The European Homeland Security State. EU Anti-Terror Drills and Fear Campaigns

The Atlas Network, created in 2001, is an association consisting of special police units of the 27 European Union Member States working on countering terrorism and criminal acts.

by R. Teichmann
Global Research
The events of 9/11 in the US not only led to the attack on several sovereign nations but the government under George W. Bush established the so called “Homeland Security” and proceeded to implement plans to curtail civil rights. First the “Patriot Act” was passed, then the “National Defense Authorization Act”.
The combination of these acts and presidential “Executive Orders” transformed the American society. Where previously at least some basic rights existed a basically lawless society was created. The territory of the USA has been declared a battleground. Americans can now be killed on US soil without trial or due process. They can be held indefinitely without charge or without ever knowing why. The inalienable rights believed to be guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution have proved to be illusions.
All of this was made possible by creating fear among the population through permanent media propaganda about a terrorist threat. Americans and people in the “western world” were and are made to believe that in order to have security and live in peace they have to give up their liberty. They were made to believe that it is not the foreign policy of their own governments that creates terrorism but enemies envying their freedom and prosperity.
Is Europe and Ireland now heading down the same road? In an article published last week the journal.ie reported (emphasis added):

A NUMBER OF gardaí took part in a European Union Coordinated Counter Terrorism Exercise in Dublin this afternoon.
The operation included a simulated hostage rescue scenario that required sea-based, land-based and airborne elements.
Three other police forces from European jurisdictions attended the exercise at the ESB Generating Station at Pigeon House Road in Dublin 4.
 

Photo credit: Leon Farrell/ Photocall Ireland; source

The fear-based propaganda did not catch on so much in Europe where large portions of the populace do not believe in the goods of fighting wars for corporate interests in various regions of the world. The desire for peace after the experiences of 2 devastating world wars has been used cleverly to bring about the Europe we see today. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU was an attempt to keep the myth that Europe was build to maintain the peace alive a little longer.
In reality western  Europe, later the EU, was always dominated by the interests of the USA. During the cold war it was the beachhead against the USSR and after its breakdown it became the tool to expand the sphere of US/NATO domination to the nations of eastern Europe which  just won their freedom. Since World War 2 western Europe followed in the footsteps of the US  in all major questions of war and peace.  In one way or another European nations were involved actively in all recent US/NATO led wars.
While recently Europe is engaging more actively in warfare (Libya, Mali) the economic situation inside the EU is anything but stable and the political situation is becoming more and more unstable as people across the EU begin to question the direction in which the EU is going. The currency system is on life support, unemployment  is generally rising, people across the EU become slowly but surely disillusioned about the “European Project”. It is in those times when external threats come in handy to deflect attention away from the problems and to create fear. This is the context in which the recent EU-wide anti terrorist drill on the 17th and 18th of April took place.  It was led by the Atlas Network.
Planned in 1996 the “Atlas Network”  was officially created in 2001 using the pretext of the 9/11 events. It is a network of specialist units of national police forces of all 27  European member states. It works under the supervision and is financed by the “Directorate General of Home Affairs” of the EU Commission. Neither the EU Commission nor the “Directorate” are democratically elected entities. As these units are answerable not to national governments but to the “Directorate” they are removed from democratic control and thus morph into kind of “Federal Special Police”. The participation of foreign police units in the exercise in Dublin demonstrates that under this network these units can dispatched everywhere in the EU.
Interestingly it is the Boston Marathon Bombing which provides the pretext for holding the EU wide drills. Here is the Press Release of the EU Commission: