Why press on anti-terrorism successes is untrustworthy
Nick challenged anyone to list the 10 serious Al-Qaeda plots disrupted since September 11. Without going into Mark Rich’s comments (namely: most "operations" were no more than "preliminary discussions"), I can address Infocats’ responses more directly:
(1) Albany Mosque.
First problem: the Albany mosque plotters are accused of working with Jaish-e-Mohammed, not Al-Qaeda. Second problem: no charges have been proven. What was it George W. Bush claimed about our justice system? "In this country, you’re innocent until proven guilty." That doesn’t just apply when the suspect in question charged with crimes against national security is chief of staff for the Vice President.
By the way, these charges smell very fishy - the U.S. agent involved evidently setup a "fictitious assassination plot" to try to coax the mosque members into laundering money. How do you spell "entrapment"?
I guess you could say that the U.S. disrupted a plot that U.S. agents invented in order to catch potential terrorists - but this is hardly a "disruption."
I should note, DefenseLINK also promoted the Iraq war and fueled the "evidence" about WMD in Iraq. It has never confessed that none have been found. It has never pointed out that the "mobile weapons labs" were in fact conclusively determined to be "mobile medical facilities" - designed quite comparably to the mobile clinics the U.S. has funded in other countries. (I take that back: a vial of botulinum toxin was discovered - enough for a few hundred Botox treatments…)
(2) Gangs of LA
While I’m sure gang violence is serious, I’m not certain in what universe this constitutes a "terrorist threat" to America. But then again, the source being Daniel Pipes, I’m sure this is about as fair and balanced a treatment as Al-Jazeera would offer.
I suspect I’ve interacted with more of these Jihadi Muslims "typically found in American prisons" than Dr. Pipes has - and here’s a shocking fact: they are not heterogenous, and hardly tied to "Jihadi" groups. Indeed, sweeping American Muslims into the same category is about as academically bankrupt as traditional anti-Semitic blood libels of the past.
Rather, you’ll find Ahmadiya strains, old-line Nation of Islam strands, new-line NOI strands, mainstream strands, modernist, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafiya, and many others. I’m sure Dr. Pipes knows the difference - I just don’t think he cares. Characteristic.
But then again, I’m sure Dr. Pipes is sufficiently sophisticated to know that every armed robber who claims to be acting politically is in fact doing so.
Then again - Pipes has this to say:
It is extremely disturbing to see law enforcement pat itself on the back for ineptitude.
So there we have it: the law enforcement community is inept and ignorant, but Dr. Pipes may validly interpret the evidence provided by this inept and ignorant community. Somehow, he knows more than what they’ve made available - he must have insight into the intellect of those armed robbers - he knows what they believe better than the police who tell him what they’ve found.
All I can say is, keep looking for those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Dr. Pipes. Until you find them, shut up and stop playing Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan from your armchair.
Infocats also offers as "MANY MORE" a link to this FoxNews article - which offers a few more chestnuts, such as:
The West Coast Airliner plot: In mid-2002
And then found that they couldn’t press charges against any of the suggested participants. Gee, a plot with no criminal charges? Maybe John Ashcroft was a softy who didn’t like charging criminals - but the more likely story is that the plot itself was never proven to exist.
The Dirty Bomber:
The Jose Padilla plot: In May 2002 the United States disrupted a plot that involved blowing up apartment buildings in the United States. One of the plotters, Jose Padilla, also discussed the possibility of using a "dirty bomb" in the U.S.
Funny thing about the so-called Dirty Bomber: all anyone knows is that he may have one time had a conversation about using a dirty bomb. He never acquired the materials, never took action toward acquiring them, never received money - shucks, nobody knows anything more. I guess, since he’s not a "real" American (just an American citizen), he’s not entitled to the same burden of proof as Scooter Libby.
The 2003 Karachi plot: In the spring of 2003 the United States and a partner disrupted a plot to attack Westerners at several targets in Karachi and Pakistan.
Only problem: in 2003, Karachi attacks on Westerners proceeded full steam, with numerous churches (and even more Shi’a mosques) being firebombed. Massive number of casualties. Perhaps the U.S. disrupted a few of those attacks; far more succeeded. But in FoxNews-ville, this is a "success" - sort of like our successful disruption of the second London bombing (uh, not exactly a "success").
Granted, FoxNews is apt to wax eloquent about U.S. successes - which are somewhat hard to quantify, because the real successes can never be disclosed without revealing sources and methods. Suffice it to say that EVERY SINGLE TIME that U.S. officials claim to have disrupted an attack, they have to ensure those sources and methods will not be divulged.
Which means we can trust ABSOLUTELY NONE of the reporting involving intelligence successes in the war on terror. Three quarters of al-Qaeda is neutralized? Not trustworthy. This is one area where a free press will never be able to provide reliable insight: all it will ever offer is propaganda offered by one side or the other.
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