The al-Qaeda Myth

by cameron | Feb 14, 2007 | Australian politics, CIA, Iraq, US politics

Did anyone else watch the last part of the re-broadcast on SBS of Adam Curtis’ documentary “The Power Of Nightmares” tonight? This whole idea, that the concept of al-Qaeda as a complex and orchestrated global terror “network” was the invention of the U.S. government, is fascinating.

On the surface, even those of you fully subscribed to the “War On Terror” have to wonder… where is the evidence?

5+ years after USUK invaded Afghanistan, where is the evidence for al-Qaeda?

Most of the detainees still at Guantanamo are not scheduled for trial. As of November 2006, according to MSNBC.com, out of 775 detainees who have been brought to Guantanamo, approximately 340 have been released, leaving 435 detainees. Of those 435, 110 have been labeled as ready for release. Of the other 325, only “more than 70” will face trial, the Pentagon says. That leaves about 250 who may be held indefinitely.
(wikipedia)

And what evidence has been presented publicly that any of them belong to some kind of terrorist network?

The way “Nightmares” presents the story, U.S.A.ma bin laden just picked up on the idea from the US after 9/11 and, after first denying he had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks, eventually caught on to the potential of the idea of being the mastermind of a vast international terror network and changed his story…. “Oh, I mean, Yes, YES! I am the… what did you call it? MASTERMIND, yes, bwaahaha, I am a mastermind. I want killer whales with frickin’ lasers on their frickin’ heads!”

In all seriousness, how long are we going to accept the “trust us, we have intelligence” argument from the USUK neo-cons?

Let’s look at some of the other “intelligence” the USA presented:

“The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program … Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.” — President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati.

Ummm, no.

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” — President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.

Ummm, no.

“We believe [Saddam] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” — Vice President Cheney on March 16, 2003 on “Meet the Press.”

Ummm, no.

“[The CIA possesses] solid reporting of senior-level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda going back a decade.” — CIA Director George Tenet in a written statement released Oct. 7, 2002 and echoed in that evening’s speech by President Bush.

Ummm, no.

“Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.” — Secretary of State Colin Powell, Feb. 5 2003, in remarks to the UN Security Council.

Ummm, no.

“We know where [Iraq’s WMD] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.” — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003, in statements to the press.

Ummm, no.

“Yes, we found a biological laboratory in Iraq which the UN prohibited.” — President Bush in remarks in Poland, published internationally June 1, 2003.

Ummmmmmm, no.

When are going to work out that these guys are either (a) lying through their asses or (b) smoking some bad weed?

The other really interesting idea in the last episode of “Nightmares” is this move that the USUKAU governments have made from “what is” governing to “what if” governing. That is, instead of people being imprisoned because of what they “have done”, they can be imprisoned because of what they “might do”, despite there being no evidence to support that intention.

Remind you of anything?

Hmmmm…. religion?

“I’m going to believe in God because he “might” be real and if he is, and I don’t believe in him, then bloody hell, I’m going to be sorry down the track. Don’t worry that there isn’t any evidence to support the theory that he exists. Don’t even worry that there is overwhelming evidence to refute the theory. Better to be safe than sorry.”

So our politicians are now extending that concept to governing. It is apparently called the “Predictive Theory”. You dream up the worse possible scenarios and convince people they need to act as if they could be true despite there being no evidence for them right now. That way you scare the crap out of people and get them to give you permission to do pretty much whatever you want – spend billions of dollars fighting ghosts, throw people in prison without a fair trial, tap phones and email, and disappear billions of dollars of funds into unknown hands.

Gee Eddie, who won 1 to 100 tonight?