America in Now Truly Orwell's Oceania

Obama has just signed an extension of the 9/11 "national emergency" for its 11th year. America is truly into the perpetual state of war that George Orwell foresaw as the organizing principle of the state:

Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2011. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency that was declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.

This is plain nutty. The US has now "fought" a war nearly three times as long as WWII against a ragtag enemy of a few hundred fanatics. This isn't a war. It is a police issue. The US has turned it into "nation building" and occupation of countries. The US has the look and feel of Orwell's 1984 where Oceania was constantly at war with Eurasia. Why? To maintain the grip of the state. There was no real war. It was ideological and it was the cover for a police state.

Earth to Obama: there will always be some kind of terrorism somewhere on earth. You can't "defeat" terrorism. You can only destroy specific groups and contain them or eliminate them. But that doesn't have to be presented as a "war". When the US went after Al Capone or Bonnie & Clyde or the Mafia, they didn't declare war. They beefed up police forces and went after them.