October 9, 2002

The Ashcroft Propaganda Machine

A BuzzFlash Reader Commentary
by YT Cai

Has anybody else noticed that for over a year very little was happening against the war on terrorism on the domestic front, and now suddenly that it is very close to the mid-term elections, there is a steady stream of activity taking place?

It started a few weeks ago in Lackawanna, NY with the rounding up of a group of Yemenis Americans suspected of being a terrorist cell. The FBI case centers around a pilgrimage some of the suspects took to various areas of the Middle East, along with their possession of materials advocating radical Islamic views. All sounding quite disturbing in the context of 9/11, but the judge involved is still waiting for something of substance to support the government's claims that these individuals are part of an active or sleeper terrorist cell.

This past week another terrorist cell operating in Oregon and Michigan was uncovered. Some of the charges include that the suspects were trying to get into Afghanistan right after 9/11, trained to use firearms (we'll see if the NRA comes to their defense on this one), engaged in physical training, and wired money to co-conspirators. This group was stumbled upon over a year ago by a local sheriff.

On the same day, John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban entered his guilty plea for "providing services to the Taliban". Receiving a sentence of 20 years in exchange for cooperation based on a plea agreement that would have possibly saved him from facing the death penalty for treason. With public opinion against Lindh being stronger than their case on the more serious charges, the government struck a timely deal with Lindh.

Then there's the case that received the least attention, but to me was the most interesting. This was the case involving the guilty plea that Richard Reid, the Shoe Bomber entered into. Caught trying to ignite his explosive laden sneakers on a cross-Atlantic flight, Reid was stopped by passengers when he tried to light his shoes with matches. When first hearing of this pathetic attempt to blow up the plane, the word "moron" immediately came to mind. But in light of an event that preceded Reid's act, the more appropriate word that came to mind was "dupe". That event was the crash of Flight 587, although explosion then crash would be a more likely description. Many witnesses reported that they saw explosions from the flight's fuselage before the tail section mysteriously fell off. A bomb in the cargo hold was probably the cause, and if confirmed, it would have devastated the airline industry at the time. A little more than a month later, the Reid incident occurs. Think about it, what is more terrorizing, the actual explosion of a flight at the hands of terrorists and then covered up, or someone caught directly in the act of trying to blow up a plane? Truly a keen act of terrorism at the expense of the fall-guy Reid.

Before November 5th, expect from Ashcroft's Justice Department more "successes" in this war on terror. But also expect to see a sharp drop off in activity shortly thereafter.

YT Cai

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