Saturday, August 12, 2006

Al Qaeda is on the march

The Bush administration never misses an opportunity to beat the terrorism horse, and they're flogging the recent arrests in the UK for all they're worth.

This morning I turned on CBC Newsworld to see a report from Washington DC that looked like a 9/11 infomercial. Images of the World Trade Center, Osama bin Laden, al qaeda training camps -- all at least 3 years old, but no matter. This is the stuff that won the Republicans the 2004 election, and they're hoping it will work again this year. But it's all starting to look a little too contrived for my liking.

The day before the arrests, Cheney says the terrorists will be emboldened by Joe Lieberman's defeat. After the arrests, Bush ramps up the hyperbole. Airports are jammed with travellers being checked for gatorade and hair gel. And then this little item: "A message intercepted in Pakistan this week -- "do your attacks now"-- convinced British officials to urgently arrest 24 Britons allegedly planning suicide bombing missions..."

"Do your attacks now"?

Yes, this really sounds like a message a sophisticated terrorist organisation would send -- "do your attacks now". What it sounds like is a fake terrorist plot, dumbed-down so even Bubba Joe in Alabama can understand it. "Do your attacks now". Great snappin' assholes.

Maybe I'm right or maybe I need a tinfoil hat. But it's too bad that the world's been lied to so much and terrorism has been used for PR so much, that we have to question everything this way.