(H/T to HotAir, who I railed on earlier… hey, just because I holler at ’em, does not mean that I do not like ’em! đ )
Okay to set this properly. I will simply say this. We cannot prove for sure that something like this did happen. However, we cannot really prove that it did not happen either. That is the crazy part.
The PJ Tatler has the highlights from a very long document:
Evidence outlined in a Pentagon contractor report suggests that financial subversion carried out by unknown parties, such as terrorists or hostile nations, contributed to the 2008 economic crash by covertly using vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system.
The unclassified 2009 report âEconomic Warfare: Risks and Responsesâ by financial analyst Kevin D. Freeman, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, states that âa three-phased attack was planned and is in the process against the United States economy.â
While economic analysts and a final report from the federal governmentâs Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blame the crash on such economic factors as high-risk mortgage lending practices and poor federal regulation and supervision, the Pentagon contractor adds a new element: âoutside forces,â a factor the commission did not examine.
âThere is sufficient justification to question whether outside forces triggered, capitalized upon or magnified the economic difficulties of 2008,â the report says, explaining that those domestic economic factors would have caused a ânormal downturnâ but not the ânear collapseâ of the global economic system that took place.
Suspects include financial enemies in Middle Eastern states, Islamic terrorists, hostile members of the Chinese military, or government and organized crime groups in Russia, Venezuela or Iran. Chinese military officials publicly have suggested using economic warfare against the U.S.
In an interview with The Times, Mr. Freeman said his report provided enough theoretical evidence for an economic warfare attack that further forensic study was warranted.
âThe new battle space is the economy,â he said. âWe spend hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons systems each year. But a relatively small amount of money focused against our financial markets through leveraged derivatives or cyber efforts can result in trillions of dollars in losses. And, the perpetrators can remain undiscovered.â
If you would like to dive in and look at 111 pages of this document, feel free.
Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses by Kevin D. Freeman
Now Ed Morrissey. is a good guy, when he is not writing bogus headlines, like me; is not so convinced — I’ll quite just a snippet here of his response:
The report is very useful in underscoring the potential vulnerabilities in our system, especially in relation to sovereign-wealth funds, and should get attention from policymakers in protecting the US from financial wars. However, just because something is possible doesnât mean it happened.
Which is true; but I think we need to look at this much closer and maybe even look at this report and consider the info in it.