There's something very suspicious about Ashcroft's terror alert.

[oblivious]

First yesterday's stories:

In his briefing, Ashcroft cited no specific new information other than a claim that was sent to an Arabic newspaper in London immediately after the March 11 Madrid bombing. In it, a shadowy group asserted that a major attack against the United States was '90 percent ready.' But the authenticity of the group, and whether it really spoke for Al Qaeda, was questioned at the time by some U.S. officials.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5069746/site/newsweek/

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the "disturbing" intelligence, collected for months, augments al-Qaida's own declaration that its plans for a devastating follow-up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are 90 percent complete.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&e=1&u=/ap/20040526/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_threat

But read the FBIs dismissal of this group back in March.

But specialists say there is no evidence the organization exists ... none of those claims has proved true, intelligence specialists say ... US intelligence officials do not know whether the group exists ... "This group, organization, or whatever it is, is a phantom." ... messages from the purported brigade are not credible ... none of the brigade's e-mails has ever proved authentic ... "We have no information confirming the actual existence of this group," ...


But this is where Ashcrofts warning above comes from - the same article:

The latest message warned that an attack against the United States is "90 percent ready."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/13/officials_group_tying_self_to_blasts_may_not_be_real/

He's tying to pass off this group, proved to be a fake over two months ago by his own intelligence agencies, as the worst threat since 911, using exactly the same '90 per cent ready' figure that fake group used. And he's actually calling them al-Aqueda (al-Qaida's own declaration)

This is unbelievable. How can he get away with it? Only Newsweek points out that the group's authenticity was questioned, but it wasn't just questioned, it was destroyed.

This is absolute proof that the terror warning is a hoax.

[Fridays Child]

1. Would you care for some yellowcake with that alert?

eom

[oblivious]

3. Right, the yellowcake...that lie had much more serious ramifications.

And they did get away with it didn't they. I mean, yes they were exposed as liars, but they did get their lovely little war after all, and no one involved has even lost his job for the blatant fabrication. So I guess they'll get away with this exaggeration with little difficulty.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Terror alert to steal Gore's thunder

I listen to NPR all day at work, and didn't hear anything about Al Gore's speech, but every hour there was a blip about the upcoming 'terror alert' and once Ashcroft was done with his little speil, they repeated it. Glad DU is here so I can find out what is really going on in the news.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. Hermann Goering, "Of course the people don't want war. But after all,.....

it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."


"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

Another timely quote in the vein of the apocryphal Julius Caesar warning about political leaders who can all too easily send the citizenry marching eagerly off to war by manufacturing crises that purportedly threaten national security and making popular appeals to patriotism. In this case the sentiment expressed is even more disturbing because it comes not from a venerated figure of antiquity, but supposedly from a reviled twentieth-century figure associated with the most chilling example of genocide in human history: Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe-Chief. We may be made somewhat uneasy by the idea that the head of a classic civilization recognized 2,000 years ago that the populace could be manipulated into sacrificing themselves in wars at the whims of their leaders, but we're outraged (and maybe even scared) at the thought of a fat Nazi fascist flunky's recognizing and telling us the same thing.


Yellow Alert!
Orange Alert!
Red Alert!
enuff said!

[enough]

5. Great post, oblivious.

You've got the goods on this story. Lets hope some of these links make it out into the wider world.

[oblivious]

8. Thanks, that "90% ready" phrase rang a bell.

I had just finished reading the reposted March article on 'whatreallyhappened'. Good he's keeping it on the front page. I wish the conventional media would be as responsible.

[dusty64]

6. You bet there is and

hopefully it will backfire majorly one these criminals.

[radwriter0555]

7. Yeah. The day Al Queda issues press release saying they're launching

terror attacks is the day cows all fly, ducks sprout more legs and rush limbaugh tells the truth.

This all STINKS. All we can do is really laugh!!!!!

[randr]

9. Two thoughts

1) The administration has to claim an attack is inevitable. If an attack occurs between now and the election the blame will lie at their feet. By preemptively shouting a warning they can deny any claims that they were not alert to the threat.
2) They already have the "suspects" in custody and they will be "caught" in the act. Ashcroft and friends will flaunt about how effective they are and make claims that they are the saviors of America.