Bush Speaks Deceptively, Carries a Big Shovel
President Bush is scrambling in the face of increasing criticism of his extra-legal NSA warrantless eavesdropping.
This morning, the president released details of a quite possibly ficticious (truth is not his strong suit) terrorist plot to fly an airplane into a Los Angeles skyscraper. Bush pointed to the crackerjack job done by our intelligence agencies in foiling the plot to destroy what he termed the "Liberty" Tower.
The president's aides later corrected the identification of the target to be the Library Tower, now known as the US Bank Tower.
I would be surprised if this was a Freudian slip, even though that alone would say volumes about the presidential psyche.
I see the hand of Karl Rove in the misnomer.
Bush is trying here to implant in the minds of his victims, the American people, two complementary notions.
One, that the "terrorists" are trying to destroy "liberty" in the United States. Although he would need only to gaze in the mirror to track down the leader of the group that is succeeding in that goal.
Two, that the extra-legal NSA warrantless eavesdropping program is making the nation safe. The cock and bull story this morning gives no indication of having made use of the "expanded" presidential powers he has grabbed. The L.A. tower episode will nevertheless be conflated by the overworked American people into a wiretapping success, arguing strongly against legislative or judicial interference with "our leader."
The White House knows that it must rally the public into supporting the imperial presidency and then to pressure their lawmakers to lay off any real investigation of the illegal spying.
If the White House fails at this effort, it could easily mean Haldeman/Ehrlichman type of headaches for the cabal that has hijacked the country from the people.
Hence, the dramatic story this morning of the stopping of the evil-doers.
The real evil-doers are doing their best to avoid punishment.
This morning, the president released details of a quite possibly ficticious (truth is not his strong suit) terrorist plot to fly an airplane into a Los Angeles skyscraper. Bush pointed to the crackerjack job done by our intelligence agencies in foiling the plot to destroy what he termed the "Liberty" Tower.
The president's aides later corrected the identification of the target to be the Library Tower, now known as the US Bank Tower.
I would be surprised if this was a Freudian slip, even though that alone would say volumes about the presidential psyche.
I see the hand of Karl Rove in the misnomer.
Bush is trying here to implant in the minds of his victims, the American people, two complementary notions.
One, that the "terrorists" are trying to destroy "liberty" in the United States. Although he would need only to gaze in the mirror to track down the leader of the group that is succeeding in that goal.
Two, that the extra-legal NSA warrantless eavesdropping program is making the nation safe. The cock and bull story this morning gives no indication of having made use of the "expanded" presidential powers he has grabbed. The L.A. tower episode will nevertheless be conflated by the overworked American people into a wiretapping success, arguing strongly against legislative or judicial interference with "our leader."
The White House knows that it must rally the public into supporting the imperial presidency and then to pressure their lawmakers to lay off any real investigation of the illegal spying.
If the White House fails at this effort, it could easily mean Haldeman/Ehrlichman type of headaches for the cabal that has hijacked the country from the people.
Hence, the dramatic story this morning of the stopping of the evil-doers.
The real evil-doers are doing their best to avoid punishment.
posted by Effwit at 12:02 PM
2 Comments:
It does seem like an increasingly desperate attempt to hoodwink the populace into believing something that may be nothing but a figment of someone's imagination.
It also seems strange that it has taken fully FOUR YEARS for this supposed triumph over terrorism to be made public. Why the long wait?
Also, they claim that the weapon of choice on board the airliner was to be a shoe bomb. But we all know that the original shoe bomber - Richard Reid - let that cat out of the bag back in December of 2001 when his attempt aboard an AA flight from Paris to Miami went awry. Check point scrutiny of passengers' shoes skyrocketed after that episode. So, by 2002 when this alleged attack on the "Liberty" tower was to take place, the shoe bomb would have been a tough weapon to get aboard a passenger airline. Impossible? Maybe not. But difficult.
They also claim that the guy in SE Asia who was to plan the attack was captured and spilled the beans about the attack. And I suppose there was no torture involved in that interrogation? We all know that torture will elicit whatever it is the interrogator wants to hear. Highjacking a plane and flying it into a building in LA seems like an effective way to remove one's testicles from a vice grip.
Whatever. Bush and company are just grasping at straws now and looking increasingly pathetic as a result. Unfortunately, they'll probably have us at war in Iran before any of this stuff gets sorted out, warrantless spying included.
Drew L:
I spoke to someone since posting my piece who informed me that there were two reasons why this story wasn't made public earlier.
First, this whole operation was conducted mainly by a foreign intelligence service (with assistance from the CIA). If we were to go around announcing this type of intel-based cooperation, nobody in the world would work with us.
Second, the story actually makes the Bush administration look very bad. You see, we are now admitting that taking our eye off the ball at Tora Bora, allowed a reportedly sophisticated and potentially deadly plot to go forward.
You make good points about the chances of another shoe bomb operation succeeding.
And about torture. Bush announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (known to have been waterboarded, and worse) was a source of some of the details.
Post a Comment
<< Home