You just have to look at the timing of these stories, always blowing something else off the front page and reinforcing Big Dick's nightmare visions.
FBI Blows It: Supposed Terror Plot Against NY Synagogues Is Bogus | World | AlterNet
FBI Blows It: Supposed Terror Plot Against NY Synagogues Is Bogus | World | AlterNet
The four losers may have been inclined to violence, and they may have harbored a virulent strain of anti-Semitism. But it seems that the informant whipped up their violent tendencies and their hatred of Jews, cooked up the plot, incited them, arranged their purchase of weapons, and then had them busted. To ensure that it made headlines, the creepy informant claimed to be representing a Pakistani extremist group, Jaish-e Muhammad, a bona fide terrorist organization. He wasn't, of course.
It is disgusting and outrageous that the FBI is sending provocateurs into mosques.
The headlines reinforce the very fear that Dick Cheney is trying to stir up.
1 comment:
In the corporate media coverage I've seen about this -- including the segment on SBS -- there was almost no mention of the set-up angle. There was also no mention of the other farcical plots (at least one other of which involved Haitians) where the "terrorists" were total mooks.
I can't understand why members of the meeja can't provide any sort of background. I was always big on that when I was in that racket. For one thing, if I threw in the background, I could easily pad another 5 column inches onto my story, which made it look like I was working hard. More importantly, it made me seem smarter, like "I know the water that's passed under the bridge. I can't say this is all bullshit, but I will point out the past BS arrests of losers with no ability to do anything, and you can draw your own cloclusion, reader."
Then again, I never covered any terrorism. I would cast a sceptical eye as I matured as a reporter, but as I write this, I flash to a time in the mid-80s when I was working on a small-town twice-weekly paper covering the courts (among many other things.) The celebrated issue that summer was a series of drug trials where an undercover narc enticed a bunch of small-timers into selling him tiny quantities of pot, and then busted them. The biggest catch was a flamboyant local dentists, who also sold the narc a few grams of coke. I had a field day with all that, sleazing up the stories about the parties people attended, and the conversations the narc had, and the odd locations where the deals went down...
But it was all piddly shit, with a degree of entrapment involved. I feel guilty about that now, like I was piling on the losers who thought they were helping out a fellow head or just making a few bucks to support their tiny vices. It was a case of cheering the strong (law enforcement) as they were picking on the weak.
Perhaps that's what's at work with these stories -- a chance for reporters to show how tough they are by bashing the horrible bad terrrrrrrrrrrists.
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