Remember the color-coded threat level alerts that President Bush’s’ Homeland Security Secretary would always kick up a few colors when the domestic political heat increased on the Administration? For example when it was clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? It seems so long ago, a simpler time.
Now, all those years and several trillion war-on-terrorism dollars later, the color coding is gone. But for some reason the al-Qaeda threat now is greater than ever!
We see all of a sudden, just as the current administration’s lies about the nature of its spying on average Americans are greeted with increasing skepticism and fury, a “worldwide travel alert” for Americans overseas. The threat of al-Qaeda is so great, they claim, that they are forced to close embassies throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Be afraid, the Administration is seemingly screaming to anyone who will listen!
According to media reporting:
Current information suggests that al Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” the State Department travel alert said.
Why is it that the administration is so concerned about al-Qaeda attacks while at the same time it openly supports al-Qaeda affiliated rebels in Syria, as it had supported al-Qaeda affiliated rebels in Benghazi, Libya? It makes little sense.
Is this just a cynical move to deflect the increasing fury over the XKeyscore revelations that the NSA is reading and storing virtually our every electronic interaction? Perhaps. But as the risk of blowback over the US drone wars on Yemen and Pakistan continues to rise exponentially, it does make sense to consider the real threats that may be out there. What the Administration will not do, however, is take a good hard look at the the president’s ongoing use of drones and the threat of blowback that is created.
