I name the four powers who are behind the al-Qaeda conspiracy

There is an unwitting conspiracy between four separate powers to represent the worldwide al-Qaeda network as fiendishly clever, powerfully effective and deeply involved in the London bombings.

First, the news media. Al-Qaeda is a “narrative” and a gripping one. Everybody loves a mystery story. Everybody loves a thriller. Everybody needs a plot. All journalists have an in-built tendency to make links between things and find unifying forces at work. A series of random and unrelated facts makes for a shapeless account. Report without implicit explanation is baffling and finally boring. No British journalist I know would invent or consciously distort a report in order to exaggerate the involvement of al-Qaeda; but most of us are drawn to explanations that, well, explain.

Secondly, the Government. I would not be so rude or stupid as to suggest that ministers take any sort of satisfaction from terrorist atrocities. But leadership is made easier if there is a visible, tangible threat; and easier still if it can be represented as completely alien. Us v Them is the narrative a politician is most at home with. The BBC’s The Power of Nightmares made an important point: fear silences opposition, and governments walk tallest when an external threat can be identified and they can lead us against it. “Evil” is a more convenient opponent than stupidity, inadequacy and human dysfunction. We hold our leaders’ hands a little more tightly in the dark.

Thirdly, the security services. The police, British Intelligence, and our counter-terrorism apparatus, are all flattered in their work by headlines that suggest that the enemy is formidable, incredibly sophisticated and hard to catch. Any failure on the part of our security services to detect in advance or prevent a terrorist outrage, or to catch the terrorists afterwards, is easily explained if the terrorist movement is widely agreed to be fiendishly clever and well organised. It is not flattering to a counter-terrorism chief to suggest that his quarry is a muppet. The tale of a police mastermind calls for a criminal mastermind, too.

Finally, of course, the terrorist himself. A reputation for fearsomeness and sophistication is nothing but a boon not only to his self-esteem, but also to his efforts to recruit others to his cause. Never think that speeches about the wickedness and cruelty of al-Qaeda do other than burnish the legend.

Source:
Times Online

Very Interesting Piece of Opinion by Mister Matthew Parris.

I suggest You Read it All, this is just a Part of the Second Page.

Sure Knows how to put Things in a Perspective...

LOL oh this is hillarious, hey i got a joke, what do you get when you mix souljah and some BS? giveup? ................a conspiracy theory!

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
LOL oh this is hillarious, hey i got a joke, what do you get when you mix souljah and some BS? giveup? ................a conspiracy theory!

TIMES is a Respectable Newpaper in England - be careful what you Speak.

while I don't always agree with what Souljah says, I fail to see how this article is BS. It makes a good point regarding the non-tangible interconnections between government, media, and terrorists. we can't focus on terrorists and terrorism outside of the contexts of the societies in which we live and the ways in which they are presented to us.

-koji K.

What is more fascinating to me is the very real possibility that the bogeyman creation known as Al Qaeda was actually adopted by those who believed it truly existed as an entity intent on terrorizing the west, and who, wanting to terrorize the west themselves, unwittingly brought it into reality.

From the article:
"A few days after that, much was made of the arrest in Egypt of a British Muslim whom the less-scrupulous news reports called a “chemist” (he is a biochemist). There was talk of British agents attending (or joining) his interrogation in Cairo. A statement from the Egyptian authorities denying that they had linked him to the bombing or that he was on their list of al-Qaeda suspects, did receive momentary attention — and then the story seemed to die. I do not know what has happened to it, or him."

Interesting to note now that we've seen a bombing in Egypt, almost as if someone had to prove that there were active cells in Egypt that are connected to the grander hive.

Strange.

Just One Comment Against this Article.

Where are all the War Supporters?