I deliberately waited a couple of days after the "terror plot foiled" just to hear some of the republican talking point form. Of course, with the group having been infiltrated and watched for 12+ months they obviously didn't pose a threat. But hearing the attorney general running the case, this would have rivaled 9-11.
Really.
Really.
Even with you monitoring them for a year. So you could have "foiled" the plot at anytime. So why Saturday?...............
I know Keith Olbermann is going to be doing a "Terror Nexus" commentary tonight (he's always ahead of the game). But I'm looking at this from a medias perspective and how they manage which stories get told.
The following stories over the past year were hyped as the "next 9-11" or "next 9-11"-esque events:
- British Terror Plot
- Maimi 7
- Ft. Dix Six
- JFK Plot
I know I may be missing some others but these will serve to make my point.
British Terror Plot
The British Terror Plot was "foiled" (coincidentally) the day after Ned Lamont won the Connecticut primary. Then there was that whole CNN thing calling Ned "the al-Qaeda candidate" on the same day as the foiling. There were 19 suspects rounded up all the way from London to Pakistan. The media (exception being MSNBC) just chewed it up. Never asking relevant questions like how long was the sting, what countries were involved, was it broken up using law enforcement or secret ops, any connection to al-Qaeda, what level of "ACTUAL" threat were they, etc. Instead we got a -- A Ha take that you meanie liberals, stop bashing Bush. In later reporting, by MSNBC, we found out that the British weren't ready to spring the trap. That their hand was forced by the Bush administration when Bush&Co pressed Musharaf to spring the trap on their end thus the British had to jump, or risk losing suspects on their end. By that time the other media outlets were through with the chew toy. Also, more than half of the suspects have been released so far.
Miami 7
This "foiled" plot, imo, wasn't a plot at all. The 7 men who belong to a black muslim group didn't have weapons, no required technology, no detail plans, no connection to al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization. Having been infiltrated they posed no threat. The media chewed on this for about a week, until it became apparent that these guy were idiots, not terrorist. This, too, was hyped beyond warrant.
Ft. Dix Six
Simply put, the Ft. Dix Six, were idiots. Attack a military base. Smart hero. And of course, the media was saying "...we missed a bullet with this one...". No connection to al-Qaeda, no weapons, plans that were mediocre at best. They were "white" muslims from Albania, which throws a monkey wrench into republican talking points -- ie. get rid of all the brown people -- and thus by association, the media talking points. Again, charges of this being on par with a 9-11 style event.
JFK Plot
Apparently, I have been out to lunch. Trinidad is posing a threat to America. What's next Guam, the Bahamas, Canary Islands. You know the MO, no al-Qaeda connection, no weapons, and non-executable detailed plans. First, the whole blowing up the fuel lines thingy. Our fuel line infrastructure is built with safety measure to prevent just that. So even if they had attacked the fuel lines leading to the airport, it (especially an airport; especially after 9-11) was under no threat. Second, jet fuel is no where near as flammable as gasoline. Let's think about this for one moment. Why would you use a highly flammable fuel source in an airplane. Duhhhh. You wouldn't. Third, the group had been monitored for 12+ month. Hardly a threat.
The list above is not to minimize the true threat we do face from al-Qaeda, but dumb people, who do dumb things, should be called dumb, not terrorist. That word should be reserved for true terrorist. And to answer my own question, I don't think it was a coincident that JFK Plot came a day before the 2nd Democratic debate............on a Saturday. Thus giving a chew toy to the media and the republicans during there debate.
Com 'er boy, Com 'er boy....want your chew toy....yes you do....good boy.