In the movie, V for Vendetta, when the terrorist V has the government of the evil high chancellor (think a cross between Dick Cheney and James Dobson with an English accent) in an uproar, the decision is made to “remind the people why they need us.” Soon after, a series of stories is broadcast warning of impending doom from terrorism, disease, anarchy, etc. As a patron at one of the English pubs observes after seeing yet another scary report: “Can you believe this shit?”
Well, can you believe this shit?
A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror “spectacular” this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document.
I wonder who is the “senior official” from whom ABC had the good luck to receive this leak, don’t you?
(cont.)
Is it Cherthoff? If so, he continues to deny publicly that homeland security has any solid evidence for this claim of a spectacular attack. And, unlike many prior administrations, terror warnings in this administration are just about the only think that gets leaked on a regular basis (other than the names of covert CIA agents, that is). My guess? Karl Rove or someone acting on his behalf. He’s definitely a senior official with continuing access to classified materials. In any event, what does the report have to tell us about this grave threat to America from the Islamofascist Menace?
“This is reminiscent of the warnings and intelligence we were getting in the summer of 2001,” the official told ABCNews.com.
You mean the same warnings that Bush, Cheney and Rice ignored back in the summer of 2001? Nice to know they are paying attnetion this time, isn’t it? Even nicer of them to leak this to the public right before the Fourth, and right after the bungled attempts in the UK where the world’s worst terrorists couldn’t figure out how to make gasoline go boom.
But it’s this next part that makes you go, hmmmmm.
As ABCNews.com reported, U.S. law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago warning of terror attacks in Glasgow and Prague, the Czech Republic, against “airport infrastructure and aircraft.”
The warnings apparently never reached officials in Scotland, who said this weekend they had received “no advance intelligence” that Glasgow might be a target.
So the US intelligence community had received reports of a specific terrorists plot planned for Glasgow’s airport, and couldn’t get around to informing the Scottish authorities or the British government of this fact? Either the communication of intelligence with our principal allies has gone seriously, almost tragically awry, or we have someone in our government who chose not to pass on this specific terrorist threat against Glasgow. Or it is all one big lie. Take your pick.
None of those options appears to be particularly sanguine, now do they? It’s either gross negligence, a deliberate act to allow a terrorist attack or a complete fabrication meant to make us feel safer (George Bush is on the job!) even as we are meant to be scared out of our wits by this looming terrorist spectacular.
My belief is that Al Qaeda is always talking about plans for a “spectacular attack.” This summer, next summer, in Autumn, in Winter and in the Spring. It probably doesn’t matter when you look. But what better time to reveal all this “chatter” among Al Qaeda operatives than after a failed attack in Britain. What better time for the Bush administration to turn to it’s lackeys in the mainstream media and give them this tale of danger and doom than right now? Bush’s approval ratings are in the tank, more than 7 out of 10 Americans want us to leave Iraq, and numerous scandals beset the Bush White House, scandals in which the subpoenas have started to fly. What better time for them to remind ordinary Americans “How much they still need us!”
What do you think?
great minds think alike.
Yeah. I sent you an email about this.
I felt I was falling in love with the mask myself.
(It was good to see Tim Pigott-Smith again as bad guy Creedy…known as The Finger (head of the Secret Police, who are called Fingermen). He’s gotten older and heavier than when he was helping Harry Hamlin in short sexy outfits in Clash of the Titans, and being a racist a-hole in The Jewel in the Crown.)
Getting back to the situation at hand: am I afraid?
I’m more afraid of earthquakes in California and hurricanes in the Gulf Coast than a terrorist attack.
It’s my view that these happenings at the Scotland Airport and in London have a real half-assed feel to them. I can’t see how people could get upset over them and cling to people like Bush or Blair once more.
Moreover, al Qaeda or its minions seem to go for more casualties than these ‘attacks.’ It looks like something Hamas adherents would do during the intifada, after ripping up the pavement for stones.
I don’t get this mess at all, landing as it does after Blair finally leaves office, and the July 4 celebrations in the U.S. are in full swing. Are agents provocateurs in the offing? Maybe. But I decline to get spook crazy unless I get some more evidence.
My first thought, was oh shit the translators finally got around to reading the transcrips from ’01.
2nd, since we can never come up with a single dept or policy within Bush’s tenure that has been even moderately successful, why single out his prevention of another terrorist attack on our soil as his personal success? I would pose that if Bush’s style of governing, which has led to so many failures, is the gold standard for protecting this country then perhaps it’s time for Barney to take over. Surely, a better reason that we have not been attacked yet is because UBL has chosen not to.
Mary Matalin speaking for Shooter McFourthBranch. That’s who.
Am I afraid? No. Not of fucking terrorists, anyway.
I am afraid of cancer, heart disease, old age, medical insurance, automobile accidents, bird flu, the New Madrid fault, global warming, hard drive crashes, my back taxes, and my first wife. Terrorism doesn’t even rate a mention on my list of fears.
And oh, old age, and oh, medical insurers.
I’ve come back to that movie again and again, awake and in my dreams, because it is so real…
There is absolutely no doubt that the wanna-be arrests in this country over the last year were put-up jobs. Now, in the UK, a group that were just about to be arrested are being used as an example of how really, really scared we should be.
Ya know, I wonder why they do it. They are achieving exactly the opposite effect that you would think they would want…
But I’ve also read some very deep analyses of the relationship between Bin Laden and Bush. They need each other, for recruiting and for their image of their role in the world. With Bin Laden arrested or dead, Bush wouldn’t have a cause…with a reasonable government in the United States that respected the needs of the Palestinian people and didn’t try to “Christianize” the Arab world (stealing their treasure at cut rates), what would Bin Laden do for recruitment?
A terror spectacular, coming soon to a site near you. Have they any merchandising arrangements yet?
Drunk drivers worry me more than terrorists. And I live just outside DC, doubtless a prime target.
I’m sure the FBI and other law enforcement agencies get warnings of terrorist attacks all the time. And 99 percent of them are utter hogwash — suspicious neighbors, pranks, or well-meaning people reporting things that aren’t really problems. I mean, it’s now illegal to take photos in NYC streets without a permit and insurance, can you beleive that? So any stranger with a camera, taking pictures of civic buildings or landmarks, especially if he looks foreign, could suddenly become suspect. As could an abandoned car left under a bridge or near a school or shopping center, with Arabic-language newspapers visible in the front seat. Dark-skinned students who gather every evening at a library to study together, whispering in a language no one else understands or can even identify. A man locked out of his house, trying to gain access by jimmying the basement windows. Four young bearded men sharing a house on a short-term lease, working on H1-B visas.
But only now, does some unnamed official leak that we’ve received such “warnings…” — ignoring the fact that deadly and very well-planned attacks occur in Iraq every damned day (which may or may not have anything to do with Al Qaeda).
Al Qaeda is being used as a boogieman — but I think people are getting tired of hearing the Administration cry “Wolf! Wolf!” all the time. Fear itself can only be frightening for so long…. As Evie learns in the film, confronting fear can allow you the strength to get beyond it, and find courage you never knew you had.
“the only thing we have to fear…”
“We choose to do these things…”
How sad, that from the inspiratory eloquence of FDR, and JFK, and all the hope our Democratic Presidents have tried to inspire, even in the midst of History’s worst moments, we have the spittled babblings of these buffoons.
And because of their “sky is falling” rhetoric, we will not heed the words to a serious situation. This is the saddest part, they will say they were right to be afraid.
In fact, it is their false warnings, and negligence to the true situations, that has endangered us all.
.
U.S.: Iran helped in deadly Iraq strike
Officials: Hezbollah agent played deaf before confessing
U.K. probe nets Iraqi, Jordanian doctors
Bomb at ancient Yemeni temple kills 8
Pakistan: The Threat Within
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Terrorist ,smeeorist…bah humbug!
If there were any real terrorist worth their salt or who had an ounce of brains they would be assassinating select targets within the neo and political camp.
If were a terrier who wanted to teach the west a real lesson I would have already taken out all the ring leaders like Wolfie, Perle, Addington, Gaffney, Abrams, Cambone, Yoo, Feith, Wursmer, Woolsey, Leeden, Bolton, Shulsky, the AEI, AIPAC, JINSA and then when the press got their britches in a snit take them out too, starting with Murdock and all the polyster war pundits. About the only people you can’t get to at the moment to whack are Bush and Cheney, but that leaves lots of others and their families that are sitting ducks, including congressmen and senators.
The only purpose of attacks on the general public is to keep the terrier war going or by terriers whose emotions override their brains.. for terrorist who want to inflict real damage and win points for their side, scaring the political and chattering class shitless by assassination is the way to go. And actually it’s not that hard to do, particulary if you don’t care if you kill yourself doing it.
For those of us who have still not seen the BBC documentary series “The Power of Nightmares,” now would be a good time. It’s broken in to three 1-hour segments and it is available for viewing/download free at Google Video.