In one of the most ambitious developments, the State Department and Pentagon spent at least $50 million on the creation of an alternative cellphone network in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban from shutting down mobile connections in the country.

To accomplish this, cellphone towers have reportedly been installed at protected military bases across the country.

The independent network allows cellphone users to communicate when local Afghani networks are shut by the Taliban. The disruptions typically occur between 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., so that the Taliban can conduct their operations unreported to security forces.

In times that include the Patriot Act and Echelon routinely monitoring domestic email and telephone communications, times that see Homeland Security agents interviewing school-children for allegedly making terrorist and/or seditious remarks in class after being reported for same by their teachers, times that see global airline passengers routinely strip-searched and subjected to pointless and invasive body scans, the United States is encouraging foreign citizens to communicate outside their own countries' infrastructure and legislation.
I have to wonder if this is an opt-out of totalitarianism or a defacto opt-in to US Secret Service's information gathering network, feeding the beautifully poetic fear of terrorism and justification for further military intervention.

Please juxtapose the linked article with the following two pieces, the first a news report, the second an editorial piece:
[youtube [www.youtube.com/watch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFCLiij0CBA?wmode=transparent])

http://americathegrimtruth.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/america-the-grim-truth/