An interesting article. ************* Robert Scheer Creators Syndicate 01.11.05 Printer-friendly version Is Al Qaeda just a Bush boogeyman? BBC documentary casts doubt on key assumption of war on terror Is it conceivable that Al Qaeda, as defined by President Bush as the center of a vast and well-organized international terrorist conspiracy, does not exist? To even raise the question amid all the officially inspired hysteria is heretical, especially in the context of the U.S. media's supine acceptance of administration claims relating to national security. Yet a brilliant new BBC film produced by one of Britain's leading documentary filmmakers systematically challenges this and many other accepted articles of faith in the so-called war on terror. "The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear," a three-hour historical film by Adam Curtis recently aired by the British Broadcasting Corp., argues coherently that much of what we have been told about the threat of international terrorism "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media." Stern stuff, indeed. But consider just a few of the many questions the program poses along the way: If Osama bin Laden does, in fact, head a vast international terrorist organization with trained operatives in more than 40 countries, as claimed by Bush, why, despite torture of prisoners, has this administration failed to produce hard evidence of it? How can it be that in Britain since 9/11, 664 people have been detained on suspicion of terrorism but only 17 have been found guilty, most of them with no connection to Islamist groups and none who were proven members of Al Qaeda? Why have we heard so much frightening talk about "dirty bombs" when experts say it is panic rather than radioactivity that would kill people? Why did Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claim on "Meet the Press" in 2001 that Al Qaeda controlled massive high-tech cave complexes in Afghanistan, when British and U.S. military forces later found no such thing? Of course, the documentary does not doubt that an embittered, well-connected and wealthy Saudi man named Osama bin Laden helped finance various affinity groups of Islamist fanatics that have engaged in terror, including the 9/11 attacks. Nor does it challenge the notion that a terrifying version of fundamentalist Islam has led to gruesome spates of violence throughout the world. But the film, both more sober and more deeply provocative than Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," directly challenges the conventional wisdom by making a powerful case that the Bush administration, led by a tight-knit cabal of Machiavellian neoconservatives, has seized upon the false image of a unified international terrorist threat to replace the expired Soviet empire in order to push a political agenda. Terrorism is deeply threatening, but it appears to be a much more fragmented and complex phenomenon than the octopus-network image of Al Qaeda, with Bin Laden as its head, would suggest. While the BBC documentary acknowledges that the threat of terrorism is both real and growing, it disagrees that the threat is centralized: "There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas and who will use the techniques of mass terror -- the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear. But the nightmare vision of a uniquely powerful hidden organization waiting to strike our societies is an illusion. Wherever one looks for this Al Qaeda organization, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the 'sleeper cells' in America, the British and Americans are chasing a phantom enemy." The fact is, despite the efforts of several government commissions and a vast army of investigators, we still do not have a credible narrative of a "war on terror" that is being fought in the shadows. Consider, for example, that neither the 9/11 commission nor any court of law has been able to directly take evidence from the key post-9/11 terror detainees held by the United States. Everything we know comes from two sides that both have a great stake in exaggerating the threat posed by Al Qaeda: the terrorists themselves and the military and intelligence agencies that have a vested interest in maintaining the facade of an overwhelmingly dangerous enemy. Such a state of national ignorance about an endless war is, as "The Power of Nightmares" makes clear, simply unacceptable in a functioning democracy. link
A few months ago there was an Atlantic cover story called "Inside Al Qaeda's Harddrive." Basically, a reporter' computer broke while he was in the Middle East so he set out to buy a new one and found a guy who had taken a few from one of the buildings where AQ had taken over but had quickly abandoned due to war. Anyway, the article chronicled all sorts of emails and documents found on these computers that details stuff this documentary guy says doesn't exist (it also contradicted some of the Bush admin's assertions about Iraq, I think).
yes, it is. al qaeda isn't even real. they had nothing to do with 9/11. they'll be in your neighborhoods this weekend selling cookies for fundraiser. they're also hosting bingo night at the civic center next sunday night. everyone come out and enjoy.
I think there is a great deal of dispute among experts on Islamic Terrorism about Al Qaeda's size, organizational structure, and level of coordination. So nothing in that article strikes me as irresponsible speculation.
Al Qaeda is not the equvalent of WWIII or the Cold War, although the Bush -Carlyle Group likes to spin it that way. No giggles, Dakota. Good to see that we still agree largely. On the Rockets!
no one denies that al qaeda exists and that they are a dangerous organization. Has this situation be blown out of proportion for a political gain? there was a re-election. push a war for oil on america. who were the big winners of 9-11? answer: the military industrial complex, and anyone who wants to curtail the civil liberties on u.s. citizens. the bush administration has made every issue a "crisis" situation. social security is in "crisis", the health care situation is in "crisis", screams for tort reform because of a supposed "crisis" situation for our legal system. "those gays are a threat to the american way", mentality. its ruling through fear. bush is like those tv preachers when they are raising money, it's always because of a crisis situation.
You just keep on thinking that...I'll bring it up the next time there is an attack. It's really kinda funny. All these people on this board claim that Bush is such an idiot...then they deem him of having the mental wherewithal to dream all this up. Laughable.
Why in the world would some itinerant bureaucrat have the fervent desire to curtail any American's civil liberties? Is it just me or is that just a laughable concept?
Wasn't it the anti-Bush legions that were promoting the speculations on how monstrous the rosters of Al-Qaeda had grown due to American involvement? I know for the longest time, T_J got a big kick out of someone's math on that one....
have your civil liberties been curtailed? Can an american citizen now we held indefenitly if he/she just labeled a terrorist? No charges, no right to see a lawyer, just held. yea that's not laughable. I'm sorry some you let your republican loyalties force you to to defend the undefendable.
and wasn't it the same that told us how Bill Clinton warned us of this growing threat??? and how Bush and his crew just ignored that, and instead had a BBQ on the White House lawn?? you can't have it both ways..but that's the nature of politics today, on both side. argue point A...if that doesn't work, assert point B, even if it contradicts the point A you made earlier.
Actually T_J got a big kick out of his own misunderstanding of the supposed Math. The numbers by TJ weren't the numbers used in the increase of Al-Qaeda. Yes the anti-Bush people did and are saying that the numbers have grown since Bush started invading Iraq.
Apparently it is defendable; it has been going on for awhile. Look, no one is in love with it. It seems to be a necessary concession for the time being. I can live with that. I'm not paranoid, though, that the "Republico-Fascists" are going to topple America as we know it.
"Look, no one is in love with it. It seems to be a necessary concession for th'le time being. I can live with that." You believe it will change back? All the liberities that have been stolen form you will get returned? Not a chance. No one wearing black with an oily mustache will come and take away your pesonal freedoms all at once. It will be a slow but steady degridation. Ok the freedoms that have been lost is ok with you. Well I suggest you set a limit for yourself. So when that limit is reached you'll alow yourself to say "that's far enough". it's already too far for me. They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.- Benjamin Franklin Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. -Dwight D. Eisenhower
