October 12, 2005 | 8:35 p.m. ET
The Nexus of Politics and Terror (Keith Olbermann)
Secaucus - Last Thursday on Countdown, I referred to the latest terror
threat - the reported bomb plot against the New York City subway system
- in terms of its timing. President Bush's speech about the war on
terror had come earlier the same day, as had the breaking news of the
possible indictment of Karl Rove in the CIA leak investigation.
I suggested that in the last three years there had been about 13
similar coincidences - a political downturn for the administration,
followed by a "terror event" - a change in alert status, an arrest,
a warning.
We figured we'd better put that list of coincidences on the public
record. We did so this evening on the television program, with ten of
these examples. The other three are listed at the end of the main list,
out of chronological order. The contraction was made purely for the
sake of television timing considerations, and permitted us to get the
live reaction of the former Undersecretary of Homeland Security, Asa
Hutchinson.
We bring you these coincidences, reminding you, and ourselves here,
that perhaps the simplest piece of wisdom in the world is called "the
logical fallacy." Just because Event "A" occurs, and then Event
"B" occurs, that does not automatically mean that Event "A"
caused Event "B."
But one set of comments from an informed observer seems particularly
relevant as we examine these coincidences.
On May 10th of this year, after his resignation, former Secretary of
Homeland Security Ridge looked back on the terror alert level changes,
issued on his watch.
Mr. Ridge said: "More often than not we were the least inclined to
raise it. Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment.
Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't
necessarily put the country on (alert)... there were times when some
people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said 'for
that?'"
Please, judge for yourself.
Number One:
May 18th, 2002. The first details of the President's Daily Briefing
of August 6th, 2001, are revealed, including its title - "Bin Laden
Determined To Strike In U.S." The same day another memo is
discovered - revealing the FBI knew of men with links to Al Qaeda
training at an Arizona flight school. The memo was never acted upon.
Questions about 9/11 Intelligence failures are swirling.
May 20th, 2002. Two days later, FBI Director Mueller declares another
terrorist attack "inevitable." The next day, the Department of
Homeland Security issues warnings of attacks against railroads
nationwide, and against New York City landmarks like the Brooklyn
Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.
Number Two:
June 6th, 2002. Colleen Rowley, the FBI agent who tried to alert her
superiors to the specialized flight training taken by Zacarias
Moussaoui, whose information suggests the government missed a chance to
break up the 9/11 plot, testifies before Congress. Senate Intelligence
Committee Chair Graham says Rowley's testimony has inspired similar
pre-9/11 whistle-blowers.
June 10th, 2002. Four days later, speaking from Russia, Attorney
General John Ashcroft reveals that an American named Jose Padilla is
under arrest, accused of plotting a radiation bomb attack in this
country. Padilla had, by this time, already been detained for more than
a month.
Number Three:
February 5th, 2003. Secretary of State Powell tells the United Nations
Security Council of Iraq's concealment of weapons, including 18
mobile biological weapons laboratories, justifying a U.N. or U.S. first
strike. Many in the UN are doubtful. Months later, much of the
information proves untrue.
February 7th, 2003. Two days later, as anti-war demonstrations continue
to take place around the globe, Homeland Security Secretary Ridge cites
"credible threats" by Al Qaeda, and raises the terror alert level
to orange. Three days after that, Fire Administrator David Paulison -
who would become the acting head of FEMA after the Hurricane Katrina
disaster - advises Americans to stock up on plastic sheeting and duct
tape to protect themselves against radiological or biological attack.
Number Four:
July 23rd, 2003: The White House admits the CIA -- months before the
President's State of the Union Address -- expressed "strong doubts"
about the claim that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger. On
the 24th, the Congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is issued; it
criticizes government at all levels; it reveals an FBI informant had
been living with two of the future hijackers; and it concludes that
Iraq had no link to Al-Qaeda. 28 pages of the report are redacted. On
the 26th, American troops are accused of beating Iraqi prisoners.
July 29th, 2003. Three days later, amid all of those negative
headlines, Homeland Security issues warnings of further terrorist
attempts to use airplanes for suicide attacks.
Number Five:
December 17th, 2003. 9/11 Commission Co-Chair Thomas Kean says the
attacks were preventable. The next day, a Federal Appeals Court says
the government cannot detain suspected radiation-bomber Jose Padilla
indefinitely without charges, and the chief U.S. Weapons inspector in
Iraq, Dr. David Kay, who has previously announced he has found no
Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, announces he will resign his post.
December 21st, 2003. Three days later, just before Christmas, Homeland
Security again raises the threat level to Orange, claiming "credible
intelligence" of further plots to crash airliners into U.S. cities.
Subsequently, six international flights into this country are cancelled
after some passenger names purportedly produce matches on government
no-fly lists. The French later identify those matched names: one
belongs to an insurance salesman from Wales, another to an elderly
Chinese woman, a third to a five-year old boy.
Number Six:
March 30th, 2004. The new chief weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles
Duelfer tells Congress we have still not found any WMD there. And,
after weeks of refusing to appear before the 9/11 Commission,
Condoleezza Rice finally relents and agrees to testify. On the 31st:
Four Blackwater-USA contractors working in Iraq are murdered, their
mutilated bodies dragged through the streets and left on public display
in Fallujah. The role of civilian contractors in Iraq is widely
questioned.
April 2nd, 2004. Homeland Security issues a bulletin warning that
terrorists may try to blow up buses and trains, using fertilizer and
fuel bombs - like the one detonated in Oklahoma City - stuffed into
satchels or duffel bags.
Number Seven:
May 16th, 2004. Secretary of State Powell appears on "Meet The
Press." Moderator Tim Russert closes by asking him about the
"enormous personal credibility" Powell had placed before the U.N.
in laying out a case against Saddam Hussein. An aide to Powell
interrupts the question, saying the interview is over. Powell finishes
his answer, admitting that much of the information he had been given
about Weapons of Mass Destruction was "inaccurate and wrong, and, in
some cases, deliberately misleading."
May 21st, 2004, new photos showing mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at
Abu Ghraib Prison are released. On the 24th - Associated Press video
from Iraq confirms U.S. forces mistakenly bombed a wedding party -
killing more than 40.
Wednesday the 26th. Two days later, Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI
Director Mueller warn that intelligence from multiple sources, in
Ashcroft's words, "indicates Al-Qaeda's specific intention to hit
the United States hard," and that "90 percent of the arrangements
for an attack on the United States were complete." The color-coded
warning system is not raised, and Homeland Security Secretary Ridge
does not attend the announcement.
Number Eight:
July 6th, 2004. Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry selects
Senator John Edwards as his vice presidential running mate, producing a
small bump in the election opinion polls, and a huge swing in media
attention towards the Democratic campaign.
July 8th, 2004. Two days later, Homeland Secretary Ridge warns of
information about Al-Qaeda attacks during the summer or autumn. Four
days after that, the head of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission,
DeForest B. Soaries, Junior, confirms he has written to Ridge about the
prospect of postponing the upcoming Presidential election in the event
it is interrupted by terrorist acts.
Number Nine:
July 29th, 2004. At their party convention in Boston, the Democrats
formally nominate John Kerry as their candidate for President. As in
the wake of any convention, the Democrats dominate the media attention
over the ensuing weekend.
Monday, August 1st, 2004. The Department of Homeland Security raises
the alert status for financial centers in New York, New Jersey, and
Washington to orange. The evidence supporting the warning -
reconnaissance data, left in a home in Iraq - later proves to be
roughly four years old and largely out-of-date.
Number Ten:
Last Thursday. At 10 AM Eastern Time, the President addresses the
National Endowment for Democracy, once again emphasizing the importance
of the war on terror and insisting his government has broken up at
least 10 terrorist plots since 9/11.
At 3 PM Eastern Time, five hours after the President's speech has
begun, the Associated Press reports that Karl Rove will testify again
to the CIA Leak Grand Jury, and that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has
told Rove he cannot guarantee that he will not be indicted.
At 5:17 PM Eastern Time, seven hours after the President's speech has
begun, New York officials disclose a bomb threat to the city's subway
system - based on information supplied by the Federal Government. A
Homeland Security spokesman says the intelligence upon which the
disclosure is based is "of doubtful credibility." And it later
proves that New York City had known of the threat for at least three
days, and had increased police presence in the subways long before
making the announcement at that particular time. Local New York
television station, WNBC, reports it had the story of the threat days
in advance, but was asked by "high ranking federal officials" in New
York and Washington to hold off its story.
Less than four days after revealing the threat, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
says "Since the period of the threat now seems to be passing, I think
over the immediate future, we'll slowly be winding down the enhanced
security."
While news organizations ranging from the New York Post to NBC News
quote sources who say there was reason to believe that informant who
triggered the warning simply 'made it up', a Senior U.S.
Counter-terrorism official tells the New York Times: "There was no
there, there."
The list of three additional examples follows.
Number Eleven:
October 22nd, 2004. After weeks of Administration insistence that there
are terrorist plans to disrupt the elections, FBI, Law Enforcement, and
other U.S. Intelligence agencies report they have found no direct
evidence of any plot. More over, they say, a key CIA source who had
claimed knowledge of the plot, has been discredited.
October 29, 2004. Seven days later - four days before the Presidential
election - the first supposedly new, datable tape of Osama Bin Laden
since December 2001 is aired on the Al-Jazeera Network. A Bush-Cheney
campaign official anonymously tells the New York Daily News that from
his campaign's point of view, the tape is quote "a little gift."
Number Twelve:
May 5th, 2005. 88 members of the United States House of Representatives
send a letter to President Bush demanding an investigation of the
so-called "Downing Street Memo" - a British document which
describes purported American desire dating to 2002 to "fix" the
evidence to fit the charges against Iraq. In Iraq over the following
weekend, car bombings escalate. On the 11th, more than 75 Iraqis are
killed in one.
May 11th, 2005. Later that day, an instructor and student pilot violate
restricted airspace in Washington D.C. It is an event that happens
hundreds of times a year, but this time the plane gets to within three
miles of the White House. The Capitol is evacuated; Vice President
Cheney, the First Lady, and Nancy Reagan are all rushed to secure
locations. The President, biking through woods, is not immediately
notified.
Number Thirteen:
June 26th, 2005. A Gallup poll suggests that 61 percent of the American
public believes the President does not have a plan in Iraq. On the
28th, Mr. Bush speaks to the nation from Fort Bragg: "We fight today
because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens,
and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we'll fight them
there, we'll fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight
until the fight is won."
June 29th 2005. The next day, another private pilot veers into
restricted airspace, the Capitol is again evacuated, and this time, so
is the President.
To summarize, coincidences are coincidences.
We could probably construct a similar time line of terror events and
warnings, and their relationship to - the opening of new Walmarts
around the country.
Are these coincidences signs that the government's approach has
worked because none of the announced threats ever materialized? Are
they signs that the government has not yet mastered how and when to
inform the public?
Is there, in addition to the "fog of war" a simple, benign, "fog of
intelligence"?
But, if merely a reasonable case can be made that any of these
juxtapositions of events are more than just coincidences, it
underscores the need for questions to be asked in this country -
questions about what is prudence, and what is fear-mongering; questions
about which is the threat of death by terror, and which is the terror
of threat.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
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