A History: False Alarms... vs. The News They Buried
The following article was written by Robert Dreyfuss and taken from the September 21st Issue of Rolling Stone Magazine under the Foreign Affairs section, pages 42-49, with the title "Phony War." It serves to illustrate the amount of sheer misunderstanding and lack of factual knowledge our government possessed(es) in exercising scare tactics in an effort to frighten the American people into perpetual submission. It will be published in two parts.
PART I
A History: False Alarms... vs. The News They Buried.
by Robert Dreyfuss
"February 12, 2002
THE THREAT
Yemenite terrorist set to attack U.S.- today! "I want to encourage... all Americans everywhere to be on the highest state of alert," warns Attorney General John Ashcroft.
THE REALITY
The threat hadn't been corroborated by U.S. intelligence angencies- and the evidence actually pointed to an attack not in the U.S. but in Yemen.
THE REAL NEWS
Announced the same day that ENRON CEO KEN LAY appeared before Congress, and a week after the White House was instructed to not destroy its Enron-related documents.
May 19-27, 2002
THE THREAT
DICK CHENEY kicks off Memorial Day weekend by calling a new Al Quaeda strike "almost a certainty- it could happen tomorrow." FBI Director Robert Mueller adds, "There will be another terrorist attack." The FBI warns of strikes on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.
THE REALITY
The administration "made a political decision" to make public all threats-even those from "hoaxers," says a retired CIA counterterrorism expert. "The amount of chatter hasn't changed in volume," adds a defense official. As for the New York threats, "There really isn't any hard information," declares the former head of the FBI Bureau in New York.
THE REAL NEWS
The administration's failures in preventing 9/11 were under the microscope: Bush acknowledged receiving a briefing entitled "BIN LADEN Determined to Strike in U.S." a month before the attacks; the FAA said it had failed to alert airlines of the arrest of would-be hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui; the FBI admitted it had ignored a pre-9/11 warning that Al Quaeda had infiltrated American flight schools.
June 10, 2002
THE THREAT
U.S.-born Al Qaeda agent captured. John Ashcroft interrupts a trip to Russia to brag on live TV of bagging "a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a 'dirty bomb' in the United States."
THE REALITY
The suspect, Jose Padilla, had actually been in custody for a month. the "dirty bomb" allegations were so flimsy that they were dropped after the administration agreed to try the case in federal court rather than in a military tribunal.
THE REAL NEWS
The threat was announced four days after FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley testified before Congress that 9/11 might have been prevented if the FBI flight-school warning had reached federal agents investigating Moussaoui.
September 10, 2002
THE THREAT
Bush personally announces the first nationwide ORANGE ALERT. Cheney flees to a "secure location" as Ashcroft warns that Al Qaeda appears to be targeting "transportation and energy sectors."
THE REALITY
There was no specific threat against any American target.
THE REAL NEWS
The heightened terror alert went into effect just in time for the president's address to the nation from Ellis Island on the first anniversary of 9/11.
February 7, 2003
THE THREAT
ORANGE ALERT. CIA DIRECTOR GEORGE TENET calls the threat "the most specific we have seen" since 9/11; says Al Qaeda may use a "radiological dispersal device, as well as poisons and chemicals."
THE REALITY
The alert, accompanied by a warning to stock up on plastic sheets and duct tape, was debunked within days; the main source failed an FBI polygraph. Threat level remained stuck on orange for two more weeks.
THE REAL NEWS
The alert followed less than forty-eight hours after COLON POWELL's speech to the United Nations in which he falsely accused Saddam Hussein of harboring Al Qaeda and training terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.
March 17, 2003
THE THREAT
ORANGE ALERT. FBI warns of terror strikes by Saddam or "allied or sympathetic terrorist organizations, most notably the Al Qaeda network."
THE REALITY
Claim debunked by future CIA director Porter Goss, then chair of House intelligence committee: No intel suggests new attack.
THE REAL NEWS
Nation's third orange alert came three days before Bush invaded Iraq, opening what he called the "central front of the War on Terror."
To be continued.
References:
Article "Phony War" by Robert Dreyfuss, Object entitled "A History: False Alarms... vs. The News They Buried," Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 1009, September 21, 2006
PART I
A History: False Alarms... vs. The News They Buried.
by Robert Dreyfuss
"February 12, 2002
THE THREAT
Yemenite terrorist set to attack U.S.- today! "I want to encourage... all Americans everywhere to be on the highest state of alert," warns Attorney General John Ashcroft.
THE REALITY
The threat hadn't been corroborated by U.S. intelligence angencies- and the evidence actually pointed to an attack not in the U.S. but in Yemen.
THE REAL NEWS
Announced the same day that ENRON CEO KEN LAY appeared before Congress, and a week after the White House was instructed to not destroy its Enron-related documents.
May 19-27, 2002
THE THREAT
DICK CHENEY kicks off Memorial Day weekend by calling a new Al Quaeda strike "almost a certainty- it could happen tomorrow." FBI Director Robert Mueller adds, "There will be another terrorist attack." The FBI warns of strikes on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.
THE REALITY
The administration "made a political decision" to make public all threats-even those from "hoaxers," says a retired CIA counterterrorism expert. "The amount of chatter hasn't changed in volume," adds a defense official. As for the New York threats, "There really isn't any hard information," declares the former head of the FBI Bureau in New York.
THE REAL NEWS
The administration's failures in preventing 9/11 were under the microscope: Bush acknowledged receiving a briefing entitled "BIN LADEN Determined to Strike in U.S." a month before the attacks; the FAA said it had failed to alert airlines of the arrest of would-be hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui; the FBI admitted it had ignored a pre-9/11 warning that Al Quaeda had infiltrated American flight schools.
June 10, 2002
THE THREAT
U.S.-born Al Qaeda agent captured. John Ashcroft interrupts a trip to Russia to brag on live TV of bagging "a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a 'dirty bomb' in the United States."
THE REALITY
The suspect, Jose Padilla, had actually been in custody for a month. the "dirty bomb" allegations were so flimsy that they were dropped after the administration agreed to try the case in federal court rather than in a military tribunal.
THE REAL NEWS
The threat was announced four days after FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley testified before Congress that 9/11 might have been prevented if the FBI flight-school warning had reached federal agents investigating Moussaoui.
September 10, 2002
THE THREAT
Bush personally announces the first nationwide ORANGE ALERT. Cheney flees to a "secure location" as Ashcroft warns that Al Qaeda appears to be targeting "transportation and energy sectors."
THE REALITY
There was no specific threat against any American target.
THE REAL NEWS
The heightened terror alert went into effect just in time for the president's address to the nation from Ellis Island on the first anniversary of 9/11.
February 7, 2003
THE THREAT
ORANGE ALERT. CIA DIRECTOR GEORGE TENET calls the threat "the most specific we have seen" since 9/11; says Al Qaeda may use a "radiological dispersal device, as well as poisons and chemicals."
THE REALITY
The alert, accompanied by a warning to stock up on plastic sheets and duct tape, was debunked within days; the main source failed an FBI polygraph. Threat level remained stuck on orange for two more weeks.
THE REAL NEWS
The alert followed less than forty-eight hours after COLON POWELL's speech to the United Nations in which he falsely accused Saddam Hussein of harboring Al Qaeda and training terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.
March 17, 2003
THE THREAT
ORANGE ALERT. FBI warns of terror strikes by Saddam or "allied or sympathetic terrorist organizations, most notably the Al Qaeda network."
THE REALITY
Claim debunked by future CIA director Porter Goss, then chair of House intelligence committee: No intel suggests new attack.
THE REAL NEWS
Nation's third orange alert came three days before Bush invaded Iraq, opening what he called the "central front of the War on Terror."
To be continued.
References:
Article "Phony War" by Robert Dreyfuss, Object entitled "A History: False Alarms... vs. The News They Buried," Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 1009, September 21, 2006
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