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08/05/2004 Archived Entry: "The big terror alert that wasn't (or was it?)"
ON MONDAY, WHEN WE'D ALL BEEN ALARMED ORANGE and people in east coast financial districts were ready to duck and cover under immanant Al Quaeda attack, I kept telling myself it's news, you really ought to blog it. Of course, it wasn't news at all; just electioneering. The gut knew what the head didn't. The DHS is no doubt right that competent terrorists surveil and plan for a long, long time, but there was never a hint of a clue that those named buildings were in danger on that particular day or this particular week -- from three-year-old data. Data from before the 9/11 attacks. Finally along comes an article that expresses the alarming disgust of it all. And points out another bit of cynical electioneering in the name of the War on Terror. Wonder what's going to happen on the day they cry "Wolf!" and there really is a slavering beast ready to pounce.
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LATER: After I wrote the above I heard an NPR report that said there was indeed new evidence pointing toward an attack in August or September of this year. The reporter stated, "No one who has seen both sets of reports doubts the need for this warning" -- that is, for the orange alert.
This is where I really hate distrusting the government. It's obvious that terrorists do mean to attack and ultimately destroy us. But it's equally obvious that nothing the government ever claims is trustworthy. So do you pooh pooh the alert because you're 99 percent certain that six months from now the "August or September" part of the picture is going to turn out to be a Bush administration fraud or a forgery they can claim to have been duped by? Or do you take it seriously because the threat and the danger is so serious -- and thereby allow yourself to be manipulated and duped for the sake of livening up the presidential campaign? Or do you pooh pooh the alert -- and then learn to your horror the threat was genuine and deadly?
AGAIN: Jim Bovard also twits government wolf-crying and citizen disbelief 8/5/04 blog entry "The Great Orange Whine."
Posted by Claire @ 04:41 PM CST
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