terrible events on 9/11/2001, the airwaves are filled with coverage of ceremonies and memorials honoring those who perished as a result of these horrific and heinous attacks as well as speeches by our leaders and countless analysis by the so called experts using this day to instill fear in the heart of the masses and promote their idea of "War on Terror" as a way to keep us safe from another attack.

Those who dare to question the effectiveness of this policy are immediately discredited and the fact that we have not experienced a similar attack on American soil in the past 5 years is used to justify the adoption of that strategy. So the question we must ask ourselves is this: Are we really safer as a result of assuming that hostile posture?

Standing on the smoldering ruins of the downed towers amid the cheering rescue workers on 14 September 2001, Mr. Bush grabbing a bullhorn told the crowd, "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon."

What has been praised by many of his supporters as the "bullhorn moment" may had risen into a brilliant piece of historical stagecraft if we had actually gone after the people responsible and stayed the course on bringing Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda extremists to justice for the carnage they caused.

But what followed those words which resounded with a shocked and grieving nation and frightened the world, soon turned out to be nothing but an orchestrated setup for a far grander design scripted years before by a small group of people known as the neo-cons in what they called "The Project for the New American Century" (PNAC). Formed in 1997 many of PNAC members were appointed to key positions within Mr. Bush's administration after the 2000 elections.

In September 2000, the PNAC issued a 90-page report entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses" (RAD) in which they outline an aggressive military plan for U.S. world domination during the coming century. This document has essentially served as blueprint for many of the present actions of this administration which has already begun to produce some unforeseen and undesirable results both in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some like Lewis Libby have already fallen from grace in the Abramoff scandal, but many continue to hold key positions in the White House, Defense, and State Departments, among them Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Elliot Abrams. William Kristol, writer for the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard, is chairman of this group. Congress-bypassed, recess-appointed Mr. John Bolton was selected as US ambassador to the United Nations with the specific task of steamrolling through and removing all international hurdles at prosecuting the very goals of the RAD and PNAC.

He has already proven himself a valuable asset by paralyzing the UN into disarray and inaction during Israel's 4-week long destruction of every standing civilian structure in Lebanon followed by his stellar success pushing the Security Council to pass an illegal resolution demanding that Iran stop a legal activity under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) presumably to demonize yet another sovereign nation and prepare the ground for the next operational phase of their sinister plan which is bringing about regime change via brute military force to a country that poses no threat to the United States.

What is truly scary about this loony group is that none of them have served a single day in military uniform yet love playing war by pulling the levers of power without having any idea or concern for the consequences of their actions. They have proven again and again that such nuisances as reality or situation on the ground do not play any roll in their decision making process and they could not care less that continuation of these insane plans will only lead to further destabilization in the region, more hatred of the U.S., far more extremism, erosion of human rights and civil liberties, and eventual disruption of the balance of power between all the nations of the world which certainly does not make this writer feel any safer. Comment

No doubt, historians will describe that "bullhorn moment" as the point when our government began to exploit a terrible attack for preconceived wars of aggression against countries like Iraq, Syria, and Iran which had nothing to do with the murderous acts of 9/11/2001.

Daniel M Pourkesali is a member of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran. This article was originally published in CampaignIran.org.