Be skeptical ... be very skeptical

[Dover]

Be skeptical ... be very skeptical
By M K Bhadrakumar

One of the significant contributions to the "war on terror" by Britain's home secretary David Blunkett before his abrupt departure from the Tony Blair cabinet last year was his statement on terrorism in the House of Commons that specifically flagged the possibility of a "dirty bomb" being planted in Britain by terrorists.

That was in November 2002, when preparations were already in an advanced stage for the march to Baghdad. We are still waiting for the dirty bomb and its lethal radiation. The dirty bomb genre, however, provoked two years later a brilliant television series on BBC2 by acclaimed documentary producer Adam Curtis, titled, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear.

Curtis's argument was that much of the threat of international terrorism turns out to be in actuality "a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians ... In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."

Curtis placed al-Qaeda terrorism in a long line of dramatic panics in Britain's checkered history since the Elizabethan era, which included the arrival of Spanish raiding parties, French revolutionary agitators, anarchists, Bolsheviks, and Irish republicans.

Naturally, Curtis comes readily to mind a week after British authorities arrested some two dozen Muslims on August 10 for plotting to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from United Kingdom to the United States. Not a shred of evidence has since seen the light of day in this Mother of all Dastardly Plots.

Meanwhile, wild stories of new plots in the making are in circulation. The latest was the "breaking news" regarding the emergency landing of an aircraft in Boston on Wednesday due to the tantrums of an "unruly" woman passenger. Last weekend, Michigan police locked up three hapless Palestinian-Americans for allegedly plotting an act of terrorism. The three "terrorists" were caught red-handed purchasing 80 cell phones from a Wal-Mart store...cont'd

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HH18Df03.html

[Dover]

1. The thing about this 'terror tool' is that they can opt to make it "real"

any time they need to, to re-enforce their game plan.

So it's very important that people not only keep their antennas and smell meters sharp, but also to learn to overcome fears...real or imagined or created for manipulation.

The fearmongering is already wearing thin, so I'm expecting all these little fear-based false terror stories to lead up to one of those 'real' (ie. home grown) terror events in order to bring people back in line. How they'll top 9/11 is anyone's guess, but I'm sure they will have to raise the stakes in order to get the required response.

[glitch]

2. I agree. Good article, thanks for posting. K & R

[Amonester]

3. A "home grown" 2 would only fasten up their downfall & they...

know it. (Re: The latest polls after the stupid "liquids & gels" affair showed ** losin' points instead of gaining a few as I'm sure Rove was convinced he would!)

So just imagine how big a "home grown" 2 would fasten up their downfall...

The entire cabal would just appear as for what they really are to at least 75% of We The People, which is: After all those years and "trillions" more in debts, these extreme Republican Neo-conservatives have done nothing to really secure the thousands of loopholes in the system, and that's not just because they're a bunch of war profiteering, fearmongering-for-their-own-selfish-political-gains incompetents...

They know they won't benefit from another 1.

Remember New Orleans.

[Dover]

4. Yes, a good point. But IF they go into Syria and Iran, how do you

suppose they will justify it to the American public and the world?

I'm sure they've got all their think tanks working on it.

Of course, they may be at the point where their own disdain for our democracy becomes manifest, and they no longer bother explaining themselves or seek diplomacy in any form. The invasion of Lebanon barely provided an excuse at all. They may have the attitude..."so what is anyone going to do about it?"

[Amonester]

5. Yes, they may be at that point, but somehow I sense they still...

want to keep playing the "appearance" (re: the "good people" who think differently...blah...blah) of the US being a Democracy (even if it's almost gone now), for it seems they want to keep their religious base (that's all they've got left) thinking they still live in one.

Besides, all their rhetoric about wanting to bring Democracy (a "smoke and mirrors" rationale for them to grab billions of barrels of light-crude one day for nothing from their own pockets) would all fall apart if they can't keep those "appearances" (of the US remaining a Democracy anyway).

For Syria, I don't know, but Iran? Sure, they'd love to attack them (even yesterday if they could)... but Wall Street says there could be a big risk that the price of crude could skyrocket if Iran retaliates (and retaliate, they would...), so even if they'd love to make that much tax-free profits, they could risk to alienate the consumers for ever, and it seems that this is something they don't want to do:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/08/08/ccbp108.xml
"Standard & Poor's ...(said)...that crude could reach $250 if the Middle East crisis escalates, tipping the global economy into a deep recession.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/08/08/ccbp108.xml

Now, if the House isn't "Blue" this November (or even if it is, I don't know but I hope, because if it's still "Red," there won't be any hope left at all for the next two years), all these "actual hesitations" would disappear, and we in the North may really freeze to death this winter... :(

Remember New Orleans.