What should we make of the latest worldwide US government terrorism threat warning? Amidst the dramatic — and well-covered in the mainstream media — shuttering of several US embassies for at least a day or so, Americans are suddenly told to be very afraid. The media is so excited by this dramatic story that they have seemingly forgotten all about the latest NSA spying revelations.
Troubling questions remain.
1) If this warning about a massive new al-Qaeda threat is to be taken at face value, how is it that after more than ten years of war this organization seems to be stronger than ever? What is motivating so many to join such an organization? Is it US foreign policy, drone strikes, or do they really just hate us for our freedoms?
2) Does it seem suspicious that just when NSA monitoring programs have come under fire we are told that this wiretapping has provided the US with this enormously valuable early warning of an impending attack of some sort?
The always-interesting Moon of Alabama has in interesting take on these and other related questions. Here is an excerpt:
Crying Wolf Wolf Wolf
Aug. 3 – After weeks under heavy pressure for limitless spying on people everywhere the U.S. intelligence services conviniently detect a “threat” of some undefined future attacks. The “detection”, we are of course told, was only possible because of limitless spying on people everywhere:
The United States intercepted electronic communications this week among senior operatives of Al Qaeda, in which the terrorists discussed attacks against American interests in the Middle East and North Africa, American officials said Friday.
The intercepts and a subsequent analysis of them by American intelligence agencies prompted the United States to issue an unusual global travel alert to American citizens on Friday, warning of the potential for terrorist attacks by operatives of Al Qaeda and their associates beginning Sunday through the end of August.
Just a month ago we were told that the “terrorists” are changing their communication because of the NSA snooping leaks:
The Al-Qaeda and other terrorist are reportedly changing their communication methods in light of the revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden about US led NSA ‘surveillance programme’.
…
US officials said that virtually every terrorist organization including Al-Qaeda is changing the way they communicate to hide from the US surveillance after the revelations about the leaks were reported in the media.
…
Private analysis firm IntelCenter’s Ben Venzke said that the leaks by Snowden serve as a wake-up call to extremists and other hostile actors to analyse how they are working and improve their security.
Is it not a bit weird that just a month after that “wake-up call” and the “changed communications” talks between “senior operatives of Al Qaeda” are now easily detectable by the same intelligence services that warned of those changes?
And what is it about these “terrorists” that the “threat” from them ends after August 31?
Even some “analysts and Congressional officials” the NYT mentions in one short paragraph find this somewhat suspicious:
Some analysts and Congressional officials suggested Friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now was a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the N.S.A.’s data-collection programs, …
Ahh – you don’t say …
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Read the whole piece here.
