C for Conspiracy?
I don't normally subscribe to conspiracy theories, but today's news concerning the UK government thwarting a major terrorist plot follows uncannily on some interesting domestic political developments here in the US.
On Tuesday night, Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman lost the Democratic Senate primary to political newcomer Ned Lamont, a staunch opponent of the war in Iraq. The Washington Post referred to the campaign as "a referendum on the incumbent's support for the Iraq war and what opponents charged was his failure to challenge President Bush's war policies."
Then a CNN poll released yesterday reported that 60% of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq. 48% believe that the US will not win the war in Iraq, and 61% believe some or all US troops should be withdrawn from Iraq.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from the Christian Alliance for Progress, referring to both as signs of "an altered political landscape." Developments such as these mean that "both political parties are on notice that the country has had enough of the violence." The e-mail goes on to warn:
After last night you can count on there being a renewed attempt to bamboozle the American people by talking to us about anything but what we want to hear, which is namely when the troops will be coming home. We need your help to keep the nation's attention on what really matters.
What would such a "renewed attempt to bamboozle" look like? How would you detract the nation's attention? Raise the terror alert?
Interestingly (and by total coincidence) I sat down to watch the movie V for Vendetta last night. It's a futuristic political thriller in which a desperate UK government controlled by the religious right stages various security threats in order to bamboozle the populace into acquiescing to its increasingly militaristic and theocratic aspirations. The staged threats include a supposed terrorist attack on the London subway system.
So after yesterday's prediction it was quite shocking to wake up this morning to the latest news of newly thwarted terror attacks. Not many details yet, only the assurance that 24 unnamed suspects have been detained "only days away" from executing an alleged plot to blow up several airliners over the Atlantic. The suspects are apparently all British citizens, most of Pakistani descent.
President Bush refered to the arrests as "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."
Is the timing of these announcements to follow the latest domestic political developments merely coincidental? Expect to hear much carping from the political and religious right about how now is not the time to talk of withdrawing from Iraq. Expect even more aggressive conflation of the war against Al Qaida with the war in Iraq.