The Puppeteer Of Fear

As we know, and as described Sunday by the Secretary of "Homeland" Security, the nation's terror-alert status has been raised from "an Elevated to High risk of terrorist attack -- or as more commonly known, from a Yellow Code to an Orange Code."

Was Tom Ridge's announcement a result of a genuine concern that the risk of an attack has been heightened, or simply a made-for-teevee event calculated to make citizens grateful that the Feds have our best interests in mind, and are doing their level-best to protect us? Don't know. But logical considerations might make us suspect the latter.

• If the "strategic indicators" are really "perhaps greater now than at any point since September 11th, 2001," why would the Feds advise citizens to go about their lives as usual (albeit with increased vigilance), rather than hunkering down and preparing for the worst? Furthermore, upon learning that the public had virtually ignored his announcement ("A little terrorist threat isn't going to stop us from doing what we've got to do,") why didn't Ridge issue a follow-up announcement: "Hey motherfuckers! This shit is serious, and you'd better take it seriously, unless you want me to put a boot in your ass!"

• If the Bush Administration were serious about preparing the country for a possible attack, wouldn't it, rather than engaging in periodic tele-visual fear-mongering, be attempting to address recent warnings to the effect that, for example: "U.S. fails to share terror information with State and Local governments," or, "U.S. no safer than two years ago," or, "Cities say terrorism aid slow in coming," or, "Iraq war diverting resources from 'War On Terror', experts say"?

• If "threat-related intelligence reports" from "credible sources" are a reliable indicator that an attack may be imminent, why have the numerous attacks upon "interests" of the United States and its allies -- both before and after September 11th -- not been sniffed out and derailed before their implementations?

• If the current "reports" are of sufficient magnitude to suggest that "extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks that they believe will either rival, or exceed, the attacks that occurred in New York and the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania nearly two years ago," there presumably was a similar level of "reports" in the days prior to September 11th. Why weren't they taken seriously?

• If we're able to determine both that "extremists abroad" are anticipating a September-11th-level attack, and that "al-Qaida continues to consider using aircraft as a weapon," and that "they are constantly evaluating procedures both in the United States and elsewhere to find gaps in our security posture that could be exploited," then those working in Ridge's department must either: be able to intercept the extremists abroads' communications with a great degree of competence, have infiltrated the extremists abroads' organisations, or be practiced in the art of long-distance extra-sensory perceptions. But if this were the case, shouldn't our heroes be able to easily apprehend the extremists abroad before they're able to launch another attack upon our freedoms?

• Those who've studied al-Qaida closely have averred that it is indeed a network, rather than a hierarchy. That, in other words, bin Laden provides some training and some funding, but then individual cells formulate and execute their own plans without the prior knowledge of bin Laden and associates -- thus making infiltration and/or interception of communications exceedingly difficult. (And this is why bin Laden can truthfully utter something on the order of, "I didn't know the attack was going to take place, but I approve of it.") If this is indeed the case, one has to wonder just how credible the "credible sources" are.

• Even if it weren't the case, why, knowing that Ridge's "credible sources" are able to intercept communications, would the extremists abroad rise their level of "chatter" to September-11th-like levels prior to an attack? If somebody is planning to rob a bank, let's say, and knows his phone has been tapped, does he excitedly call up all of his bank-robber friends gleefully announcing his intentions? Not a very smart move even if one's phone hasn't been tapped. Let's get real, here.

• Similarly, why would the Feds broadcast the "reporting" of their "credible sources" to the nation and world -- thus alerting the extremists abroad that they've been found out, and allowing them to react? Shouldn't we now expect the extremists abroad to wait until this latest period of "heightened awareness" blows over before attempting to launch an attack?

• If the Bush Administration is expecting American citizens to feel a large degree of confidence in its abilities to prevent attacks, why would it trot out Secretary Ridge to answer a pointed question, such as the following, with a series of evasions bordering on complete gibberish?

QUESTION: President Bush has said in the past that the war on terror has greatly hampered al-Qaida's ability to communicate within its network. What does it say that now you believe that the chatter is at a greater point than any time since 9/11?

SECRETARY RIDGE: Well, first of all, I think the President's assessment is correct. I mean, we've decapitated or imprisoned from one-half to two-thirds of the known leadership. We have literally taken off the table for their use probably a couple hundred million dollars by freezing those assets. Those that were in leadership have been dispersed so the communication is more difficult.

So, in reality, all those -- that may be the reason that it has been so long -- I'm not going to speculate, but remember, we haven't raised this level of alert for over a half a year.

But make no mistake about it, the President has said this is -- we have to be into this -- we are in this for the long term, that in spite of the extraordinary success of the military and the CIA, the cooperation with our allies, the apprehension or death of a lot of the principals and the freezing the assets, this is still an international war, international terrorist cells including al-Qaida, and the fact that we are picking up information that results in us going to Orange, I think is a reflection of increased capacity, probably on our side, not necessarily greater ability on theirs.

• "There's no nexus that I'd be prepared to draw now." How can we possibly take seriously a government official who could vocalise this sentence?

• Why would Ridge answer the question whether a Red alert (rather than merely Orange) were considered in the negative by asserting that "the quantity, the quality, and the credibility and the scope and the notion that they are near-term attacks of the scope that is equal to or greater than those that occurred on 9/11, there is a general consensus within the community, now is the time to go up." What conditions would be needed for a Red alert? That the extremists abroad are going to blow up the moon?

• Last, but most beguilingly of all: given that he's just announced that the threat level is the greatest at any time since September 11th, why the fuck would Ridge's handler (Mr. Roehrkasse) set a time limit on questions from the press? What, Ridge has something more important to do than fully explain to the teevee-viewing public the implications of, and necessary precautions needed as a result of, his announcement? His fucking ice cream sundae is melting, or something?

A humble prediction: there will not be a terrorist attack upon American soil during the Orange alert period.

Posted by Eddie Tews at December 22, 2003 01:09 PM